| When choosing to opt for the steel mesh subfloor | | | | by 10' feet square. That's around 840 by my |
| prior to laying floor tiles, this can actually be the | | | | count, so just visualize what a lounge area could |
| cheapest method by far, and also the easiest to | | | | ask of you! |
| install, but it can be time consuming and laborious. | | | | When your mesh grid is finally attached, then the |
| First of all you must cut your steel wire mesh | | | | application of scratch coat mortar is added. This is |
| with either the use of wire cutters or tin snips to | | | | basically a cheap sand and cement mix of an initial |
| size, but be sure and wear a pair of heavy duty | | | | 'coat of mortar applied from scratch', and when |
| gloves as the cut wire ends can tend to be sharp, | | | | mixed to the correct consistency with water, is |
| resulting in many cuts and scratches. An angle | | | | then poured over the complete floor where |
| grinder with a regular abrasive steel cutting disc | | | | gravity takes over and actually self-levels itself to |
| attached will do the job just as quickly if you | | | | remove any uneven dips. This is a particularly |
| wish, but do not use the diamond blade for | | | | effective method of installing a subfloor over |
| cutting, and always wear your protective safety | | | | uneven wooden floorboards where warping has |
| equipment. | | | | taken its toll over the floor's overall degree of |
| Once cut to size, you are ready to install by | | | | being level. |
| means of flat head roofing tacks and a hammer. | | | | Once your scratch coat subfloor is dry, then |
| Now, these should be placed in a grid pattern at | | | | basically go round it and check for any bumps of |
| every 4" inches apart from one another to | | | | concrete that could interfere with the flat laying |
| ensure the mesh is fixed tight to your wooden | | | | of floor tiles. By simply chipping these off with a |
| flooring, making sure that there are no upward | | | | cold chisel and hammer, you should then have a |
| floppy bumps which can be depressed and pop | | | | naturally level inexpensive subfloor perfect for |
| back up. This of course is the time consuming | | | | floor tile installation. Hopefully this will be just the |
| part of the job, as you can only imagine how | | | | answer you needed to complete your "subfloor |
| many roofing tacks you have to hammer in | | | | project" of trying to lay a subfloor while at the |
| every 4' inches in even a small room such as 10' | | | | same time, leveling your floor. |