Tripod member RhondaD asks:
I'm considering putting a tile floor in a very small bathroom. Will I have to install some type of subfloor? Will I have to pull the toilet, or figure out how the cut the tile to go around it?

Handy Girl Bernadette suggests:
It's hard to know whether you'll need a subfloor without knowing what type of floor you have on there already. A good test as to whether you'll need to install a subfloor is the plain and simple jump test. Get the heaviest member of your family to jump up and down on the existing floor. If there is any give at all you will need to put down a plywood subfloor. For this you will definitely want to remove the toilet. Generally a subfloor should be at least 3/4 inch thick. That's for floor framing that is 16" on center. (This means the amount of space from the center of one 2x4 to the center of the next 2x4. The 2x4s make up the frame underneath the floorboards. You measure from the center of the board and not from the edge.) If the framing is any greater in span you will want to increase the thickness of your floor. If, after installing this new floor, there is still give, you'll want to call in a carpenter. This is indicative of a far greater problem such as rot or other foundation trouble — not so rare under the bathroom.

For tiling, the toilet should always be removed. This is not as difficult as it seems and certainly not as difficult as cutting all that tile around the base. In addition to saving yourself the excess time and hassle of cutting the tile, there is a certain asthetic quality to a toilet. If you don't remove the toilet, you lose some of the base's depth and lose the clean lines and look of the porcelain. Also, if you tile around the toilet and then need plumbing work done in the future, good luck fitting it back in without any tile damage.

If this is a small bathroom, scoring the tile to cut it will be sufficient. If, however, the bathroom is of substantial size, you might want to rent a wet-saw for the day. Not only will that save you some time, but they can be really pretty cool to use.

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