How To Install Ceramic Tile On Plywood Subfloor

Preparing a subfloor is an essential step for installing floor tile it provides a level surface that will allow the tiles to properly stay in place.

How to install ceramic tile on plywood subfloor.

Plywood or osb flakeboard can expand and contract at too high a rate to be a stable foundation for tile. Installing ceramic floor tile to a plywood sub floor has unique challenges beyond that of installation on a concrete floor. Preparing your subfloor for tile in this video learn how to prepare a wood or concrete subfloor for tile including such steps as checking for dips installing backerboard applying primer and thinset pouring liquid underlayment and when to use osb or exterior grade plywood. I was thinking 1 4 durock and 1 4 tile which would make my floor height almost the same as my hardwoods in the other rooms.

A poor ceramic installation will delaminate from the subfloor split at the grout lines or worse crack directly across the tile. When installing a ceramic tile floor on a concrete subfloor you don t have to worry about flexing as long as the concrete slab is at least 1 1 8 inch thick which most slabs are. No matter how firm the subfloor. The plywood will expand and contract at a different rate as the tile causing cracks to develop in the grout lines or tiles over time.

The best method is to refasten the subfloor then add a layer of plywood. Plywood substrate alternatives. Cement backerboard is made for tiling. I am laying the tile on a plywood sub floor above a basement.

While you can lay tile directly over a concrete slab using thin set adhesive don t make the mistake of applying tile directly to a plywood subfloor. First changes in humidity make solid wood shrink swell and cup more than plywood. According to backer board manufacturers and tile setters installing backer board directly over an old solid wood subfloor is risky for a couple of reasons. Backerboard does not shrink or expand when it comes into contact with water mortar and grout both contain water.

One question that folks new to ceramic tile frequently ask is whether they can lay the ceramic directly on top of a plywood or osb subfloor using a thinset cement or liquid nails to glue down the tile to the wood. Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout. However you re not out of the woods. The safest most prudent course is to install tile on top of a cement backerboard such as durock wonderboard or hardiebacker.

This will cause either the tile itself to crack and even come loose or cause the grout to crack inside the joints. The floors joist are 19 on center.