Can You Lay Tile On Plywood Subfloor

While tile can be laid on plywood do not install tile directly onto the plywood subfloor itself.

Can you lay tile on plywood subfloor.

Walk across the floor to learn whether any areas feel soft underfoot and secure them with screws. The use of a plywood subfloor topped by cement backer board has made tiling much easier today than when i started my remodeling career. Today s homeowner serves cookies to analyze traffic and better serve you. The go to product is 1 2 in.

The best method is to refasten the subfloor then add a layer of plywood. Concrete board concrete board also called backer boardcomes in 1 4 and 1 2 thicknesses and is usually sold in 4 x 6 sheets. For residential use one form of underlayment the tile council of north america s handbook allows is plywood over joists that are 16 in. First changes in humidity make solid wood shrink swell and cup more than plywood.

Use thinset with a higher latex content thinset is the wet base that you first trowel on the plywood to make the tile stick. Read on to find out more. Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood. Loose areas on an existing plywood subfloor can cause peel and stick tiles to lift over time.

Void free underlayment grade panels which both stiffen the existing floor and provide uniform support to prevent cracks in the tile above. As with a wooden subfloor a concrete subfloor must be level for successful tile installation. But there are a few important considerations to take into account when tiling over a wood subfloor. There are two materials commonly used for laying ceramic on plywood or osb that are applied before the tile.

Don t lay tiles on a concrete slab with cracks that appear to be spreading or irregularities that prevent you from leveling it. Test by sprinkling water on various areas of the subfloor. 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. Additionally a steps must be taken to ensure that a concrete floor will create a solid bond.

It should be fastened to the subfloor using thinset and then screwed down every 10 square. Read this article from home improvement expert danny lipford to find out if you need to apply cement backer board before tiling over a plywood subfloor.