Can I Lay Ceramic Tile On Plywood

For the best results when tiling onto plywood floors follow these instructions.

Can i lay ceramic tile on plywood. It is more important as a subfloor than anything else. How to lay self stick vinyl floor tiles. The basic premise for any surface is the same. Plywood as well as sheet like sheets osb dsp contain a tree in the composition of the crushed form.

Installing over wood. Our plywood is really old and cracked so i was concerned that it would be too absorbent so i chose not to mop the plywood but we always mop the concrete. Then i would remove any loose tiles and scrap away any adhesive that is left on the ply and tile you want the ply and tile to be perfectly clean for. To install ceramic tile over wood the wood surface must be structurally sound enough to support the weight of the tile.

Ceramic tile doesn t expand contract nearly as much. Laying tile to veneer plywood risks loosening and unbonding the veneer creating an unstable base for the tile. For wall installations your real concerns are whether you want to use thinset directly on the wood and whether you are using an exterior or interior type of plywood. Plywood and osb expand and contract with humidity and temperature much more than ceramic tile.

Space the field and edge fasteners correctly the top layer of plywood should be screwed down every 8 inches on the edge and every 6 inches in the field or interior section. As the plywood or osb expands the ceramic won t. While some types of plywood can be used in certain types of tile installations use of the material has limitations. Regular seasonal humidity shifts are significant enough to make the average 10 x 10 wood subfloor floor expand or contract as much as 1 2.

It can be chips chips. 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. Chipboard cushioned vinyl flooring particle boards of any type oriented strand board osb interior grade plywood tongue and groove planking and hardwood floors are unsuitable substrates for direct installation of ceramic tile. If you plan to lay tiles on a plywood foundation you should consider the following features.

No matter how firm the subfloor. Under british standards bs 5385 part 1 plywood has now been excluded as a suitable substrate material for the direct fixing of wall tiles therefore when tiling on to walls a tile backer board is required however tiling onto plywood floors is still acceptable under british standards.