How To Lay Floor Tile Over Plywood

Proper way to lay ceramic on plywood or osb.

How to lay floor tile over plywood.

Loose areas on an existing plywood subfloor can cause peel and stick tiles to lift over time. To prevent that movement from creating cracks in your grout and tile install a crack prevention membrane after the concrete subfloor is clean flat and free of cracks larger than 1 8 inch. While these could be smoothed over with thinset they are much harder to manage than the correct solution. While most floor tile these days is installed onto a layer of cement board or similar backerboard it is possible to lay tile directly over plywood.

If you re installing new plywood use galvanized screws to fasten it and countersink the screw heads. Concrete subfloors move shift and crack over time. With this patented new technique ron s friend shows us how to build a strong base and then prepare it using the tavy thin skin system so that the tile is as strong. 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. Laying tile over a plywood subfloor can be tricky but if you prepare the sub floor properly your tile floor will last for a lifetime. Plywood and osb frequently have imperfect joints and surface textures. But a number of precautions must be taken to ensure a successful installation.

A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood.