Can You Lay Ceramic Tile Over Plywood Floor

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.

Can you lay ceramic tile over plywood floor.

Before laying tile over any plywood subfloor it s important to make sure that the floor itself is free from excessive deflection or bending which can pop grout joints and loosen or crack tiles. But this assumes that the floor underneath is solid concrete and that there are no cracks in the existing tile indicating underlying problems in the concrete. 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. Laying of tiles on plywood is carried out provided that the base is well protected from moisture.

You can install tile directly over plywood but the hoops one has to jump through to go by the book is not worth the effort imo. Plywood or osb flakeboard can expand and contract at too high a rate to be a stable foundation for tile. This will cause either the tile itself to crack and even come loose or cause the grout to crack inside the joints. The basic answer to whether you should lay ceramic directly over plywood or osb is simple.

Try laying tile over 1 2 durock or hardie and see what happens when the joists are 19 2 or 24 on center. A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood. If your old ceramic tile is worn or dated you can lay new tile right over the old and avoid the huge job of tearing out the old tile. Given that wood containing materials contain resins that make it unnecessary to apply a layer of waterproofing over plywood foxes it is recommended to lay a moisture resistant coating only on the side of the log system.

A glass of water can detect deflection that s otherwise hard to see with your eye. Installing ceramic floor tile to a plywood sub floor has unique challenges beyond that of installation on a concrete floor. You shouldn t do it. To install ceramic tile over wood the wood surface must be structurally sound enough to support the weight of the tile.

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. Plywood and osb expand and contract with humidity and temperature much more than ceramic tile. But a number of precautions must be taken to ensure a successful installation. That s especially true when the tile is being laid over a plywood subfloor.