Watch our how to install ceramic and porcelain floor tile videos and learn the steps needed for a successful installation.
Installing porcelain tile floor subfloor.
The most skillfully laid tile floor or wall can be ruined with a base that is not dimensionally stable.
Laying tile on plywood.
Thin set was used instead of glue or adhesive.
For this reason ceramic and porcelain tile floors can be considered somewhat delicate despite the inherent strength of the material.
A plywood subfloor must be structurally sound and able to support the installation.
This guide will show you how to prepare your subfloor for a tile installation project to ensure that it s fit to support ceramic or porcelain tile.
We have our large kitchen and hallway that was originally covered by 12 x 12 ceramic tiles on top of 3 8th inch plywood.
Plywood or osb flakeboard can expand and contract at too high a rate to be a stable foundation for tile.
Cement backer board can provide a solid flat surface to install tiles on if you have a wood subfloor.
It currently has linoleum in there.
You ll see how to complete each step and work the required tools such as trowels manual snap cutter wet saw and tile nipper.
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.
Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout.
It will break or dislodge if the surface bends under the load.
The floor tiles became loose cracked and ugly looking over about 2 decades of use.
This will cause either the tile itself to crack and even come loose or cause the grout to crack inside the joints.
Second the strength of wood boards isn t always consistent.
First changes in humidity make solid wood shrink swell and cup more than plywood.
I am wanting to install 3 4 inch backer board directly over the linoleum and then the tile on top of that.
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.
Many other types of floor coverings such as laminate or luxury vinyl tile have more flex and are.
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.
Because of issues of moisture movement and adhesion ceramic tile will work well with certain types of subfloor underlayment systems and can go dramatically wrong with other subfloor materials.
Installing ceramic floor tile to a plywood sub floor has unique challenges beyond that of installation on a concrete floor.
However you re not out of the woods.
When installing tile having a solid and tight substrate that will not shift expand or contract is all important.
The floor is in good shape but i don t know what type of subfloor is under the linoleum.
