Installing Vinyl Tile Over Plywood

To install ceramic tile over wood the wood surface must be structurally sound enough to support the weight of the tile.

Installing vinyl tile over plywood.

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. This means you want the sub floor to be as smooth as possible. No matter how firm the subfloor. This means that you will see grooves in the vinyl where there are gaps between the plywood sheets.

Loose areas on an existing plywood subfloor can cause peel and stick tiles to lift over time. Vinyl flooring is usually not installed directly over the subfloor in residential applications. 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. 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.

A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood. Installing over wood. In most cases 4 by 8 foot sheets of particle board or plywood must be installed in preparation for the vinyl floor install. If you re installing new plywood use galvanized screws to fasten it and countersink the screw heads.

The main caveat is that all vinyl formats call for a smooth subfloor including sheet vinyl vinyl tile and luxury vinyl planks and tiles. Vinyl isn t very thick and it is quite plastic. 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. But a number of precautions must be taken to ensure a successful installation.

The basic premise for any surface is the same. Because you can install sheet vinyl over existing vinyl it offers the option of changing design without breaking the bank. It can also be used under hardwood laminate and carpet but this is much less common these days because subflooring is typically smooth enough for these materials many of which are installed with a different type of underlayment or pad. This means that over time it will conform to the shape of the floor beneath.

If the grout lines in the ceramic tile are deep you ll see and feel them under sheet flooring and if you choose to install preglued vinyl tiles they won t stick.