Ceramic Tile Directly On Plywood

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

Ceramic tile directly on plywood.

Installing tile directly on the plywood can damage the plywood and your tile both. Mastic adheres the tile directly to a wooden sub floor to a wooden back splash or onto a piece of plywood. While some types of plywood can be used in certain types of tile installations use of the material has limitations. Backerboard can double the thickness of an installation which can be troublesome in some locations.

There may be times when you want to bond tile directly to plywood or another wood surface rather than screwing down backerboard first. If you re installing new plywood use galvanized screws to fasten it and countersink the screw heads. 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. It is more important as a subfloor than anything else.

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. So it is better to put sheets of plywood before placing the tile on it. But a number of precautions must be taken to ensure a successful installation. Loose areas on an existing plywood subfloor can cause peel and stick tiles to lift over time.

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. 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. You may also want to tile an outdoor shed or tile plywood boards for display. Using adhesives as per the tile you are wishing to place is.

No matter how firm the subfloor. 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. To be sure maybe drill up to 6 evenly spread out holes in the plywood at least 4mm deep or straight through in the areas to be tiled so the adhesive sinks into the holes and hardens hence creating a stronger fix. 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.

Ceramic tile doesn t expand contract nearly as much. Be mindful to use intervening sheets of plywood before putting tiles on it. Clean and heavily score area to where tiles are to be fixed it sounds like the adhesive does not have a rough surface in which to secure itself to. Plywood and osb expand and contract with humidity and temperature much more than ceramic tile.

As the plywood or osb expands the ceramic won t.