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.
Ceramic tile osb subfloor.
Plywood or osb flakeboard can expand and contract at too high a rate to be a stable foundation for tile.
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.
As the plywood or osb expands the ceramic won t.
Tile floors are heavy and tile is a hard material.
Planning and patience along with these tips will help ensure that you install the quality of finished flooring you are looking for.
Plywood and osb expand and contract with humidity and temperature much more than ceramic tile.
This will cause either the tile itself to crack and even come loose or cause the grout to crack inside the joints.
It will break or dislodge if the surface bends under the load.
Cement backer board can provide a solid flat surface to install tiles on if you have a wood subfloor.
Laying tile on plywood.
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.
Subfloor floor covering or finish floor is the term for the topmost eventual floor the floor that you walk on and see.
A plywood subfloor must be structurally sound and able to support the installation.
Laminate luxury vinyl and ceramic tile are examples of floor coverings.