How To Tile Over Plywood Subfloor

Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood.

How to tile over plywood subfloor.

The old fashioned mud method of floating a thick mortar bed in preparation for the tile has given way to using cement backer board over a plywood subfloor. 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. On a plywood subfloor you need either a layer of cement backer board or an underlayment membrane like custom building products wonderboard and redgard between the subfloor and tile for the thin set adhesive to achieve a good bond. For this project we are using the tavy thin skin system to prepare the surface for tile.

No matter how firm the subfloor. Use thinset with a higher latex content thinset is the wet base that you first trowel on the plywood to make the tile stick. Installing tile over a wood subfloor is a lot easier today than it was when i started my remodeling career. While tile can be laid on plywood do not install tile directly onto the plywood subfloor itself.

Begin by applying the thin skin adhesive to the plywood with a smooth trowel. Concrete board concrete board also called backer boardcomes in 1 4 and 1 2 thicknesses and is usually sold in 4 x 6 sheets.