How To Tile Over Plywood Subfloor

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.

How to tile over plywood subfloor.

Installing tile over a wood subfloor is a lot easier today than it was when i started my remodeling career. Begin by applying the thin skin adhesive to the plywood with a smooth trowel. While tile can be laid on plywood do not install tile directly onto the plywood subfloor itself. Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood.

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. For this project we are using the tavy thin skin system to prepare the surface for tile. Concrete board concrete board also called backer boardcomes in 1 4 and 1 2 thicknesses and is usually sold in 4 x 6 sheets. Once the surface is completely covered cover the adhesive with the fiberglass based paper and smooth out any wrinkles or bubbles with a broad drywall knife.

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. There are two materials commonly used for laying ceramic on plywood or osb that are applied before the tile.