Can You Tile Over Plywood In Bathroom

Before finish flooring is installed on top of a plywood subfloor you must waterproof the subfloor especially in a bathroom.

Can you tile over plywood in bathroom.

The nice thing about tiling over plywood is that should you drop something and break a tile you can remove it without disturbing the surrounding tiles. I did it for 30 years over fir plywood. This process is not complicated but you will need to be willing to do some work. Often the subfloor consists of plywood that is nailed or screwed to the construction floor.

It is resistant to water and scratches making it more durable than hardwoods or vinyl tile for these areas. In fact pros do it all the time. Start by measuring the room. 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.

While some types of plywood can be used in certain types of tile installations use of the material has limitations. It is more important as a subfloor than anything else. If your old ceramic tile is worn or dated you can lay new tile right over the old and avoid the huge job of tearing out the old tile. The job isn t difficult when it s done right.

Get the dimensions of the room and then multiply them to get the square. To prevent that movement from creating cracks in your grout and tile install a crack prevention membrane after the concrete subfloor is clean flat and free of cracks larger than 1 8 inch. You can either roll on a liquid latex membrane or use a peel and stick crack prevention mat over the entire concrete subfloor. We ve installed a number of ceramic and stone floors.

If you do not waterproof the subfloor moisture can make its way under the subfloor and cause mold growth or other damage. Here are the basics of how to install bathroom tile on plywood. A poor ceramic installation will. But done wrong it can leave a homeowner with a feeling of defeat.

I still get calls for more work after being out of it for 10 years because my work held up. 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 assumes that the floor underneath is solid concrete and that there are no cracks in the existing tile indicating underlying problems in the concrete. A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood.

Step 1 measure.