Proper Subfloor For Ceramic Tile

Wood building materials contract and expand at different rates from natural humidity and exposure.

Proper subfloor for ceramic tile.

For this reason ceramic and porcelain tile floors can be considered somewhat delicate despite the inherent strength of the material. Proper preparation of the subfloor is critical to the success of your ceramic tile installation. It will break or dislodge if the surface bends under the load. However you re not out of the woods.

Tile floors are heavy and tile is a hard material. Laying tile on plywood. Because of issues of moisture movement and adhesion ceramic tile will work well with certain types of subfloor underlayment systems and can go dramatically wrong with other subfloor materials. Cement backer board can provide a solid flat surface to install tiles on if you have a wood subfloor.

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. When installing a ceramic tile floor on a concrete subfloor you don t have to worry about flexing as long as the concrete slab is at least 1 1 8 inch thick which most slabs are. A plywood subfloor must be structurally sound and able to support the installation. Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout.