How To Tile Over 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.

How to tile over plywood 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. Begin by applying the thin skin adhesive to the plywood with a smooth trowel. It should be fastened to the subfloor using thinset and then screwed down every 10 square. Use intervening layers of two sheets of plywood.

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. While tile can be laid on plywood do not install tile directly onto the plywood subfloor itself. 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. 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. No matter how firm the subfloor.