Can You Tile Over Plywood In Bathroom

A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood.

Can you tile over plywood in bathroom.

While some types of plywood can be used in certain types of tile installations use of the material has limitations. If you do not waterproof the subfloor moisture can make its way under the subfloor and cause mold growth or other damage. We ve installed a number of ceramic and stone floors. 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.

It is resistant to water and scratches making it more durable than hardwoods or vinyl tile for these areas. It is more important as a subfloor than anything else. Start by measuring the room. A poor ceramic installation will.

Before finish flooring is installed on top of a plywood subfloor you must waterproof the subfloor especially in a bathroom. Here are the basics of how to install bathroom tile on plywood. 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. 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.

But done wrong it can leave a homeowner with a feeling of defeat. The job isn t difficult when it s done right. To install bathroom tile over plywood you ll have to follow a series of steps. 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.

Get the dimensions of the room and then multiply them to get the square. Step 1 measure. 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 still get calls for more work after being out of it for 10 years because my work held up.

In fact pros do it all the time. Often the subfloor consists of plywood that is nailed or screwed to the construction floor. 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.

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.