What To Put Under Tile Floor

If you find hollows and valleys you must fill them with a self leveling underlayment.

What to put under tile floor. For more on prepping the floor read prep a tile floor. Screws every 6 in. First make sure you have prepared the subfloor properly before you begin laying tile. Before beginning remove tiles from the different boxes and randomly mix them to ensure that minor color differences don t form an unwanted pattern in your new floor.

Pourable self leveling products help to flatten and level a wood subfloor or a concrete slab before the tile is installed. The plywood adds stiffness and stability to the floor. After the tile has been sanded clean and remove all particles and dust before applying a floor leveler product to fill in grout lines and level the surface completely for the new tile application. A successful tile installation project requires a level surface.

Thin set adhesive also called portland cement mortar is a combination of cement sand and methylcellulose. Preparing to install floor tile. Fill seams in the subfloor with caulk. If water seeps through the tile installation to the underlayment it will not cause the wood to swell as happens with interior grade plywood.

Use a thin set product to install ceramic tile over existing tiles. The dry product is mixed with water to a liquid consistency and poured on. No messy tear out and repair. The key to keeping the how to tile a floor job simple is to cover the old vinyl or other flooring with a new thin underlayment that gives you a fresh clean start.

With the plywood in place install the backer board as you normally would. Exterior grade plywood exterior plywood is an acceptable underlayment for tile and is preferred to interior grade plywoods because the bonding adhesives used are waterproof. What s equally attractive is that you can lay a first class tile floor yourself often in one weekend and save the 500 to 1 500 cost of hiring a pro. Comb the thin set using the notched side of your trowel holding it at a 45 degree angle to the floor and lightly pushing the trowel teeth to the floor.

Check for dips in the floor by sliding a 4 foot to 6 foot straight edge in different directions all around the room. Adhesive material adhesive is required to keep the tiles secured to the floor. If this is your first time figuring out how to install tile floor you may only want to apply enough mortar for one or two tiles at a time. A thinner subfloor will cause the floor to flex due to the weight of the tile.

A flexing subfloor results in cracked tiles and grout and a lot of headaches. Most tile manufacturers recommend installing a cement backer board instead of any other type of underlayment such as plywood.