Installing Vinyl Tile Over Plywood

Loose areas on an existing plywood subfloor can cause peel and stick tiles to lift over time.

Installing vinyl tile over plywood.

The basic premise for any surface is the same. 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. Vinyl isn t very thick and it is quite plastic. Because you can install sheet vinyl over existing vinyl it offers the option of changing design without breaking the bank.

Chipboard cushioned vinyl flooring particle boards of any type oriented strand board osb interior grade plywood tongue and groove planking and hardwood floors are unsuitable substrates for direct installation of ceramic tile. How to lay self stick vinyl floor tiles. To install ceramic tile over wood the wood surface must be structurally sound enough to support the weight of the tile. In most cases 4 by 8 foot sheets of particle board or plywood must be installed in preparation for the vinyl floor install.

Plywood underlayment is a thin plywood material that is most commonly used under resilient flooring materials such as vinyl and linoleum sheets and tiles. 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. But a number of precautions must be taken to ensure a successful installation. A number of different types of substrate are used for tile including plywood.

Installing over wood. Vinyl flooring is usually not installed directly over the subfloor in residential applications. This means you want the sub floor to be as smooth as possible. The main caveat is that all vinyl formats call for a smooth subfloor including sheet vinyl vinyl tile and luxury vinyl planks and tiles.

Our plywood is really old and cracked so i was concerned that it would be too absorbent so i chose not to mop the plywood but we always mop the concrete. This means that over time it will conform to the shape of the floor beneath. If the grout lines in the ceramic tile are deep you ll see and feel them under sheet flooring and if you choose to install preglued vinyl tiles they won t stick. This means that you will see grooves in the vinyl where there are gaps between the plywood sheets.

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.