Subfloor Material For Ceramic Tile

Underlayment is the material placed on top of the subfloor that assists in the installation of the tile or other type of flooring.

Subfloor material for ceramic tile.

Materials such as vinyl and carpeting are flexible enough to tolerate engineered floor truss systems with larger joist spacings such as 24 inches on center. Cement backer board can provide a solid flat surface to install tiles on if you have a wood subfloor. Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout. However you re not out of the woods.

With ceramic tile you also need to limit the deflection between joists which is a function of the subfloor thickness and how it is installed. 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. For this reason ceramic and porcelain tile floors can be considered somewhat delicate despite the inherent strength of the material.

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. It will break or dislodge if the surface bends under the load. It sounds like your joists are well within the acceptable limits of l 300 so your main concern is the deflection of the subfloor between joists. Tile floors are heavy and tile is a hard material.

2 prepare a wood subfloor for tile a successful tile installation project requires a level surface.