Porcelain tiles on plywood floor

crazylady1

Hi. We want to get a new kitchen floor. The flooring we have now is laminate placed over wood. We want to take up the wood and laminate and replace it with porcelain tiles.

The issue we have is that our house was built on a slope so there is no concrete under the floor boards so there is quite a big drop. A builder told us it would be way too expensive to fill it with concrete and that our best bet was to put plywood down and lay tiles on top of it.

I've since heard conflicting views about the suitability of plywood as an underfloor. What do you think? Opinions greatly appreciated. Thanks

Max H

we had the same, you need to build a timber latice frame resting on the base, it needs to be well built with plenty of noggins for strength. Then put a 10mm thick BWP ( Boil Waterproof Ply) screwed down every 6-8 inches to the timber frame, if you can jump up and down and feel any movement, then you need more noggins/timber in the frame and more screws closer together through the ply to frame.

Once it is solid and no movement you can tile porcelain tiles onto the ply with flexible tile adhesive.

our floor in our kitchen was done in two of our houses like this and never had any movement or cracking.
The secret is to get the frame and ply done properly and solidly.
Our current kitchen floor if you jump up and down you would never know it was hollow underneath.

crazylady1

Thanks for your reply Max H. That's great to know. I have my heart set on porcelain wood tiles so I'm delighted to hear this. Thanks again ðŸ‘ðŸ‘

Max H

oh yes and you can put extra insulation in the gaps in the latice frame, so you get less of cold feet tiles so to speak

crazylady1

Thanks for the tip. I like my heat!! I will say that to the builder

KevRossi

We had this issue in a house where we lived as kids. Filled in the hollow with rock, then gravel layer on top, then layer of concrete. Think it worked out a lot cheaper than concreting it. Would that be an option?

Max H

i seriously recommend the jump up and down test on the frame and ply before tiling. It has to be solid, if not you will get cracking and movement in the tiles. Both me and my tiler/builder, both 6 footers were pogoing around like punk rockers to check before tiling statred

crazylady1

Thanks for your reply Kevrossi. I'm not sure. It's a fairly big space to fill. I'm happy to go with the plywood now. Max H explained it well and confirmed what builder was saying.

antix80

When you're buying tiles make sure they know this is the surface they'll be on.
Be prepared for some of the grout around near the wall to chip away.. Maybe the tiler can suggest something to stop it from happening. It's not a big deal

crazylady1

Max H wrote: »

i seriously recommend the jump up and down test on the frame and ply before tiling. It has to be solid, if not you will get cracking and movement in the tiles. Both me and my tiler/builder, both 6 footers were pogoing around like punk rockers to check before tiling statred

Picturing ye moshing to Metallica!! 🀣🀣My hubby would be in the middle of ye!! 🀣🀣

Max H

never had a problem with grout near wall chipping away. We did away with skirting board and tiled with a half tile as a skirting board. Means you can mop right up to the edges, and with the right tile looks good

crazylady1

antix80 wrote: »

When you're buying tiles make sure they know this is the surface they'll be on.
Be prepared for some of the grout around near the wall to chip away.. Maybe the tiler can suggest something to stop it from happening. It's not a big deal

I will. Thanks for that

crazylady1

antix80 wrote: »

When you're buying tiles make sure they know this is the surface they'll be on.
Be prepared for some of the grout around near the wall to chip away.. Maybe the tiler can suggest something to stop it from happening. It's not a big deal

I will. Thanks for that

Max H

i cant put images on here, but if you want to pm me an email address crazy i could email you some pictures

e.r

First layer 9mm layer of plywood ( cheap filler layer) & overlay with minimum 9mm cement board/ tile backer board.

Plywood is not recognized as suitable background for tiling anymore. It expands, contacts & some contain release agents so tiles can debond over time.

Plus by using two layers with staggered joints will be more supportive.

Bonzo Delaney

I'd be going with an 18mm t&g OSB layer screwed over the joists for strength then a 6mm layer of tile backer screwed every 150mm over that for the tiles to bond to.
Also while the orignal floor covering is up have a look at insulating and air sealing the suspended timber floor.

crazylady1

Op here. Thanks for your replies everyone. I really appreciate it

albernazj93

crazylady1 wrote: »

Hi. We want to get a new kitchen floor. The flooring we have now is laminate placed over wood. We want to take up the wood and laminate and replace it with porcelain tiles.

The issue we have is that our house was built on a slope so there is no concrete under the floor boards so there is quite a big drop. A builder told us it would be way too expensive to fill it with concrete and that our best bet was to put plywood down and lay tiles on top of it.

I've since heard conflicting views about the suitability of plywood as an underfloor. What do you think? Opinions greatly appreciated. Thanks

You can get some cement boards. I had to buy some of them with insulation (you probably need without insulation as its way cheaper) in order to install the underfloor heating.