Installing Marble Tile On Wood Subfloor

Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout.

Installing marble tile on wood subfloor.

Preparation for installing floor tile depends on the type of subfloor in the room you are tiling. Once the polished marble tile is set firmly in thinset there s reason to. However you re not out of the woods. Second the strength of wood boards isn t always consistent.

Concrete board is going to provide you with a very strong surface to put the tile on. 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 supports your decorative floor finish whether it s carpet hardwood vinyl laminate or tile. First changes in humidity make solid wood shrink swell and cup more than plywood.

Clean out as much mortar from the grout joints as you can. You will need to use adhesive under the concrete board and then use nails or screws to adhere it to the wood subfloor. It uncouples or releases the bond between plywood and tile mortar allowing each surface to move independently of each other. Check for complete coverage of thin set mortar by pulling up one tile it should cover at least 80 of the back of the tile.

In addition uncoupling tile membranes prevent moisture from infiltrating surfaces below. An uncoupling membrane does exactly what the name says. If you are working with a wood subfloor you are going to need to install concrete board before you can put the marble tile in. Subfloor preparation is similar cement board underlayment installed over a sturdy plywood subfloor is the best base for marble tiles just as it is with ceramic tile.

If the subfloor is 5 8 or 3 4 you can probably apply tile directly to it with no problem. A tight unmoving bond between mortar and subfloor causes cracking. The old fashioned mud method of floating a thick mortar bed in preparation for the tile has given way to using cement backer board over a plywood subfloor. The notch trowel size depends on the tile type and size.

Because most old homes only use 1 2 plywood or osb. Installing tile over a wood subfloor is a lot easier today than it was when i started my remodeling career. It is a good idea to put half inch plywood underlay to strengthen the floor before using modified thin set to put the tile directly on wood. A subfloor is the bottom most structural level of your floor.

Cement based thinset mortar bonds the marble to the subfloor permanently and it prevents the marble from separating. Large tile require a deeper thin set bed to make up for the minor adjustments in flatness of floor and tile.