tile underlayment

10 years ago

Thanks to help on Garden Web, I've tiled a number of rooms. Thanks guys! I'm looking for some help again.

I'm going to help my inlaws tile a kitchen in a "fixer-upper" house they just bought. Currently the kitchen has an old linoleum floor over plywood (5/8" I think, I'll check next time I'm there). The plywood is on top of a subfloor made pine boards (maybe 1x8" or 1x10", I don't remember the width). The rest of the house is hardwood on top of the pine board subfloor and currently the finished height of the two floors is just about the same.

We've opened up the wall between the kitchen and dining room and we'd like to keep the two floors as close to the same height as possible.

I've always tiled over hardiboard (or concrete w/ redguard). We don't really want to add any thickness to the flooring, so I'd like to avoid putting ditra or backer board directly over the existing plywood.

What would the tile experts here recommend to prepare this surface for tiling so that the finished height is about the same as the 3/4" hardwood?

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Comments (5)

User
10 years ago
The short answer is that what your are asking is most likely impossible. You won't have enough support under your tile to prevent cracking.
glennsfc
10 years ago
Aliceinwonderland is spot on correct. I just returned from a short vacation where we stayed in an old Victorian that was recently renovated and the tile laid directly over plywood over the subfloor. There was one cracked tile already and some movement in the floor when walked on that caused occasional popping noises.

If you're fine with redoing the job in the near future, then any old way to get the floor down will be fine. If you want it to last, then you're going to have to do it right.
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sid_79
Original Author
10 years ago
So what would you tile guys recommend here ignoring height differences in the existing hardwood?
User
10 years ago
You will need to know the material used for your floor joists, the distance between them, as well as the dimensions and span of the joists to determine the deflection you can expect from them. From there you can determine if they are adequate and what thickness of plywood is necessary to stiffen the floor.

Head over to the John Bridge forum to ask the real experts over there .
sid_79
Original Author
10 years ago
I went over to his house last night and did a little measuring, and went over to the John Bridge forum. Figured I'd post what I found here as well.

2x10 joists, 16" on center. Not sure of species. The unsupported length between support beams is around 16 feet (there is a partition wall in the basement that cuts that distance under part of the floor, but not the whole kitchen

On top of that they have 1x10 boards running perpendicular to the joists (not diagonal) followed by 5/8 plywood.

It doesn't look like this is suitable for a tile install, but I think my in-laws will want to do it anyway... maybe I can talk them into adding a beam in the basement to reduce the unsupported length, but it is a finished basement under the kitchen.