Laying tile without cement board?

9 years ago

We pulled some tile up in several spaces. The tile was laid directly onto the OSB/Plywood subfloor. When I asked at the hardware store, I was told you are suppose to lay tile on cement board. If I lay cement board and then tile, my floor will be too high. Is there something thin you can, or what am I missing for this remodeling process? Thanks!

Featured Answer

sombreuil_mongrel

9 years ago

And cement board does squat to stiffen anything. If the plywood and the framing aren't stout enough for tile, the answer is to shore up the floor system until it is, or lower your expectations.
When the floor meets the deflection criteria for your tile, then use Ditra and not cement board, saving 3/8" thickness.
Casey

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Comments (11)

User
9 years ago
Ceramic, stone, or vinyl tile?

Vinyl; can be installed directly on subflooring, although the defects in the subfloor will telegraph through the tile. Luaun or other wood underlayment is a better base.

Stone or ceramic tile on subfloor usually cracks. Because the subfloor is not stiff enough---the reason for the cement board.

The better choice of underlayment for stone or ceramic tile(and more expensive) is Ditra or similar disconnecting membrane.

Doing the new tile(if stone/ceramic) will raise the new surfaces from 1/2" to 5/8" usually. If the tile is thicker, that can be an inch.

Transition strips are made to minimize the immediate height differences, but an inch or more is going to be a trip hazard regardless of transition strips.

Best option is either visit a real flooring business or do a lot of research on the internet.
weedyacres
9 years ago
Use Ditra. It only adds 1/8" to the floor level and is easier to install.
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nostalgicfarm
Original Author
9 years ago
The spot I am concerned about buts up.to the front door.
I am referring to a porceian til, not vinyl.
I think I will probably be fine with Ditra if it only adds 1/8 inch.
Thanks!
User
9 years ago
Ditra will add closer to 1/2", not counting tile.
User
9 years ago
Then add thinset and tile, and you've added 1''. Yousimply are notgoing to get away from using thresholds.
nostalgicfarm
Original Author
9 years ago
Holysprings-There was tile by the door previously. Bit there wasnt cement board. I dont want the carpet to but to the front door, so am trying to figure out the best way to make tile work.
This.is.a house we bought as we couldnt find a big enoughrental house in the.town we intend to build in. We will probably keep the house after as a rental house.
PRO
Cabot & Rowe
9 years ago
Once you have the proper plywood properly installed, you can use Greenskin as your underlayment between the plywood and the thinset for the tile. It has the thickness of a used dollar bill.

Head on over to the John Bridge Tile Forum and use the handy dandy deflecto-lator to see if the joists are stiff enough to handle tile.

Once that is done we can discuss the plywood condition, type and joist spacing for the type of tile you select.
sombreuil_mongrel
9 years ago
What kind of Ditra are you using that's 1/2" thick? I think that Schluter makes a Kerdiboard @ 1/2", but Ditra is 1/8"; Ditra XL is like 5/16
Casey
User
9 years ago
If your Ditra assembly is 1/2 thick - your tile setter is doing something wrong. Majorly wrong.
dekeoboe
9 years ago
this is a dead thread

Laying tile without cement board?

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