How to prepare a subfloor for ceramic tile installations

Ceramic and porcelain tile are very rigid materials used for flooring.

They require a subfloor designed to account for this, without any fluctuation or movement.

We present you a list with a few instructions on how to prepare your subfloor for this type of installation.

1. Installing ceramic tile and porcelain tile over a concrete slab

• You first need to repair all cracks and uneven patches in the concrete subfloor.
• Instead of patching all the cracks, you could consider removing a large section of concrete slab and replace it with a new one.
• Bad cracks in the concrete slab should be smoothed with a concrete filler.
• Remove any grease stains, or other substances that have stained the slab as best you can.
•  If you have a wood subfloor, cement backer board can provide a solid, flat surface to install tiles on.

2. Installing ceramic tile and porcelain tile over a plywood subfloor

• A plywood subfloor must be able to support the installation.
• Tile floors are heavy and tile is a hard material.
• Keep in mind that you need a very flat surface to work on. If needed, sand the plywood down to level the subfloor.
• Plywood must be installed over an adequate subfloor and must be at least 1 1/8″ thick when combined with the subfloor.
• Interior-grade plywood and particleboard are not strong enough for a tile installation.

3. Installing ceramic tile and porcelain tile over vinyl flooring

• In this case you have to remove the vinyl floor and also every remnant adhesive used for the vinyl installation.
• Sometimes you will be able to remove the vinyl itself, but not the adhesive. Use the type of thin set recommended by the manufacturer.
• If it seems difficult, you might want to lay down a backer board with thinset.

4. Installing ceramic tile and porcelain tile over an existing tile floor

• You could leave the tile floor in place and apply thinset directly over it
• In other cases, you could remove the tile with a hammer.
• It may be hard to remove the tiles without removing a lot of the mortar bed, if the existing tile floor is set over the mortar bed.
• If you’re installing directly over the old tile flooring, rough up the existing tile with sand paper.
• Check the height of the floor with the height of doors and cabinets.
• Remember that any good thinset can be used to install your new floor.

Click here to look at our beautiful selection of ceramic and porcelain tile.