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Tiling question
Hi ladies - I am elbow deep in a total overhaul of my kitchen and dining room and am in need of some advice on my tile situation. We've ripped out the existing flooring because we took 2 undersized and poorly laid out rooms and made them into one larger and more functional kitchen. The flooring in each room were different so we've ripped it all out and are starting fresh from the subfloor. My house was built in 1948 so the subfloor is 1x12s set on a diagonal. The new tile will meet up with the existing hardwood floor on one end of the room and we fully intend to use a transition strip to blend them together.
Here's the trouble. The general consensus seems to be that putting tile directly onto plywood is a bad idea because it flexes too much and the tile pops free. That means that we'd need to put down a cement board layer to provide the needed rigidity for the tile. Because of our subfloor being slatted 1x12s, we can't put that directly down because a lot of the thinset would end up in the basement. That leaves us with a layer of plywood and a layer of cement board and a layer of tile. Getting pretty tall.
Any thoughts on this issue? Am I overthinking this and we can just put down a transition strip and it will be fine?
Re: Tiling question
Yes you can not put tile on a subfloor like that unless you want it to start cracking within a year or two. Tile, grout, and thinset are all very ridgid yet strong. They can handle any scratching you give them but are only as good as the subfloor below. 1x12 subfloor is a very poor subfloor and will move significantly throughout the year from temperature and humidity. The wider the boards the more the movement. You definitely need a second or third layer before you tile. The transition between the tile and HW will have to be angled to account for the height difference. All though your HW sounds like it's on a very shotty subfloor as well so maybe you'll want to tear that up and do it right later on at which point you could compensate for the height.
You could: caulk subfloor and thinset at least 1/2" cement board with a decoupling membrane like Ditra (through there are thinner options out there) on top
- glue and screw 3/4" tongue and groove plywood and then Ditra or other decoupling membrane approved for plywood
- or a layer of 3/4" plywood then thin cement board then a decoupling membrane
You really should have a decoupling membrane because of the 1x12s. Cement board on top of them are only going to help eliminate the flexing due to weight. The floor will still move side to side because of expansion and contraction. Ditra or something similar will help eliminate that and keep your floor from needing to be replaced in a few years.
Or you could forget tile all together and go with a peel and stick tile/laminate/vinyl option.