I want to remove my carpet in the bedroom. I know about pulling it up and all that but what I don‘t know is what the next step is after it‘s totally up. I want to put down tile I‘m not sure if I want to put down ceramic or just the plain old sticky tile. my question is can i put tile down directly on the floor boards. I don‘t think that there is hardwood underneath i just see like plywood or whatever that board is called. Is there anything specific that needs to be done to the floor before tiling?
hi provided the floor is level, clean and solid you can fit any tiles you like there is special adhesive for floor tiles to wooden floors
if you put down ceramic use the cementboard first if you put the peel and stick, i always use wallpaper primer first let it dry and then laymy lines and then put the peel and stick down the wall paper primer keeps the tiles from moving after time walking on them
You can put the peel stick tile directlt to the wood floor, but for the ceramic tile you'll first need to put down, with screws, a cement board called Duro-Rock, These come in 3x5 ft. pieces. You also need Thin-Set and fiberglass tape. The fg tape has a sticky side so it sticks right to the Duro-Rock. Run a thin coat of Thin-Set over the tape and allow to dry. Ceramic tile can be put down with Thin-Set also.
While the peel and stick will stick to the floor, I'd still recommend an underlayment. Underlayment properly put down will even out the rough spots on the floor. The subfloor, directly over the joists, is probably structurewood or commonly called OSB. You could use plywood or fiberrock. Stagger the seams of the underlayment with the seams of the subfloor. For example, if the first sheet of underlayment will land on the seam, cut it in half so the remainder of the seams will stagger, hopefully that makes sense. If you go with ceramic tile, there is one method that go directly on top of structurewood. It requires a special prep, adhesive and grout. And it is definitely not for the novice. It is uses TEC's 1step mortar. It may not even be available in your market. Google TEC 1 step But for the novice, no offense, I recommend using either backerboard or Duro-Rock. You spread, thinset mortar, doesn't need to be latex modified for underlayment, set the board, nail with roofing nails or screw. The instructions are available on line. But nail or screw every 4 along the edges and 8 in the middle. Use the fiberglass tape before you set tile. This should latex modified. There are different ways people like to do this. Some say as you tile, some just stick the tape down and skim the top. What I like is to skim a thin layer over the seams, put the tape down, then make sure there are no ridges. Let sit over night. That way the next day, I can pop lines, and set tile. As far as setting tile, it easy to do when you know what you are doing. It also easy to screw it up when don't know what you are doing. I've seen novices screw it up pretty bad. If you know someone that has tiled before, I hope you get some help. With perhaps a thousand dollars of material on the line, it will be well worth a free lunch and a couple beers at the end of the day.
The vinyl tile can be, on occasion put right atop a sub floor. It s not the ideal way but can be done. Best is to a 1/4 inch wood sub floor commonly called luan. Now on to a ceramic. You ll need a 1/2 in cement board Utli -Crete and DUROCK are 2 well known brands. Both need to be thin setted down and nail or screwed w/ a galvanized nail or screw. There are minimum lengths you ll need. Seams to be filled and properly taped. Any more questions you can e mail me thru my avatar. GL
