Can You Put Tiles Over Particle Board Subflooring?

If you would like to install tile in a room of your home, the room must have a solid subfloor over which to install it. Any type of flat, sturdy subfloor will suffice as long as it is strong enough to hold the tiles. Particleboard does not have the strength necessary to support tile floors.

Tile Floor Support

Three main types of subfloors have the strength necessary to support tiles: cement, concrete and wood. For wood subfloors to properly support tiles, the wood floors must be built with the proper joist spacing. The joists of the wood floors are the supports beneath the subfloor planks that keep the subfloor up. The standard joist spacing of a wood subfloor is 16 inches, which generally offers enough support for tile.

Particleboard for Tiles

Unlike standard wood subfloors, which are generally crafted from plywood or, in some instances, hardwood, particleboard subfloors are crafted from pressed wood composite, which is lighter weight than plywood or hardwood and usually sells at a cheaper price as well. Since particleboard is a composite and does not have full fibers running through the wood, the particleboard has a weaker structure than wood subfloors and cannot support the tiles.

Particleboard Subfloors

Particleboard is a weak subfloor material when compared to solid wood, concrete or cement. No matter how close together the joists are beneath the particleboard, it generally does not provide adequate support as a subfloor. Particleboard also contains formaldehyde, which leaks into your home as the gas releases from the material. Formaldehyde is a carcinogen linked to throat cancer that also causes a variety of lesser symptoms, including headaches and nausea. If the subfloors are less than 10 years old, they still pose some risk to health.

Changing Subfloors

If you have particleboard subfloors and would like to install tile, the best course of action is to switch the current subfloors out with another type of subflooring. Since, like wood, particleboard subfloors attach to joists beneath the floor, you can remove the floor by pulling up the nails that secure the flooring pieces to the joists. Once you remove the particleboard subfloors, you can install a sturdier subfloor, such as hardwood or plywood.

References

• Hosking Hardwood; Installing Hardwood Floors Over Different Subfloors; Jeff Hosking; 2004
• Procon Web; Guidelines for Tile Installation; Richard P. Goldberg; 2003
• Hardwood Floors Mag; A Guide to Subfloors Used Under Wood Flooring; Catherine Liewen; January 2008
• Discovery -- Planet Green; Is Old Particle Board Safe in Your Home?; Josh Peterson; December 2008