Can You Tile on Pine Plywood?

Plywood provides a sturdy, even tile surface.

Pine plywood is one type of wood used in building walls, floors and counter spaces in a home. While pine plywood can generally support the weight of tile, whether you can install the tile directly to the plywood depends upon the type of tile job.

Plywood Wall Tile

If pine plywood has been used as the main wall material in your home, you should be able to lay tile directly onto the plywood surface in most instances. Like drywall, pine plywood provides a stable enough surface for a tile job, though you need to take some precautions. Before installing the tile, go along the plywood wall and hammer each nail down to at least 1/8-inch below the surface and fill in the space with wood filler. This prevents the nail heads from possibly breaking the tiles.

Plywood Floors

When pine plywood is installed on a floor, it generally serves as the walking floor and has a subfloor, or structural floor, made from cement or wood plank beneath it. Most of the time, it is better to leave the pine plywood in place and tile over top of the plywood surface than remove the walking floor. The distance between the plywood floor and the subfloor provides a moisture barrier that serves tile well. Like with wall plywood, all nails should be hammered below the surface and the spaces filled with filler.

Plywood Countertops

If you would like to install tile to pine plywood countertops, you should not always do it directly. If you intend to install heavy fixtures along with the tile, such as a sink, you generally must add reinforcement to the top of the plywood in the form of a mortar bed. A mortar bed is basically just a layer of cement spread over the plywood countertop to hold the tile and fixtures. Before attempting to install any of these pieces, though, consult the plans for the home, or the person who put in the countertops, to ensure they can support the weight.

Tiling

Once you have prepared the pine plywood surface, you can lay tile just as you would on any other material. If you want the tile job on a floor or ceiling to be centered, you must measure the edges of the walls or floor to find the center of each and snap lines between the vertical centers and the horizontal centers to make guide lines. With a countertop, you can get a clean look by starting at the front edge and moving back toward the wall, so that any cut tiles are along the back corner.

References

• Danny Lipford: Installing Tile Over a Wood Subfloor
• The Tile Doctor: Countertops