Installing Floor Tile Over Concrete Slab

How to lay porcelain tile over a concrete floor.

Installing floor tile over concrete slab.

Tile floors do not require as much care and cleaning as porcelain or fiberglass. Installing over wood. Tiled shower floors are visually appealing as well as hygienic. Installing ceramic tiles over concrete can help to create a more inviting indoor or outdoor living space.

The curved floor edge trim and facing were site built by the editor df. Although tile can be placed directly over a concrete slab products such as schluter s ditra are designed to separate or uncouple the tile from any potential movement in the substrate and protect the tile and grout from cracking. To install ceramic tile over wood the wood surface must be structurally sound enough to support the weight of the tile. Step 1 preparing the concrete.

Using an acid based cleaner or deep cleaner of your choice clean the concrete and allow it to dry thoroughly. Tile can contribute thermal mass to a passive solar house and to christa campbell it would make a more appealing finish floor than concrete. Alternatively screw rows of treated 1x4s to the concrete 16 in. Chipboard cushioned vinyl flooring particle boards of any type oriented strand board osb interior grade plywood tongue and groove planking and hardwood floors are unsuitable substrates for direct installation of ceramic tile.

Ceramic and porcelain tile are so frequently installed at or above grade level on a cement board underlayment or directly on plywood that it almost seems novel to install tile directly on concrete. Before you begin to lay the tile over your concrete slab make sure the concrete is properly prepared. The ceramic tile floors shown at left were installed atop of an existing ceramic tile floor lower right and over both concrete and solid core plywood the upper floor level. Concrete provides one of the most stable working platforms in the world and is the preferred foundation layer for a ceramic or porcelain tile.

Installing tile directly on concrete. It can be physically strenuous and messy but it is a home improvement project that will allow you to cut labor costs by doing it yourself. Yet this application does make sense since concrete is heavy solid and is typically thought of as an unbending uncompromising material. Treated plywood to the concrete with concrete screws spaced every 16 in.