Can my subfloor support tile?


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Old 07-29-04, 07:46 AM
woodguy
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Can my subfloor support tile?

I have a 10' x 10' Laundry room that I would like to tile. It has 2" x 8' joists that span 10' and are attached at both ends with joist hangers plus one side rests on the cinder block that forms the crawl space under my house. so basically I'm wondering if 2" x 8" spanning 10' with 3/4" plywood and 1/2 Durock will support ceramic tile. Do i need larger joists? Also people have been telling me to just screw the Durock to the plywood and not worry about using thinset between the plywood and durock. This doesn't sound ok to me, so I thought I would throw it out there for someone else to think about. Thanks for the help.
 
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Old 07-30-04, 06:48 AM
J
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the joists will hold it...I'm not sure about thinsetting durock to plywood....I never have, but I guess you could, it wouldn't hurt.
 
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Old 08-01-04, 10:02 PM
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Durarock is supposed to be set in thinset to the subfloor beneath, which should be exterior grade plywood, that is the proper way to do it by the book. Anyone that tells you different is either uninformed or just a plain old hack, not some one you want to be taking construction advice from.

As to your question on the subfloor supporting the tile, assuming that this is on 16" centers and the joists are in good condition, and you're planning on setting ceramic or porcelin tile on that, you be fine. The deflection works out to L/480, now if your spacing is greater than say 20" centers or if you were planning on using some kind of natural stone say marble or slate, additional joists would need to be added. Proper installation for ceramic or porcelin floor tile calls for a minimum deflection rate of L/360, natural stone requires a much higher rate of L/720, so additional support would have to be added. Good luck & happy tiling!
 
 

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