can i put it? Step by step instructions + Video

Despite the popular belief that wood and ceramic tiles are incompatible, if you know the nuances of such technology as laying tiles on a wooden floor, you can also implement this process correctly.

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Even such different materials with completely different properties (wood changes size depending on temperature and humidity, chips and cracks may appear on the tiles if it lies on the wooden floor in the process of movement or shrinkage), can be combined, knowing about the features of each of the materials separately and together.

Reasons why it is undesirable to lay floor tiles on a wooden floor

• Wood is considered a "warm" material, and tiles are a material
  unambiguously "cold";
• Since tiles and tile adhesive are practically impervious to air, the wood underneath begins to rot and decay faster ;
• Wood and ceramics have unequal service life: the service life of tiles is several times longer than that of wooden materials;
• If the tree begins to expand or contract (this is, in principle, not a particularly static material), the tile begins to collapse and break off.

Nevertheless, with all these conditions, sometimes it becomes necessary to lay tiles on a wooden base.

For example, this method is often needed to protect the wood base in showers, kitchens, and shared bathrooms where regular wet cleaning is required.

 
 In this case, it is required to ensure the immobility of the wooden surface, with maximum evenness and hardness, so that the tile does not deform. 

Activities preceding the laying of tiles on a wooden floor

The better the condition of the wooden floor where the tiles will be laid, the easier it is to carry out preparatory work before flooring tiles.

 
 The key task is to form a smooth, even and static base. 

For this it is necessary to check the condition of the existing coverage :

• It is better to fix or eliminate creaky, sinking, decaying boards, it is better to sort out the flooring in general;
• Using a level, you need to level the floor as much as possible, leaving a centimeter distance between the walls and the subfloor, which is subsequently poured waterproofing foam. In the intervals between the lags, expanded clay can be poured, then the level of thermal insulation and sound insulation will increase.

  Plywood (12 mm) or previously removed boards in an acceptable condition is placed on the already leveled logs;

• If it is likely that moisture will get from the earthen, concrete or wooden base to the substrate, a vapor barrier or waterproofing should be laid on the floor surface (e.g. polyethylene, parchment / bitumen paper, special mastics). Waterproofing a wooden floor for laying tiles is an important stage of work.

Ways to level wood floor

There are several different ways to level to prepare a wood floor for tiling.

Dry leveling

The most popular method that creates a fairly stable sub-layer of moisture resistant plywood (similar materials), on top of which floor tiles are laid.

1. You can purchase a ready-made set of adjustable floors with screw plastic supports. This method allows you to significantly save work time;
2. With your own hands, construct and install a system of logs or point supports on the most "stable" floor, on top of which sheet material will be laid;
3. If you already have plywood backing, you can put an additional layer of plywood on it;
4. Quarters of plywood, gypsum fiber board or OSB are sometimes attached to pre-aligned floorboards with self-tapping screws.

At the end of the dry preparation, chipboard, plywood or a similar quality material is placed that is suitable for flooring the tiles.

Before starting to lay the tiles, the plywood layer is sanded along the seams, after the joints are filled with sealant or glue, and the entire surface is treated with a special primer impregnation.

And only then is it possible to lay the tiles on the wooden floor.

Advantages of dry methods :

• you can add insulation materials (expanded clay, mineral wool, foam) to improve the insulating properties.

• this method reduces the load on hardwood floors.
• The job is done quickly.

Disadvantages : dry leveling method leads to a decrease ceiling level, which will be noticeable at the junction of the finished and unfinished parts.

If such an event is to take place in hygienic rooms (laying tiles on a wooden floor in the bathroom), then it is better to lower the floor there by at least a few centimeters, otherwise, in the event of an unforeseen emergency, water will flow into the neighboring rooms.

"Wet" screed

A kind of lightweight form of pouring the screed is relevant, since wooden floors are not always able to withstand a full-fledged leveling layer.

The specificity of such work lies in the fact that the screed on wooden surfaces is performed as a floating floor with a deformation gap from the walls and n
basement (around the utilities crossing the ceiling).

 
 This method allows the wood floors to move and shrink without affecting the ceramic tiles. 

As a rule, the thickness of such a screed should not greatly exceed 3 cm, otherwise the load on the wooden floors will also increase, a smaller thickness will make the structure fragile.

The wooden floor is poured in stages :

• Initially, the floor is disassembled to a bar and carefully inspect for defects: unreliable elements are replaced, the lag system is reinforced with an additional bar, if the distance between them is more than half a meter. All wooden floors and parts are treated with antiseptics;
• For subsequent pouring, a flooring is formed, old four-centimeter boards can become the material, between them leave gaps for ventilation (about 1 cm);
• Quartered moisture-resistant plywood (or a similar material from compressed woodworking waste) is placed across the direction of the boards, the thickness is not less than 12 mm. The elements are laid out according to the principle of brickwork and fixed with galvanized self-tapping screws every 20 cm.Cross-shaped joints should be avoided and 3 mm gaps should be left between the sheets;
• The formed flooring is covered with waterproofing material (bitumen or paraffin paper, parchment, glassine or thick polyethylene) ..

  . If you use material in rolls, then it is overlapped and secured with tape. Bumpers are formed along the perimeter, which are attached to the walls with adhesive tape and go onto the walls by at least 10 cm;

• Place along the wall damping tape, the thickness of which is 0.8-1.0 cm, width 10 cm.

  The pipes are hidden in special sleeves;

• The screed is poured with a leveling mixture from a store or independently with a mixed solution of a leveling compound (sifted and clean coarse sand + liquid glass in equal proportions);
• After the poured layer has hardened, ceramic tiles can be laid on the wooden floor.

Express Option

It is carried out by attaching sheets of moisture-resistant plasterboard to the floorboards using two-component polyurethane glue with an elastic structure, so that it does not collapse from the movement of wood ...
Preliminary inspection of the wooden floor and the necessary repairs are carried out.

To increase the rigidity of the floor, you can lay gypsum plasterboard in 2 layers so that the seams are in different places. The formation of a plasterboard base occurs in the same way: a floating floor with a gap around the perimeter, the joints are filled with a sealant, the entire coating is primed with a primer.

If defects and deviations are noticed, then you can put fiberboard, cardboard, roofing felt or paraffin-impregnated paper, all the while checking the evenness of the surface with a level. The drywall is then attached to the wood floor directly or through existing linings. The tiles are laid on top and fixed with glue compatible with GKVL.

The expansion joint, which remains around the perimeter of the room, is filled with a sealant and closed with a plinth

After you have decided on a suitable option and leveled the wooden surface, you can start laying the tiles.

Laying ceramic tiles on a wooden floor in stages

First, you need to calculate the volume of materials .
To calculate how many tiles are useful for work, the floor area is divided by the area of ​​one tile, and 10% is added (potential fight or cropping). It is better to check the quality of the tiles in advance and exchange broken items.

It is necessary to determine which tiles will be located near the pipes, and cut holes in them before laying.

It is worth checking before the start of laying work whether the tiles will interfere with the doors opening. Next, you should remove air from the tile, in order to do this, it is enough to lower it into water for 20 minutes.

Next, begins the process of marking the floor : using a coated cord, draw lines connecting the middle of the long and short walls, with their intersection in the center of the room. These lines are needed to reduce the number of cut tiles along the walls.

 
 If tiles are to be laid diagonally, work should be started from the opposite end of the floor to the entrance.
 

The window line must be parallel to the tile line. There should be crosses between the tiles, which define the width of the joints.

Next, you need to prepare the adhesive composition, based on the instructions on the package, and apply it to the primed surface. But it should be remembered that it dries quite quickly, so experts advise applying it to an area of ​​no more than 1m2.

After all the preliminary work, the paving process can begin.

The tiles are laid exactly according to the markings, fixed by lightly tapping a rubber hammer. All the time you need to check the level of the evenness of the surface and correct the errors within 10 minutes, otherwise the tile will already be fixed quite tightly, and nothing can be changed. First, whole tiles are laid out, then halves and pieces are cut.
When the work is completed, you need to remove the excess glue and leave the tile for a couple of days to fix it.

After that, all you have to do is to process the seams , filling them with special grouts, for example, elastic colored silicone is good for this.

Excess grout is removed, the seams dry out in a maximum of half an hour, after which the tiles must be wiped with a damp cloth, after another hour - with a dry flannel.

At this point, the work can be considered finished.

Laying tiles on a wooden floor. Craftsman Tips

• It's not a good idea to lay tiles in a newly built house or in a room with new wooden floors, since the shrinkage process will provoke deformation of the tiles. It is better to wait a few years, at least 2-3 years, or better and a little more;
• Despite the fact that sheet products of veneer pressing or wood waste are not pure wood, they are also subject to linear movements, although and smaller than a tree.

  To fix tiles to such materials, a polyurethane two-component adhesive is optimal, which is more elastic than conventional tile adhesive.

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