On Saturday, September 21, 2013 4:31:29 PM UTC-4, caledongrl wrote:
Hi, I need some advice please. I am replacing the ceramic tile in the front hall way and I am going to extend it through the kitchen. The front hall way has tiles. The kitchen has laminate, that I believe was put on top of the original linoleum floor. The house was custom built in 1973.



The existing hallway tiles appear to be laid directly on the plywood. They lasted for 40 years, just starting to come loose in the last 5 years. I do not know what is under the linoleum, but I am assuming it is the same plywood.



The question is, judging from the fact that the original floor tiles were places directly on the plywood, can I not do the same with the new tiles and all through the kitchen? And avoid putting down cement board?



I think the current best practice is to put cement board over
plywood. More importantly, there isn't just "plywood". It
depends on the thickness of the plywood, the joist spacing,
how structurally sound the whole system together is.
With tile, you can't tolerate very much movement. I would
definitely err on the side of making sure it's more than minimum,
because of the obvious consequences of getting it wrong.





Also, it looks like glue rather than cement that was used for the old ceramic tiles? Would this be the case or is it simply because it is over 40 years old? If I do reuse the original plywood, does the old surface have to be completely smooth?



I've never heard of glue being used with ceramic tile.