Hi Everyone,

I'd like to tile my kitchen and laundry room. It's 231 sq ft, I'm not sure what size the joints are. I was told by Home Depot that I have 5/8" plywood and in order to install the tile I need 3/4" total. Well, the problem with this is... adding the extra wood + the tile would block in my dishwasher. Also, it would be uneven with my ajoining living room.

I've decided to do the tile myself, is there anything else I could do to make the floor stronger, other then the dietra(too expensive!). I was told by a friend I could use a rubber compound that is spread directly over the wood, but Home Depot doesn't know what I am talking about when I asked them .

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,
Jenn

What's on the floor now?

You need to find out what size the joists are and the span to determine what may be needed for underlayment.

The tile always goes under the dishwasher. If you have no height adjustment left in the dishwasher cabinet space, then I might as well tell you right now, tile is not the flooring for you.

I've never seen a dishwasher that didn't have at least 1" of height adjustment. It you're looking at the dishwasher installed now I can see how you would *think* there's no room, however, when you remove the dishwasher you will see it has plenty of adjustment to accommodate a tiled floor.

I have laminate floor now. There is space now, but I didn't think it would be enough.

The dishwasher fastens to the underside of the countertop edge. This is your height restriction.
Remove the front kick plate and see if the feet will go up 1/2" or more from the existing floor.
If not, your out of luck.

Is the laminate installed over an existing vinyl floor?
You still need to provide some floor specs.

It'll go up 1/2"... the laminate is directly on the wood.

What floor specs do you need? I'm not sure how to find out about the joints... Sorry, I'm new at this!

Thank you!

From underneath the floor, measure the joists (height and thickness, i.e. 2x8, 2x10) and the distance from the center of one joist to the center of the next joist.
Next, you need the longest unsupported span of the joist. This is the longest distance that the joist runs without any support from the ground.
And watch out for spiders.

Okay... spiders - yea.. A lot!..

I have 2x8 every 16"

I plan on putting hardybacker down, will this be too much weight along with the tile and all the other goodies??

You need to tell us the longest unsupported span of the joist. This is the longest distance that the joist runs without any support from the ground.

Dishwashers may have 1" of adjustment but that range will vary from make to make.

Just to be clear because I have seen many DWs tiled into position because they could not be lowered enough to be removed. When RC asked if the feet can be raised, that means the DW will be lowered by 1/2". Also, does the laminate extend under the DW currently? Can you measure the distance from the SUBFLOOR to the underside of the edge of the counter where the DW will slide in.


If you post the make and model of your DW I can probably check the amount of clearance it will have.