What are Underlayment, Subfloor, and Joists?

by Lisa C. Marketing Writer

When you are planning for a floor tile project, you have to ensure that the base on which the tiles will be installed is in perfect level and robust enough to take the expected foot traffic.

The quality of underlayment, subfloor, and joist are crucial for the performance and durability of stone and tile floors. We will talk about each of these under the following subsections –

Joists –

Joists are thick wood or metal bars used to provide support to a floor or ceiling. The materials used could be – engineered wood, steel, iron, laminated wood, and dimensional lumber.

If you have concrete slab, you won’t need joists. But you will still need to prepare a subfloor and glue and nail a layer of underlayment before installing tile flooring.

All other structures that do not have a concrete slab will need joists for solid floors and durability.

Subfloor –

Subfloor is affixed or installed on joists or concrete slab. It resets on joists and provides your tile or stone flooring a solid base.

Every residential, commercial, and industrial space has subfloors on which actual floors are built. Not exactly an attractive structure, subfloors hold responsibility of making your flooring stable, durable, and away from cracks and damages.

You have to nail the subfloor boards on joists. You should choose the subfloor keeping in mind the area where you are going to install them.

Underlayment –

Underlayment is often an optional material. However, it can potentially enhance the performance of your flooring.

It increases water resistance, noise resistance, and insulation on your floor, apart from protecting the subfloor from moisture and tiles from damage.

For wooden flooring, stone and tile, and laminate floors, plywood, cement backer board, and foam are the best underlayment materials, respectively.

Now you know what underlayment, subfloor, and joists are and why you need them for your floor project.

This article has been brought to you by MosaicsAndTile.com, one of the leading suppliers of tiles and stones in US.

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Created on Sep 16th 2022 10:59. Viewed 114 times.

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