Tile Moisture Barrier

Need help deciding on underlayment type.

Tile moisture barrier.

Liquid waterproofing is an outstanding redundancy barrier to the tile installation and allows you to skip the plastic sheeting behind your substrate. Some underlayments have a built in moisture barrier. Nance carpet and rug versapad 180 sq. Omit plastic when covering bare wood subfloors thereby allowing the subfloor to breathe.

There are a variety of underlayment types including foam and cork underlayment plywood hardboard and cement board. I still recommend installing a vapor barrier behind the substrate and if you plan on installing a steam generator you will definitely need a vapor barrier. These are typically used for floating floor applications. In this case there is less breathability to encourage evaporation which ultimately could cause mold growth.

If moisture reaches your vapor barrier behind the tile substrate it should have the opportunity to evaporate this process is hindered when a second vapor barrier is applied or installed to the outside of the tile substrate. Floating floor installations when installing laminate or other floating floors over cement vct ceramic tiles or kitchen vinyl use 6 mil poly sheeting plastic as the moisture barrier.