I want to have ceramic tiles in my kitchen but after I removed the vinal flooring I found that the previous owner had laid a 1/2 " plywood over a short nap kitchen carpet. (You know the ugly early 1970's type!). Raising this plywood will be hell as there are many nails in it. Can I just install the tiles on the plywood? Thanks, Vernon
Not a good idea. Any sponginess or deflection will affect the tile. Bite the bullet, pull it all up and start out with a decent substrate. Money ahead in the long run.
Just did this... And, as the_plumber said, yes, you want to get that up... It is a pain... It was probably one of the hardest parts of the kitchen remodel we just did... Pull up the plywood that is nailed down every six inches...
Two options that I pursued:
1) Long crow bar and a really long home made pry bar to get far under the plywood and leverage it to pop it up... Works good but is a lot of work...2) Use a circular saw to cut the floor into manageable strips and then use method one... Be sure to set the depth of the circular saw appropriately so you don't cut through the entire floor... This worked well but took a long time and was loud as hell in the kitchen...
Good luck, Mark
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