Ceramic Tile Tips

Installing ceramic tile is a piece of cake easy if you what you are doing. Laying the actual tile is simple. The key is not making fundamental mistakes that can ruin your project.

Concrete slabs are usually the best floor type for carefree tile installation. Requiring little preparation other than a good cleaning and making sure you do not have large cracks that need attention. The current trend is toward larger tile pieces, larger than the standard 12’ x 12’ tile floor size. Larger tiles require a more level floor without dips and high spots so, a slab may needed to be leveled with a floor leveling compound to be suitable for the larger tile installation.

The number one mistake is laying ceramic over an improperly supported or weak  wooden sub-floor; this mistake can ruin the whole job. An installed ceramic tile floor is a rigid unit and once it is set up, a lot of movement in the sub-floor will eventually cause the floor to crack and come apart. 

Check the floor for bounce and movement; a properly supported sub-floor will have very little bounce movement. If you have bounce, the floor is not supported properly across its span. Usually this is because the supporting piers have ceased to contact the floor joists and need to be re-leveled and shimmed. It is also possible piers may have to be added.  These piers are not foundation piers, but usually just concrete blocks stacked and shimmed to support the floor.

You can installed ceramic tile on plywood if the plywood is certified for tile floor installation or the best method is to lay a layer of concrete backer board over an existing floor. Concrete backer board installed onwooden floors is considered the best underlayment for ceramic tile installation.

Just follow the procedures professional tile installers’ use and you will have a long lasting beautiful tile floor.

If you like, here is a link to a professional installation course with tutorial videos.

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