Today I want to give you seven tips that I think you must know if you’re installing
tile floors in your bathroom, or any floor for that matter. And my seventh one you’ll
really like because it makes installing mosaics much easier and maintenance-free.
Okay, so tip #1—and I think is probably one of the most important parts of installing
a tile floor—and that is knowing what your existing subfloor is. You don’t want to
be installing your tile over existing vinyl or, for most circumstances, over existing
tile. You need to get down to that original subfloor surface and find out how thick it
is because this is going to determine what kind of tile you can install over top of it.
In my experience, a lot of homes that were built after 1980s, they started using 5/8-inch
thick plywood, and a lot of circumstances, that is not thick enough for the deflection
that you need for tile installation. Typically, you want to have a subfloor that’s ¾ of
an inch thick and over joists that are 16 inches on center. An easy way to determine
that is sometimes you can pull off a vent from the edge of the room and measure how
thick that flooring is. And whether you have 16 inches on center is just looking at the
nail pattern of that existing subfloor and also where the butt joints of the plywood
is. Most of the time you’re going to have 16
inches on center, but it’s an important concept to understand and know what you’re
going to be installing over. Tile requires very little deflection for it to be sound
and crack-free. Okay, so tip #2 is determining what type of
tile you’re installing. Now you might’ve already chosen the tile before you’re even
looking at this video. But it’s important to know what kind of tile you’re installing.
If you’re installing porcelain tile, this is probably the most durable type of tile,
and it has the least amount of deflection that you would need in a floor. Or going with
something like marble. Now marble is going to require additional support of your floor
most likely. Stone, especially something like marble, requires a much stiffer surface to
adhere your tile to that floor. And on the topic of marble, I have to say I typically
try to talk people out of using marble on floors and in their bathrooms. And the main
reason is is that it’s soft, especially if it’s a high-gloss tile that’s easy
to scratch. But more importantly, it’s porous, and it constantly needs maintenance. And it
can be easily dyed or stained by a lot of the soaps and different things that we use.
So marble, even though it’s beautiful and it’s a classic look, might not be the best
bet to use for a long-lasting bathroom. The third tip is you need to isolate your
wood subfloor from your tile. Wood species always expands and contracts, and it’s always
a good idea to isolate that separation. So you’ve probably all seen the orange that
a lot of people are using called Schluter-DITRA, that is a great option to isolate the wood
subfloor from your tile layer. One of the main big reasons that people like to use it
is not only is it waterproof—which is great for a bathroom—but also, it gives a very
thin layer and gives you the thinnest capability at your transition to your doorway. So going
with something like DITRA not only waterproofs, but it separates that tile layer.
Now, if you’re going with something like a smaller mosaic—say, for instance, like
this penny tile—you’re going to want to have something at the smooth, flat surface.
The waffle of a DITRA mat would not be suitable for this, nor does Schluter actually want
you to use that. You might want to go with cement board. Cement board is not structural.
But when you apply and install it correctly with thin-set underneath it and use the screws
in the pattern, it does make a nice, rock solid surface. But other than that, I don’t
use cement board at all. All that it really does, it does nothing for structure for number.
And secondly, it just raises the height of the bathroom floor for really no good reason
in most situations. And on top of it, it’s not waterproof. So you have to do a third
step by making it waterproof. In my mind, cement board is really… not too many situations
that you really need to use it. So the fourth tip is to make sure that your
subfloor is flat and sound. I do get a lot of questions about really small amounts of
difference in levelness. In my personal opinion, if you put a 6-foot level or a 6-foot straight
edge and you put a level on it, if it’s under ¼-inch, just kind of leave it alone.
It’s a lot of effort with floor leveling and everything else to correct a ¼-inhch.
And typically that’s not going to really hinder anything in the bathroom for the most
part. But making sure that it’s flat is really important when you’re doing smaller
tiles. Large format tiles can pretty much easily overcome unevenness. And a great way
to feather out an uneven joint is using something like ARDEX Feather Finish or a patching material
that you can go right over the subfloor; doesn’t require any priming. I mean, literally takes
20 minutes and you’re ready to go and tile. It just makes life a lot easier, and you’re
doing a lot less work with thin-set trying to build things up. So having a flat surface
within reason is really important for tile installations.
Okay, so all this talk about subfloor thickness and isolating the plywood from your tile layer
brings you to the biggest problem that we see. And that is the transition from your
bathroom floor to the other rooms in your home, knowing what that thickness is. This
is one of the main reasons that DITRA is used. It reduces the size of that transition. Most
likely you’re going to have either hardwood or carpet at your transition, so you really
want to keep your tile installation below an inch. I always dread anything over an inch
because it’s really tough to make a nice transition work when it’s an inch or taller.
So knowing the thicknesses of your material and what you’re going to be using to make
that transition before you start is really important. You might not want to use that
marble that is a ½-inch thick if you’re going to end up with an inch and a half transition
at the doorway. So always think about that ahead of time before you start the bathroom.
Okay, so my number six tip is about the layout of your tile. I see so many videos that are
going into: create your center line, go off of that, make equal distances on the other
side of the room; that’s all important, and that’s a great reference. But in my
mind, the most important thing is the most visual area of the bathroom and what everyone
is going to see. Making sure that you’re squaring your tile layout off of that object.
So if you have a tub, I think it’s most important to have all your tile even and straight
against that tub line. If you’re doing a curbless shower, very important to start out
with a full tile at that transition, especially pattern tile. Pattern tile, you cut a half
inch off, and you could tell someone cut a half inch off. So you really want to make
sure that the layout fits your bathroom, and look at the visual areas that make the most
sense to make sure that everything equally looks good in the bathroom. There’s areas
like vanities that you can hide cuts. So even if you ended up with a 2-inch sliver where
there’s going to be a vanity, I mean the vanity covers the whole area, so it doesn’t
really matter. So always just kind of look at a higher scope of what you’re doing and
making sure that the visual areas are the places that you’re going to be placing the
tile properly. So my final tip—I’m really excited to
share with you—and that is with using penny tile or smaller mosaics is using an Epoxy
grout that is also an adhesive. Not all Epoxy grouts can do this. There’s one in particular
that I’ve been using for the last few years, and that’s called ARDEX WA. They actually
recommend it to be not only as a grout, but you can actually use it as an adhesive to
install the tile. And what I really love about this is it really makes it a lot easier to
install because I’m not worried about the thin-set oozing up between the grout line
because it’s grout and it’s the same color as it. So I install it using a ¼” x ¼”
trowel; I embed it with the grout float; anything that comes up, all I do is clean it off smooth
and clean, and the next day I grout it with the same product, and it’s all one, cohesive
formation of tile. So in my mind, I don’t think you can get any better than installing
tile with an adhesive that is also the grout. So give us a thumbs up if this video helped
you out; it helps other people find this video. We want to make sure that you’re getting
all the great information to help you out with your project. And if you’re still a
little bit confused about tile floors or bathroom remodeling in general, check out our site
at Bathroom Repair Tutor. We have over 230 videos on step-by-step on how to remodel your
bathroom and do it right. So check us out, and we’ll see you in the
next video.