Install Your Own Reliable Ceramic Tiles and Save Money

Reader Contribution by Staff
Published on July 19, 2011
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Ceramic tiles make a terrific floor – durable, easy to keep clean, attractive and authentic. But none of these things matter if the grout starts to come loose and tiles start cracking. If this kind of trouble appears, you’re simply out of luck. There’s really no way to eliminate the problems permanently on a troublesome tile installation, and that’s why it’s so important to complete ceramic tiling jobs right the first time.

There are four basic steps to getting your one and only shot at ceramic tiling correct:

1. Proper substrate preparation.
This means an adequately stiff subfloor and, ideally, the use of an uncoupling membrane. If you’re installing tile over a wooden subfloor, you’ll also need to slake the thirst of the wood with just the right amount of water, too.

2. Choose and mix the correct thinset tiling mortar.
Generally speaking, there’s modified thinset mortar and unmodified thinset mortar, and the two are for completely different situations.

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