Level and FLAT. Foundational tile PHILOSOPHY.
Foundation (n) the basis or groundwork of anything.
Whenever we think of tile, the first thought should be the foundation.
A proper foundation UNDER a tile installation is what secures the lasting qualities of tile.
The foundation also determines whether you’ll have a good LOOKING tile project, as well!
A framed wall with studs that are NOT IN PLANE or PLUMB will make the tile job at the end look WRONG.
A subfloor with dips and dives, mountains and valleys, will manifest a tile floor that has lips and that will soon FAIL.
Our philosophy revolves around building the MOST SOLID foundation for our tile, so, we therefore attain a lasting tile job and a great looking tile project.
It’s a joy to think about installing tile on a flat and solid foundation.
It’s FUN to install tile on a flat surface.
That’s why we LEVEL the vast majority of our floors. Because we know that making a solid, flat and level foundation improves our tile installation.
Leveling a bathroom floor is a bit of a process with very specific steps to take.
We use a product called Ardex Liquid backerboard to level our floors. This is a leveler that does not require lathe. We apply a primer to ¾” plywood subfloor and pour our leveler from a wheeled mixing container onto the floor.
We have previously installed screws to the level we need to pour, so we know exactly how much leveler to put down.
The leveler, as it’s setting up, creates tremendous HEAT as it is hardening, 12 hours later we have the flattest and best surface to set our tile.
Often we’ll put an uncoupling membrane on top of this leveler (Ditra) but for this example we painted the leveler with Ardex 8+9 waterproofing and set a Victorian style mosaic tile on 12” sheets.
Installing tile to a FLAT surface ensures FULL THIN SET COVERAGE under the tile with very little effort on the part of the installer. Spread thin set with our trowel at a set thickness, put the tile down, wiggle or vibrate the tile and like magic, COLLAPSED TROWEL RIDGES and FULLY SUPPORTED tile---which will prevent cracking and movement.
A proper tile job!
In our video examples below, we level this jack and jill bathroom floor with Ardex Liquid Back board.
The stuff comes out like water, so we SEAL everything with caulking.
We use sill seal around the perimeter for expansion and contraction.
You CAN NOT pour this material and leave it tight against walls.
We leave the sill seal up around the perimeter until after grouting…why not? We are guaranteed perimeter expansion zones using this method!
Blue foam sill seal around perimeter.
It’s fun to think Jason and I have become experts at leveling floors. If you’ve done enough of it, you know how it can be hit or miss. Ten years ago, I remember making floors WORSE messing with this leveler!
Our experience has really solidified effective leveling techniques.
We now put a large straight edge on the floor and get to say “perfect”!
With bigger tile becoming the norm, with construction timelines and costs getting crunched…MORE AND MORE bathroom floors are having to be LEVELED.
Houses JUST ARENT built that great.
Builder grade finishes make it so leveling can be skipped. With the modern, high end finishes going in today, with most remodels, leveling is a must.
Check out this tool video I put together to see all the stuff we use to do a professional leveling job:
Last but not least, I can’t leave you without a look at us installing the floor. This one was LOTS of little pieces but I’ve grown to enjoy installing mosaics.
Anywho, Thanks for being here and I hope you found some of this useful and or entertaining. - Ben