Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
OT, Giant Ceramic tile question
Barry Irby
A lady friend of mine has seen some ceramic tiles that are 2 feet by 4 feet and thinks they are fabulous and wants them in her kitchen. Her kitchen has a wood framed and plywood floor in it now.
Anyone know anything about such tiles? How would you lay them so they won't break because the floor flexes. I am highly skeptical, but she has her heart set on them. Her son will install them. He is handy, but not a tile mechanic.
Re: OT, Giant Ceramic tile question
Mark Nowicki
Does the floor at least meet the L/360 flex standard?
How large is the kitchen? All the cabinets should come out unless she would be happy with a 1" space under the toe kick.
Largest format tile I have used was 24 x 24. Prep was 95% of the work.
I used cement baker board (Hardi), self-levelling compound, Shluter membrane, over a grand in new tools; suction cups, levelling system, wet tile saw, 1/2" Hitachi drill mixer.
Dry run first, all cuts done, tiles ready in proper order, spread thin set, back-butter every tile , lay, level, clean the joint as you go.
In the end, unless the son is willing to act and equip himself like a professional it will be a waste of time and money.
You can't polish a turd.
Re: OT, Giant Ceramic tile question *LINK*
John McGaw
If there is any flex in a floor it it normal to use an isolating membrane. I've used Schluter Ditra successfully but with that size of tile I suspect that normal rules don't apply. My biggest ones have been 12X24 using Ditra over plywood but that floor had the joists pretty tightly spaced. This may be one of those times when a pro is needed.
Ditra
Agree with Mark
John in NM
This is a job for a pro. A good pro, not the bargain guy.
Tiles that big you need to know the floor deflection spec. If the floor is too flexible, this will never work, whereas 12" tiles would.
Hardi-backer and membrane. I mortar the hardi-backer down, the only time I've used self leveler it was to go over warm wire in a bathroom, over the hardi and under the tile. Worked really well. But that is my only experience with it. Good idea under huge tile though, it will help with the bumps.
Going to need special tools for this job - suction handles and a BIG saw! The son would have to be excessively handy to pull this off. Not impossible, but not as likely as being able to make a nice job of installing 12" tile.
Ecven if you hive
Ray Newman
Agree with the above comments about the material and work involved. The only advice I would give her is "If it was my house, I would not do it."
Against my own better judgement, I once advised a friend about a job. Needless it did not turn out very well as he was not one to take advice. To his dying day, he never failed to let me know that I gave him bad advice....
Re: OT, Giant Ceramic tile question
Jason Roehl
I agree with much of what has been said here—best left to a GOOD pro. I helped a friend tile his kitchen/dining area with 12” x 24” tile about 5 years ago, and that was over a concrete slab. It definitely did not look like a pro did it—they’re happy with it, but I see ALL the flaws, the biggest of which is that the tiles are not perfectly flat due to the concrete not being flat, and we probably should have used a deeper-notched trowel. 24” x 24” will be even worse, especially over a stick-built floor of unknown stiffness.
Jason
Re: OT, Giant Ceramic tile question
Pete in Holland MI
The tiles may look good in the show room, but the scale of the tiles (unless her kitchen his huge) in a smaller room may start to look like a painted garage floor.
To each their own, I guess.....