Choosing your tiles for your tile contractor/tile setter
Your tile contractor/tile setter's final work will look according to the tiles you will chose. Tiles comes from different materials, natural stones, like marble are cut with diamond saw, and polished with diamond planer, those tiles can be very close to perfect in shape and size, allowing your tile contractor to have smaller grout lines through out the projects.
Ceramic tend to shrink in the baking, creating different size of tiles, even sometimes not so "flat" or even not the same thickness will have your perfectionist tile contractor/ tile setter in a nightmare.
A pressed edge is sometimes referred to as a cushion edge, this describes the tile where the surface edge still has the curved edge caused by the factory's press during manufacturing. Pressed edge tiles have wider grout joins and rounder corners ideal for a feature.
Porcelain tiles can also be rectified, that means after the baking the tiles go thru a cutting process like marble, these rectified tiles are usually the most accurate product allowing your tile contractor to give you a perfect installation.
Rectified tiles, or sharp edge tiles as they can be known, are ceramic or porcelain tiles that have been manufactured to a very precise tolerance. This means they are cut to near exact measurements with a near perfect straight edge.
Building your substrates (wall or floor behind the tiles) is also very important. You should consult with your tile contractor about your substrate. As far as how solid for movement it has to be, consider the industry specification of "it can't move more than 1/360".
The tile industry limits the deflection of floors receiving ceramic tile to 1/360 of the span. This amounts to approximately 1/2 inch of allowable deflection for a 15-foot span.
So no movement from the substrate will prevent grout cracking and installation's resiliency, of course concrete floors move the less, this movement limit is for plywood floor substrate. Usually with good structure framing the industry recommends one inch and one quarter (1 1/8") total plywood.
A subfloor is the bottom-most structural level of your floor. A good subfloor needs to be durable, level, at least 1 ⅛ inches thick, and free from residue. If it is not, it won’t support tile well. For bathrooms, cement board and some other material are water resistant. Drywall is not water resistant.
Your tile contractor/tile setter will want to install a water proofing membrane so he can guarantee his work will last forever. He can also install floor heating before the tiles, on floors and shower seat.
Your tile contractor/tile setter can offer a bed of mortar installation or recommend self leveling solutions. The bed of mortar method is a one step installation, self leveling is a two step process.
If you have more question about your tile contractor processes and materials please send us your question to our team@amazingfloors.ca email or just down here simple and easy. Enjoy your new project 🙂
