Why Tile Installations Fail
Thanks for checking out this blog, Today I will tell you why tile installations can fail.
Lack of mortar coverage. In a dry are according to industry standards tile need 80-85% coverage on the back on the tile. In a wet are tile needs 90-95% if not 100% mortar coverage on the back of the tile. This will insure proper support of the tile, to eliminate lose or cracked tile in the future.
Expansion joints ( lack of ). Tile moves like all materials. You need to allow it to move somewhere. On interior applications floor, tile installs needs expansion joints about every 20-25 feet. Now on exterior applications they need more expansion joints., about every 8-10 feet. On all application on the perimeter you can to also leave a gap for the assembly to move. On floor I like 1/4” and no tighter than 1/8”. And on wall I aim for 1/16” and no wider than 3/16”
Deflection, now if you on a concrete substrate it will usually been fine and strong enough for tile. On wood it’s a different story. For ceramic or porcelain tile the substrate need to meet at least L/360 deflection. For stone tile it need to be double as strong L/720. Most substrate that has 16” On Center Joists with 3/4” tongue and groove plywood will be fine. If you are in doubt adding another layer of plywood, properly installed will not hurt. I will leave a link below for the deflector calculator and the link for the APA ( american plywood association ) for the proper methods on installing plywood.
Deflector link : https://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/deflecto.pl
APA link : https://www.apawood.org/buildertips/pages/R340.html
