Ceramic: Key requirements for a top-quality installation

A wise man once said: “He who fails to prepare, prepares to fail.” That axiom certainly applies to the world of ceramic tile installation where careful planning is absolutely crucial to the success of any project, be it residential or commercial. To that end, FCNews rounded up several 5-Star NTCA contractors to compile a list of requirements to achieve a quality installation every time. Participants included: Erin Albrecht, owner of J&R Tile, San Antonio, Texas; Woody Sanders, owner of DW Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting, Marietta, Ga.; and Brad Trostrud, president of Trostrud Mosaic & Tile Company, Wood Dale, Ill.

Following are some of their top recommendations.

1. First things first—make a checklist.

Yes, there’s an app for that. Tile setters at DW Sanders Tile & Stone Contracting routinely use a program called Buildertrend to help them get organized prior to starting the job. “We put the checklist inside the app so we can remind ourselves what we need for each project,” Sanders explained. “Right off the bat you want to know what are the plumbing specs? Are there patterns involved? The hardest part with most jobs is getting the facility manager or general contractor to communicate to us all the requirements or issues we might face. Everybody feels like we can build something just in time, but it doesn’t work that way. There’s always this ebb and flow. Having a checklist prevents any misunderstanding.”

2. Observe and document the site conditions.

First and foremost, on any jobsite, according to J&R’s Albrecht, are the environmental conditions—especially temperatures. “All of our adhesives, mortars and grouts—everything that we use to bond our ceramic tile, porcelain tile—have limitations, either on the low scale or the high scale in terms of temperatures,” she explained. “It’s important to make sure you’re within the parameters of the assemblies and mortars and grouts that you’re using.”

Surveying the jobsite closely and carefully for potential problems prior to initiating work can save headaches down the road—especially when there are other trades involved. “For example, is the plumbing roughed in the right places at the right depths?” Sanders asked. “I can do a perfect job, but it won’t help if the plumber messed up.”

And let’s not forget about the condition of the walls. Are they square and true? Any unevenness here will negatively impact the overall installation. “We would prefer that the general contractor address that before we get there,” Sanders said. “We put the burden on those guys.”

3. Ensure the subfloor is ready to accept tile.

It should go without saying, but tile contractors need to confirm that the subfloor has been properly prepped. “Are they flat within the standards we need for the type of tile we’re installing?” Sanders asked. And if not, who’s responsible for rectifying the situation? “We had a contractor who said, ‘Hey, are you making this flat or are you paying us to make it?’ We can’t make a 24 x 48 tile work out right without the right substrate tolerances to begin with.”

Before a single tile is installed, experts say, it’s critical to make sure any materials you use will indeed bond to the substrate. The typical questions Trostrud asks are: “Has the concrete been sealed? Does it have any old patch on it? Does it have any old glue? I know a lot of people who think that because they have a primer, they can prime over anything, throw some patch down and tile it. We don’t do that. If you have old repositionable glue or carpet glue, I will tell the general contractor, ‘I need you to remove that. That should be demoed along with whatever else you’re demoing in the space.’”

Trostrud shared a useful tip he learned from one of his reps to quickly assess the condition of the substrate: pour a little bit of water on the concrete subfloor; after it initially puddles, see how long it takes to sink in and disappear. “If it’s going into the concrete, then you’re going to be able to bond to it with the cementitious product and not have any issues,” he explained. “The concrete will still be a darker color, but the water will disappear. We will not begin the tile installation until the substrate meets the necessary requirements.”

4. Don’t take shortcuts.

Situations such as uneven subfloors are common on many jobsites. While there are numerous ways to remedy this situation, experts say some tile setters often take shortcuts given the pressures they face to move on to the next job quickly. Trostrud recommends avoiding this at all costs.

“Some contractors will just pour some self-leveling compound on the subfloor or push it around a little bit if it’s off. Not us—we will build screeds with a trowelable patch, like a train track, parallel to that and then come back and fill that in. It’s usually more expensive because all the labor we’re putting into the floor, but it’s a no-brainer.”

Trostrud also says he tells it like it is. “I’ll tell the general contractor, ‘Your floor is not ready for tile. It needs to be prepped. It needs to be flattened or made level.’ Then I’ll show them the manual, which states the specs. I’ll tell them, ‘If you’re doing anything other than that, you’re cheating and you’re not doing a proper installation.’”

5. Practice the fundamentals.

Ensuring the tile products you’re working with meet rudimentary specifications can go a long way in preventing failures after it’s installed. As J&R Tile’s Albrecht explains: “There’s a big question mark regarding where materials are being sourced from .You have to make sure you’re working with quality materials. Can it be installed per TCNA (Tile Council of North America) standards. It needs to be a 137.1 ceramic tile; if it doesn’t meet that standard, it doesn’t meet standards in North America. If it’s not 137.1, you’re probably going to have some issues.”

And here’s one that often goes unnoticed: expiration dates on bonding materials. “Always check to see if your adhesive’s out of date,” Albrecht noted. “A lot of people work with expired materials because they don’t even know how to check the dates on it.”

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