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Laying ceramic tile... Do I need to level this floor??

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Laying ceramic tile... Do I need to level this floor?? Al Kondo 01-25-2006
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Posted by Al Kondo on January 25, 2006, 6:11 pm
I am in the process of laying 12 inch porcelain tile in both my
kitchen and living room. As both rooms are connected, I am laying
the tile in both rooms. I finished the kitchen and it turned out
great. Because it had a plywood underlayment, I used cement
backerboard as a base for the tile. My living room has a concrete
slab. I have removed the vinyl tile that was on it and cleaned off
all of the glue residue. Here is my question: I have used a four
foot straight edge to determine if there are low and high spots on the
slab. While most of it is perfect, there are spots that are from
1/16th to 1/8th of an inch low. Can I expect that the mortar that I
am applying with a trowel that has a quarter inch notch will take up
this small imperfection.... or, should I get floor leveling mixture to
level the floor? I would appreciate thoughts.

Al Kondo

Posted by SQLit on January 25, 2006, 6:44 pm

> I am in the process of laying 12 inch porcelain tile in both my
> kitchen and living room. As both rooms are connected, I am laying
> the tile in both rooms. I finished the kitchen and it turned out
> great. Because it had a plywood underlayment, I used cement
> backerboard as a base for the tile. My living room has a concrete
> slab. I have removed the vinyl tile that was on it and cleaned off
> all of the glue residue. Here is my question: I have used a four
> foot straight edge to determine if there are low and high spots on the
> slab. While most of it is perfect, there are spots that are from
> 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch low. Can I expect that the mortar that I
> am applying with a trowel that has a quarter inch notch will take up
> this small imperfection.... or, should I get floor leveling mixture to
> level the floor? I would appreciate thoughts.
> Al Kondo

Your good to go. Keep checking the level to you established grade.



Posted by Paul Franklin on January 25, 2006, 11:19 pm
On Wed, 25 Jan 2006 23:11:31 GMT, alkon@hal-pc.org (Al Kondo) wrote:

>I am in the process of laying 12 inch porcelain tile in both my
>kitchen and living room. As both rooms are connected, I am laying
>the tile in both rooms. I finished the kitchen and it turned out
>great. Because it had a plywood underlayment, I used cement
>backerboard as a base for the tile. My living room has a concrete
>slab. I have removed the vinyl tile that was on it and cleaned off
>all of the glue residue. Here is my question: I have used a four
>foot straight edge to determine if there are low and high spots on the
>slab. While most of it is perfect, there are spots that are from
>1/16th to 1/8th of an inch low. Can I expect that the mortar that I
>am applying with a trowel that has a quarter inch notch will take up
>this small imperfection.... or, should I get floor leveling mixture to
>level the floor? I would appreciate thoughts.
>Al Kondo

That won't be a problem at all. Most slabs are a lot worse. Just
keep checking level as you lay the tile and if you hit a low spot,
just add a little more thinset under those tiles.

One more point: If it's not too late, don't straddle the transition
between the two subfloor surfaces with a tile; it will almost surely
crack after a while. Ideally, you should have a joint over the
transition point, and use color matched flexible sealant for that
joint line rather than grout. Smaller tile are more forgiving, but
the big ones will crack if there is any uneven movement underneath.

Good luck,

Paul


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