Ceramic Tile Flooring

Floor Guy — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:46:29 +0000

When you enter a home you will generally look at the house and admire the many beautiful features that you might see. For many of us it is the flooring that we tend to see at first, why this happens I really don’t know. To help make our entire home look great, many of us will invest in some very expensive flooring materials. This however is not always necessary. There are some very beautiful ceramic tile flooring that we can now buy.

These products are very beautiful and easy to maintain. Ceramic tile flooring is created from ceramic that is baked in a kiln at very high temperatures. This procedure makes them very hardy and long lasting as well. This technique is very old and you can still get the same high quality as in the past.

Now even though the ceramic tile flooring has been baked in a kiln you can still find a vast array of colors, patterns and styles in the various choices of ceramic tiles that are available. You will also find that some of the ceramic tile flooring comes in different textures as well. This variety of colors and textures is what makes many people choose ceramic tile flooring for their homes.

As there are so many interesting features to be found in ceramic tile flooring you can use these tiles in many parts of your home. Besides being wonderful for your hallway and foyers ceramic tile flooring can also be used for the dining room and living room areas also. In addition to their use for floors ceramic tiles can be use for wall cladding.

With the new technology hat makes ceramic tile flooring come in a variety of textures and colors a new use has also been created for the ceramic tile flooring. Many interior designers prefer to use ceramic tile flooring for their clients homes because the simplicity and the practicality of these tiles denote them as being suitable for many different d?cor ideas.

You can also find another type of ceramic tile flooring that is also wonderful for your home. This rustic ceramic tile is called Saltillo. The appearance of this ceramic tile is similar to terra cotta tiles. These Saltillo ceramic tile flooring will give your home a warm and earthy Southwestern look and feel. As you see unlike the earlier ceramic tiles of yesteryear today you can find many new looks for ceramic tiles.

For any one who wants to give their home flooring a refined yet simple beauty buying ceramic tile flooring will satisfy all of your home designer ideas. Since these beautiful ceramic tiles are made to last you can be assured of having ceramic tile flooring that will look the same as when you first installed it in your home.

Ceramic Tile and Wood Sub Floors

Floor Guy — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:49:03 +0000

There are special considerations that must be taken into account when installing ceramic tile on wood sub floors. If you take these issues seriously and deal with them before your installation, your ceramic tile floor will last for years but if you do not, it will almost certainly fail.

Even the most sturdy wood sub floors have a certain amount of springiness or give. This flexibility is not a problem with hardwood or carpet floor coverings but can cause serious problems with ceramic tile. For this reason you must take special steps to stiffen your wood sub floor for the ceramic tile installation.

Once you have removed the original flooring you need to determine what type of wood sub floor material you are dealing with. If you find you have a particle board sub floor it is highly recommended that you replace the entire sub floor with tongue-and-groove plywood. This will give you a much more stable and durable wood sub floor for your ceramic tile installation.

When installing ceramic tile it is very important to make sure your wood sub floor is leveled as much as possible. The ceramic tile is brittle and does not have the flexibility necessary to shape to the contours of an unleveled floor. After you have eliminated as much movement as possible and leveled the wood sub floor you can move on to the next step.

The next step in preparing your wood sub floors for ceramic tile installation is to install a backer board or concrete board over the wood sub floor. We also recommend installing a layer of 30# felt between the wood sub floor and the concrete board. This acts as a vapor and sound barrier and seems to help the tile not seem as cold.

The concrete board comes in 3’ x 5’ sheets and is available in various thickness, choose the thickness that will raise your ceramic tile the proper amount off of your wood sub floor to meet any adjacent flooring. The concrete board is a must for ceramic tile installations on wood sub floors so if your tile must be taller than the adjoining flooring, you must make ramped thresholds or transitions at the joints.

When installing the concrete board over the wood sub floor it is necessary to put a deck screw every six inches to eliminate any chance of movement in the ceramic tile. If you follow these directions and are certain to eliminate the movement of your wood sub floors your ceramic tile installation will have most of the potential problems taken care of.

Wood Sub Floors » Ceramic Tile

Ceramic Tile Flooring

Ceramic Tile and Wood Sub Floors