Our Tile Job - or Why I'm Never Getting on My Knees Again

When we moved into our new home, we had a lot of work done.  The thing we didn't change at that time was the flooring in the kitchen and dining room.  The previous owners had installed laminate flooring - an inexpensive material typically made of fiber board, with the appearance of wood.  Although there are some relatively high quality laminates available, much of it is cheap.  Our floor was not the good stuff, but it looked OK, and we thought we could live with it for a while.  As it turns out, "a while" was about 6 months!

This was our floor before we did any work.  As you can see, it looks nice at first glance.

Laminate floors are "floating" - meaning they are not attached to the sub floor.  They typically have an underlayment of foam, so there's a good deal of give when you walk on them.  We didn't care for the feel of it, and really didn't like the sound the dogs made when they walked on it - kind of a hollow, clicking sound.  In addition, since it's not attached, some of the seams had a tendency to separate, leaving 1/8" gaps at some of the seams.

Laminate floors can be extremely durable - they'll likely last longer than a wood finish under heavy traffic - but most don't handle moisture well.  We had a small leak in the kitchen, causing the floor to swell and warp unacceptably, so we had to make  some repairs, even if we didn't replace the whole floor.

 Since we didn't like the floor anyway, we decided to pull it up and replace it with tile.  We choose tile for durability and ease of maintenance reasons, after thinking seriously about a wood floor.  In the end, I think we made a good decision.

The first step was to pull up the old flooring, down to the sub floor.  Laminate floor is easy to remove - just remove the base trim in the room, and start at one end.  The pieces are about 3' long, and 6 or 8 inches wide.  There's a locking tongue that fits a matching groove along the edge of each piece, so once you get the first section out, the rest comes apart easily.  If you're careful, you can do it without damaging the pieces.  In our case, we weren't going to reuse them anyway, so I just ripped it out, along with the pad underlayment.

The black layer is the underlayment pad - it's just stapled to the OSB sub floor.



All the old flooring is removed, down to the sub floor.

If you're installing tile, you need to make sure your structure is adequate for the load.  Generally speaking, you'll want to make sure your floor joists are rigid enough, and that your sub floor is strong enough to limit the deflection to an acceptable level.  If you have 2 X 10 floor joists  on 16" centers with a span of less than 12 feet or so, you're probably OK.  If you're not sure, use the "Deflectometer" on the John Bridge Tile Forum.  If your joists are OK, you may still need to add to the sub floor.  In our case, we had 3/4" OSB, which is adequate for the type of tile we were installing.

Regardless of your sub floor, you'll probably need to put something down before you lay your tile.  Traditionally, tile is installed on top of cement board which has been set in a bed of thin set mortar and screwed to the sub floor.  This cement board serves to give a good surface to which the tile can adhere, as well as to isolate the tile against some movement in the substrate.  In our case, I decided to use a newer product, an isolation membrane called Ditra.  This orange membrane is flexible, with a waffle pattern that holds mortar.  Ditra is more expensive than traditional cement board, but is thinner, allowing your finished floor to be closer to the height of carpet.  It is also reported to be a better solution to some types of movement in the sub floor.  My main purpose in using it was to minimize height, so the base trim would be in approximately the same spot as before.

If you use Ditra, read the instructions.  You must use a "Modified" thin set mortar to install the membrane to a wood sub floor, and an "Unmodified" mortar to attache the tiles to the top of the membrane.  If you're installing on a concrete slab, make sure to read the instructions and do it right.

To install the Ditra membrane, mix the mortar a little thinner than you do to set tile.  Think "Milkshake" for the membrane, "Peanut Butter" for the tile.  You spread your mortar on the floor using a small notched trowel (they sell one specifically for the job), then press the membrane into it.  I used a roller designed for installing vinyl sheet flooring to roll it out, squeezing excess out of the edges.  I soon discovered it was much easier to handle it in smaller (5'-6') pieces, rather than trying to go across the room in one shot.

The orange Ditra only adds about 1/8" to the height of the floor.  Kodak isn't convinced he likes this floor yet!

Once the Ditra is installed, you're ready to start laying tile.  Note Carter is starting near the center of a room.

You should do a little planning before you start to lay tile.  Since you don't want to end up with a tiny sliver at one end, lay it out so you have about a half tile at each end.  Starting in the center of the room gives you a little more leeway, so getting a little crooked isn't so noticeable.  In our case, we had to start at the edge of the kitchen, then work around the room so we weren't trapped in there.  Once that was done, we could just work our way to the far end of the room.

Note the pattern - we used 6" and 12" tile.  The spacers between tiles help to keep the grout lines straight (although with this pattern, it's hard to see if one's a little crooked!

The kitchen is about done - after grouting, we'll be able to move the appliances back in.

Lizzie and Carter came to help, so, as usual, Carter laid all the tile (actually, Liz did a few of them).  I put down most of the Ditra, and cut tile, while Liz helped on both tasks.  A big job like this is much easier with two, and three is even better.  In our case, we also had 4 dogs in the house, so one of us frequently had to deal with canine issues.

We had a cheerful crew working on the job, at least at the beginning!

Not everyone was working - Alex had a pretty good view of the project.

I really liked the pattern, but it added quite a bit of labor to the job.  Although the total square footage of this job was only a little more than what we did in our lake project, this was a lot tougher job.  Not only did we - meaning Carter - have to deal with the pattern, we also had many more nooks and crannies to tile, so there was a lot more measuring and cutting involved.  Also, unlike at the lake, we had to move furniture and appliances around, as well as deal with a whole pack of dogs!  In any case, eventually the tile was down.

Once the tile had a chance to set, we were ready for grout.  Applying the grout isn't rocket science, but it's hard work.  Just as hard is washing it down afterword - you're on your knees, wiping and scrubbing like crazy.  Fortunately, Liz and Carter were in better shape than I was, so they were able to finish this job when my arms, back, and knees gave out.

We grouted the kitchen before finishing the tile in the other room so we could move the appliances back in.

I really like the pattern - it adds to the look of the floor.

The tile is still damp from washing - it's not this high gloss when dry.

Carter's knees must be sore - she's bending over to clean this section.

All clean!

This is how it looks when dry!

Ready to re-install the trim.

Once the tile was done, all that was left was to re-install the base trim.  Since the floor was a little higher than the old one, I trimmed about 1/4" from the bottom of each piece on my table saw before nailing it back on.

After working on a couple of tile jobs, I can tell you it's not something I'd want to do for a living.  Everything is heavy, and you spend all day kneeling and bending over - I suppose a person might get used to it, but who would want to?  On the bright side, the entire project cost under $2,000 - a much smaller number than you could expect if you hired it done.  I might tackle a very small tile job myself, but I'd never want to do this alone - Carter and Liz were very much appreciated!  If you decide to do this kind of job yourself, try to get someone with experience to guide the job.

In any case, we now have a great new floor - a big improvement to our home!