Ceramic and stone floor tiles are getting bigger. A lot bigger.
The move to larger and larger format floor tiles has been an ongoing pattern for years but now some manufacturers have brought this evolution to new dimensions, literally. This past week I was at a provincial meeting of hard surface flooring contractors and one of the points of discussion was concerning the inherent challenges involved with the installation of these extremely large format floor tiles. A few years ago 16″x16″ tile was considered large format, now we’re talking about tiles that are 24″x24″, 18″x36″ and 24″x 48″. These are big tiles that cover a lot of floor area in one shot.
The challenges are as follows:
1. You need an extremely flat floor surface. The old spec of plus or minus 1/4″ over 10 feet just does not work. Let’s face it, if the floor can vary up to a 1/4″ (6mm) per foot that would mean if you wanted to install a 24″x24″ tile the flooring contractor would be responsible to lay tiles on a floor that may have 1/2″ (12mm) of deflection over the span of the tile they were trying to install. Let’s also remember that the person installing the tile must supply a finished floor with less than a 1/16″ (1 mm) of lippage from tile to tile. The possible amount of deflection would double if the tile was 24″x48″.
2. The tiles themselves would have to be almost perfectly flat to achieve the same outcome. The problem is that ceramic or porcelain tiles always have some camber in the material itself so the tiles would have to be installed in a stack bond layout if you wanted to minimize lippage.
3. Finally the installers have to be trained in the proper installation techniques for these large format tiles as well as how to check and level the sub-floors.
What should you, as the consumer or specifier expect? Higher installation costs are a certainty and I don’t just mean the tile installer. If the sub-floor is concrete then the concrete finishing contractor will have to be more careful. If the sub-floors are wood we will need lower deflection rates and therefore more joists or more plywood. Both options mean higher costs. Also you, the end client will need to look even more closely at the competency of the flooring contractor that you are hiring to install your floor. Do they have the expertise to level your sub-floor should that need arise and can they install such large format tiles correctly?
Personally I love the look of large format tiles. I think they offer great advantages in terms of ease of maintenance and I think they make a great visual statement. However, I hope that the specifiers and the owners that are asking for these products realize what is required to install these tiles properly.