Crack isolation membrane?

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tate16t

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Can someone recommend a crack isolation membrane. I'm doing procelain tile over a concrete slab where some cracks exist.

Thanks in advance.
 

Lakee911

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I used Ditra in my kitchen. I really liked using it. Seems a little hokey when you first start using it and putting it down, but it's worked well. It's great stuff. Pricey for what it is, but it's good.

Jason
 

Jadnashua

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Ditra is made by www.schluter.com and is a great product. It is designed for combating deflection issues, not potentially spreading that can come from a crack. Typically, crack isolation membrane is used over and to the sides of the crack by maybe a foot or so. Ditra is designed to be used in place of cbu on a wood floor, or over a slab in its entirety. On a slab, it has an additional advantage in that the channels allow the slab to breath a little, and is a great choice over a green slab (which shouldn't be tiled otherwise for at least a month). An isolation membrane is typically quite thin but elastic. Ditra is fairly rigid and much thicker than an crack isolation membrane, making its use over only a crack problematic. It is conceivable that you may want both. Ditra does have some abilty over a crack, but that is not its primary function.
 

tate16t

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Ditra is made by www.schluter.com and is a great product. It is designed for combating deflection issues, not potentially spreading that can come from a crack. Typically, crack isolation membrane is used over and to the sides of the crack by maybe a foot or so. Ditra is designed to be used in place of cbu on a wood floor, or over a slab in its entirety. On a slab, it has an additional advantage in that the channels allow the slab to breath a little, and is a great choice over a green slab (which shouldn't be tiled otherwise for at least a month). An isolation membrane is typically quite thin but elastic. Ditra is fairly rigid and much thicker than an crack isolation membrane, making its use over only a crack problematic. It is conceivable that you may want both. Ditra does have some abilty over a crack, but that is not its primary function.

hmmm... a lot of folks must be confused about the use of Ditra because I'm being told to use it for my purpose by multiple people.
 

Jerome8283

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I called Schluter and was told that Ditra can be used for my purpose. That is, to protect my tile from cracking due to potential movement of the cement floor due to existing cracks.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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I called Schluter and was told that Ditra can be used for my purpose. That is, to protect my tile from cracking due to potential movement of the cement floor due to existing cracks.

Someone there told you that Ditra is A crack isolation membrane???? I think Not.

This is a crack isolation membrane. ANSI 118.12

 
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Jadnashua

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Is that slc embedding the heating wire, or is it thinset? If thinset, it appears to be WAY thicker than allowed, unless it is a medium bed mortar. If the heating is turned on too soon after installation, you can have some bad things happen.
 
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