Bathroom floor and shower tile material tips

[ron144]

Hi! I am a newbie to this. I been doing research but wanted to ask here for best opinions.

I am planning to re-do my bathroom floors and shower walls with porcelain tile with a contractor. Would be great for tips on what material to get to plan my budget. Looking for great recommendations with low costs but qaulity as well. Here is what i have so far:

- Tile of my choosing
- ThinSet Motor - Any recommendations?
- Grout - Tiles will be spaced between 1/16", Any recommendation to prevent mold/mildew and long lasting? Would it be better to get the pre-mixed?
- HardieBacker Cement Backerboard and screws
- Spacers
- Sealer


Thanks,
Ron

 

[WorthFlorida]

The most important part of this project is the contractor. All the best materials or the cheapest, if not installed correctly there will be problems. Your tiler should have all these answers.

• There is no such thing as bad porcelain tile, they are all better than ceramic tile. Porcelain tiles are usually cut to size after the firing at the factory, therefore, each piece will will be nearly exact size.
• 1/16" grout maybe too small but 1/8" is about right for larger tiles but it has a lot to do with the size of the tile. Too thin and the grout will wash out or as the wall and floor expand, the grout will more readily crack and may fall out.
• Thin set; each tilers has there own preference but as I said, it is how it's used to put down the tile.
• Grout: premix or not, not ,much difference. With my last bath remodel my tiler like MAPEI premix. With our master bath remodel, the contractor used grout you mix with water. Some grout you add an additive with the water for mold and mildew.prevention. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-...cker-32-oz-Additive-for-Grout-SBG32/202525433
• Any backer board is good, just do not use drywall screws.
• For the SHOWER & BATH walls, use RED GARD to waterproof the walls.
• About the best online tiling forum and web site
  • https://www.johnbridge.com/
  • https://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

Industry guidelines for minimum grout joint spacing is 3x the difference in size between the biggest and smallest tile in the batch...so, you'd need to take a bunch of them out of their boxes, stand them on edge and measure carefully. FWIW, 1/16" would require no more than 1/48" variation between min/max. That can happen, but is not very common in porcelain tile. Sometimes, the manufacturer will indicate the minimum size grout joint for the tile in the box...they do that for a reason, if there, follow it.

For every tile backer, they all require that you use thinset mortar underneath it. This is not to hold it in place (the fasteners do that), but to ensure the cbu is 100% supported. For that application, you can use about the cheapest thinset you can find as it's essentially just a filler. Not true about what goes on top of it, though!

Tile doesn't care about level, but they do want a flat floor. You may want both. When using cbu, any leveling must be done after the cbu is installed prior to tiling. The industry guidelines on flatness depend on the size of the tile - you don't want a big one tettering on a high point. So, you need to check that with the longest straightedge you can fit.

Tile DOES want enough stiffness so that the tile and grout can stay intact based on the amount of deflection. It's possible that your floor does not meet industry standards. For ceramic tile, that's L/360. Should you want a natural stone tile, it doubles to L/720. Note, deflection is not based on the size of the room, it's based on the distance between supports underneath the floor like a beam or rim joist. You really want to calculate that prior to deciding to tile anything.

Most of the newest single-component grouts are pretty good and most of them will not benefit from a sealer, while a cement based one would. Unless your ceramic tile is polished (i.e., ground down which opens up the pores closed in the mold during production), you don't need to seal the tile. When using a grout joint 1/8" or greater, you should use a sanded grout. At 1/8" and lower, an unsanded one. Note, some of the sanded grouts out there use a very fine sand, and can handle smaller joints, too, so you need to read the specs carefully. Sanded grout is stronger.

I'll double the recommendation to check out www.johnbridge.com for tiling info.