As a Homeowner, it is crucial to make the right decisions. If you don’t take the right decision, you may lose a lot more money. Hence, you should take the advice of professionals and ensure that you take right decisions. One of the major decisions you have to make is about flooring. When choosing the flooring you need to be clear about various types of flooring and their advantages and disadvantages. Among various flooring types, ceramic tiles are one of the best. You need to know about ceramic tile installation to decide on ceramic tiles.
How to install ceramic tiles – know the work area – When you are trying to install ceramic tiles, it is best to know about the work areas. If the work area is of 1970’s or before, then the chances of asbestos are going to be high. Working with asbestos used work area is risky since it was the chief cause of lung cancer. Hence, you have to know about the work area.
– assess the foundation – You have to assess the foundation on which the ceramic flooring is going to be installed. Ceramic flooring can only be installed on concrete. If the foundation is wood, vinyl flooring, particle boards etc, ceramic flooring can not be installed. If there is no choice and you have to install ceramic tiles on plywood foundation, you may have to put membrane in between. It will help avoid moisture getting into the plywood. You have to apply latex thin set above the membrane and the tile for a tile to bond properly.
– Test vinyl flooring – If the ceramic tiles have to be installed on vinyl flooring then test vinyl flooring for asbestos. If it contains asbestos then sand to make the latex thin set bond with vinyl.
– Tile on concrete – If the installation is directly done on concrete then it just requires the application of thin set and placing the tile on the concrete. You should ensure that there is no paint on the surface to bond well. If the concrete floor has the paint then it requires being removed.
Precautions to take
Thin set dries quickly hence you should finish the job at a stretch once you start it. The most common surfaces you may want to install ceramic tiles will generally be concrete, plywood and vinyl. Hence, it is best to know about the ceramic tile installation procedure so that tiles are installed properly depending on the surface you are planning to install.