Porcelain Tile Underlayment On Concrete

I m putting ceramic tile flooring in my kitchen and live on a 10 year old ground level concrete slab.

Porcelain tile underlayment on concrete.

A tile floor consists of three individual layers. Because of issues of moisture movement and adhesion ceramic tile will work well with certain types of subfloor underlayment systems and can go dramatically wrong with other subfloor materials. There are various types of tile underlayment but all serve to smooth out uneven. When installing a tile floor a layer of cement backer board is usually put down over a plywood subfloor to provide a firm stable surface.

Do i need to put any type of underlayment or vapor barrier underneath it. This tile is composed of sand which is fired at high temperature and pressure. The subfloor the underlayment and the surface tile you walk on. A concrete slab makes a good underlayment for ceramic tiles since it s similar to the solid mortar bases that used to be the standard for ceramic tile installation.

Ceramic and porcelain tile are so frequently installed at or above grade level on a cement board underlayment or directly on plywood that it almost seems novel to install tile directly on concrete. However you re not out of the woods. Installing tile directly on concrete. If your concrete is over 15 years old it has had time.

For this reason ceramic and porcelain tile floors can be considered somewhat delicate despite the inherent strength of the material. If your concrete is relatively new under 15 years old you will need an anti fracture membrane such as schluter ditra between your concrete and your tile. Yet this application does make sense since concrete is heavy solid and is typically thought of as an unbending uncompromising material. When installing a ceramic tile floor on a concrete subfloor you don t have to worry about flexing as long as the concrete slab is at least 1 1 8 inch thick which most slabs are.

Concrete expands and contracts and that type of movement can also crack the tiles and the grout.