Steps and questions to ask your tile installer
Is the tile installer you hired doing it right?
Hiring a tile installer can present challenges.
At The Art of Tile we only do it right and never compromise. We are your #1 choice.
You want to bring your vision to life. Most probably, you're looking for a Tile setter who will take the beautiful tiles you painstakingly selected and transform them into the floors or walls of your dream-come-true space.
As visual as tile is, when it's installed it also needs to be functional, trouble free and long lasting.
Evaluating experience and knowledge can be difficult if you're not in the tile installation business day-in and day-out.
When you are not sure, it's easy to fall back on using the lowest price or bid to evaluate who to hire, which brings its own set of problems.
In this guide, we'll explain what to look for so you hire a qualified installer who will bring that vision to life and give you the highest quality and longest lasting installation.
You don’t want to waste your heard earned money on a shoddy tile install and then have it fail after a couple of months, a year or so.
Note:
This does not mean it has to be crazy expensive, it just means a quality install with the latest methods.
For your tile installation project, you want someone who has experience and knowledge of how to install tile correctly, without taking shortcuts, while ensuring that the final installation looks beautiful and performs as it should long after that installer is gone, someone with the proper skill level to do it right the first time.
You want to hire a Master Tile Setter or Tile Installation Professional.
Steps to a successful tile installation
Step 1 – The Assessment
For this example we will focus on floors since they have the highest failure rate and are the most technical and require the most examination.
The tile setter or contractor should evaluate the area that the tile is to be installed on.
He or she should check for substrate integrity, levelness and floor deflection.
Then the tile setter should explain exactly the steps and methods of installing your tiles starting with the layer your tiles will be directly bonded to under your tiles.
This layer is the most important part of a tile installation. It is the bones of your floor.
If the bones are weak the floor crumbles.
Did the tile setter/ contractor recommended scratchcoat under the tiles?
What is scratchcoat?
The "scratchcoat" method consists of wire lath stapled to the sub-floor and then a skim-coat of mortar coating the wire.
Is this the correct method?
Your tile setter or contractor should never recommend a scratchcoat for floors under any circumstances.
Why you ask?
The tile setter that recommended scratchcoat said he has been installing this way for 20 yrs.
He said he swears by this method and most builder use this method.
Its true that most builders use this method..
It is cheap and will last long enough to get them by the warranty period. Then they don’t care whether the job fails or not.
Most likely the tile floors of your house have scratchcoat under the tiles.
Your floors may have lasted for 20yrs with scratchcoat but the majority do not and fail very quickly.
Are you prepared to take that risk with your money?
PREPARE YOURSELF!
This next section may be hard to read. Especially for those people who have just had an installation done with this archaic method.
Scratch Coats are meant for walls not floors!
So why are they using it for floors? Beats me. Maybe because the materials are cheap, or maybe because they just don't know better or maybe this is how they've learned to do it and because they've been doing it this way for so long they believe it is correct.
If you ever question a tile setters method ( I have) they respond defensively with ...."well I've been doing it this way for 20 years."
To me that just seems like a ridiculous statement to make. It's almost like saying that ever since day one of their apprenticeship they have learned nothing and are unwilling to learn anything new.
Now for the facts and to throw their 20yrs of experience out the window.
The Terrazzo Tile and Marble Association of Canada (TTMAC) tested a scratchcoat system in their lab using all the required materials and procedures ... in many ways, probably even superior to what we'd find in the field.
The conclusions are frightening for all those customers who trusted their tiles to be installed by a tile setter who used the scratchcoat method.
In the words of the Terrazzo Tile and Marble Association of Canada (TTMAC):
"This installation failed to meet the lowest level of performance criterion defined by ASTM C627 for residential applications."
This system when used for floors has failed every test given by the Tile Council of America (TCA) and the Terrazzo Tile and Marble Association of Canada (TTMAC).
WHAT?
Wait a second!
Failed to meet the lowest level of performance?
My tile setter said he has been using this method for 20yrs.
Let me put it this way.
Maybe 20 yrs ago it was acceptable when setters did not know any better but I say welcome to the 21st century to my fellow tile setters.
The internet was created and research and information is at your fingertips and in your pocket on that little magical device that lets you talk to your customers and get your jobs.
That being said.
Let us ask ourselves a couple of questions now about our “ very experienced tile setter”
Has your tile setter never done research into the latest installation methods?
Can your tile setter really be that lazy to not even do a quick google search for his customers?
Is this the tile setter you really want to install your expensive tile bough with your hard earned money?
How can a tile setter that will not even take the time to educate himself about the latest and best methods for a trouble free tile installation for his customers be trusted to do a quality job?
The Art of Tile will never risk their customers hard earned money to a shoddy old fashioned and just plain wrong tile installation.
I have had customers ask me if I will do a scratchcoat because it is cheaper and to keep in line with the other lower quotes.
I tell them not a chance!
I have to warranty that job and we have a perfect record of no callbacks for floor failure.
Either we do it right or we don’t do it at all!
I will not risk your hard earned money and my reputation to make a couple of quick bucks.
So what is the correct method?
Lets jump in a time machine.
Say in the future of flying cars and humans on Mars a product was invented that separated your tile from the floor below so any movement of your sub- floor would not transfer to the layer of tile above thus eliminating grout, tile cracking and leading to a very long lasting tile installation.
They would call this crazy thing and uncoupling membrane.
Is it magic or high technology?
Well it turns out this is very ancient technology.
There are many very ancient tile installations around the world that have been discovered that are still in pristine condition and they were installed without the cement technology that we have. How did they do it?
The ancient Europeans would have a layer of sand that separated the substrate (the ground) from the tile.
This sand layer acted to uncouple the tile from the ground therefore separating the layer of tile from the ground movement.
It turns out my friends that THE FUTURE IS NOW!
In the last 20yrs of your now proven unqualified tile setter being in the trade new products have been developed.
Enter Scluter Ditra. The original uncoupling membrane.
What do we know?
We know that scratchcoat is wire mesh stapled to the floor and a layer of mortar coating the wire.
We know that the Terrazzo Tile and Marble Association of Canada has tested this method and found that it meets the lowest level of performance.
Why does it fail?
It turns out that the very staples that hold the wire down, mechanically bond the scratchcoat to the floor therefore transferring the sub-floor movement directly through to the tiles that are bonded to the scratchcoat and creating cracks in the tiles and grout leading to failure.
So what is an uncoupling membrane?
Uncoupling membranes, such as Ditra, work to let the tile layer move independently of the substrate.
When the floor below moves it does not affect the tile on top leading to a very long lasting installation.
It’s good to be informed.
Lets move on
Step 2 - 10 questions to ask your candidates and the answers you want to hear.
1. Is my home structurally adequate for tile?
Answer-
1. I will check the wood floor deflection/ bounce and levelness
2. I will check the concrete floor for cracks. Is this fresh concrete?
( fresh concrete will crack- needs an uncoupling membrane)
2. Who will actually be installing my tile/ do you sub the work out?
Answer. -
I will or I employ highly qualified tile setters that I have tested to make sure they do quality work and I personally inspect the work at every stage of the job.
3. What will be installed under the tile?
Answer-
An uncoupling membrane such as Ditra/ Prova/ Protegga
4. Do you use scratch coat?
Answer-
We do not use scratch coat under any circumstances, it has a high failure rate.
5. What about my existing floor?
Answer-
We will remove it and prep the sub-floor for the new tiles.
6. Can you tile over my existing tiles?
Answer-
Never. This adds weight to your floor and the new tiles cannot bond properly.
7. Does the installer use a leveling system?
Answer-
This one depends on the installer but most do these days.
8. If this is a shower how will you waterproof it to guarantee no leaks?
Answer –
1. We use the complete Schluter, Prova or Weidi Shower system ( Good but expensive)
2. We use Schluter or Prova base , Cement board for walls, Kerdi strips in the corners and everything gets coated with Mapei Aqua Defence water proofing membrane ( Best and budget friendly/ multiple layers of protection.)
9. Do you warranty your work and how long is the warranty for?
Answer
Yes we warranty our work. ( warranty times will vary)
10. Can I see some detailed pictures of your work?
Answer-
Of course. We are very proud of our work.
Step 3 - Insure you have a written agreement or contract
True Qualified Tile Installers will follow up with a written agreement.
Detail selections and design options.
If you have any detail work in mind, require that the contractor provide a mock-up (a physical example of the tile shade variation, pattern if specified, grout colour, grout joint size, and colour-coordinating sealant).
If you have tile with extreme colour variation, be certain that all parties understand the variations. A mock-up helps here, too.
In the tile world, mock-ups should be used as a tool by the tile contractor to obtain the approval of the owner and possibly also the architect, designer, and general contractor - all important specifier constituents for the end project.
Establishing how the finished tile installation will appear before the work begins is a wise choice which can save time and money. A mock-up can consist of photos, digital renderings, an installed board or simply laying out a box of the tile on the floor to see the range of colour and texture.
Set expectations for the tile installation project.
The written agreement sets expectations for payment as well as for scheduling. Make sure there's an allowance for changes and that you have a reasonable completion date.
If the completion date is exceeded, what provisions are in place to handle the delay and who will pay for the extra work?
If you follow this guide you will be well informed to chose the most qualified installer for your project
