Kitchen Ceramic Floor Tiling

SubFloor (Structural):

In preparation for laying the new 12x12 glazed porcelain floor tiles (1/4" thick), I utilized the existing 24" on center 2x8 joists. To increase the structural capacity, I installed additional 2x8 joists to change it to 12" on center. To increase the support (due to the original oak joists not being exactly on center) I "sistered" additional 2x8 joists onto these.

SubFloor:

• Before installing the sub-floor, I ran all my plumbing/electrical/insulation while I had easy access to the crawlspace. One this was in place I used 3/4" T&G subfloor plywood - glued & screwed down. On top of this I placed 1/2" thick Hardy tile backer board (Durock could have been used also). This gave me a subfloor that was now 1-1/4" thick, supported by 2x8 joists spaced 12"o.c. Utilizing the original joists actually gave me a double joisted 2x8 every 24" (essentially becoming a 4x8). This has resulted in a floor that feels so solid it seems like a concrete slab.

Tiling:

• Now that the subfloor was in place I could begin prepping for laying the tile. My plan was to install the tile in the entire kitchen area BEFORE the cabinets were installed. This would result in a contiguous tile floor with no adjustments needing to made for dishwasher clearances, etc. Also, since the tile is also under the cabinets, etc., there was no need to custom cut the tile to fit against the cabinets, nor have to worry about moisture, etc., getting under the cabinets into the subfloor. Thus, my tile extends from wall to wall, and the cabinets/dishwasher, fridge, stove, etc. all sit on top of a uniform, contiguous floor.
• After laying out my lines, I used Thin-Set mortar to set the 12x12 tiles in place. For tiles over 6x6 thinset mortar is recommended instead of Type 1 adhesive. The thinset mortar is easy to use. You mix it with water in a bucket and trowel it out using the proper v-notch trowel just like you would the Type 1 adhesive. The main difference is that it sets like concrete, providing a very solid base, eliminating the likelihood of the larger tiles breaking.
• After the tile had set for 24 hours, it was now time for grouting. I used a tinted sanded grout with an additive. The additive gives the grout additional adhesive strength and seals it better. The downside is that it is harder to clean the grout off the tiles during the clean-up period. The porcelain tiles we chose were somewhat textured (but glazed) which made cleaning the grout off the tile surfaces somewhat more difficult. On a smooth tile it would have been less of an issue. You need to be careful when cleaning off the excess grout that you do not overdo the grout lines themselves. Otherwise, you will "leech out" the pigment in the grout. I consider the floor grouting (with sanded/additive added grout) the most stressful part of the job.

Results: We now have a beautiful, solid kitchen floor which will stand up to anything. The advantage of a ceramic tile floor is that it is very easy to maintain and there is no wear & tear on this type of floor. The only disadvantages are that if you drop something on it, that item (if breakable) will break, and (unless you have underfloor radiant heat) the floor retains the ambient heat - which to us has not been a problem.

Next: Kitchen Cabinets and Countertop

Odds and ends::floors and woodwork

This is just a short post to describe the floors and woodwork. In my previous house, in the city- which was one of the Craftsman type homes built in the 1917 to Twenties era, the woodwork and floors for even modest homes was beautiful. Generous dark English oak style appointments including coffered ceiling beams,built in bookcases and fireside bench and oak floors. That made the interior decorating! Good thing, since my furniture was early make-do. The upstairs had beautiful gum woodwork and the master bedroom had its own old ( non-working) gas fireplace- stylishly pretty, even if it was useless. The exterior was done in the revival Tudor style. I really liked that house...just not the neighborhood now there are some interesting stories!.

So we moved out to the country, into a plain old cobbled together farmhouse. Big enough for my growing family, but just short of condemning. Really...it was in bad shape. The floors were an interesting history ( some of which I wrote previously). After taking up the old vinyl flooring we found layers- sort of like the tells of cities, underneath. There was the twenty-era linoleum in what was probably once the back porch and later the kitchen, the oak floorboards of the thirties era maybe that covered the original wider pine boards. The pine board flooring was the original type to the old part of the house. It was painted, and some parts I went ahead and painted again, since the boards weren't in the best of shape and that cuts down on splintering. We've had some monstrous splinters to extract from feet over the years (yes, we go barefoot alot- we're country out here!).

In the dining room we refinished the floor and put down a polyurethane seal. In the living room we kept the old finish and I wax the floors and rent a buffer twice a year. I should do it probably another time- 3x a year, since the area around the wood stove sees a lot of wear. We had to order new windows over the years- had them made fairly economically and they match the old style. The trim work in the living room is pine, stained the color favored in the twenties- sort of a dark reddish varnished finish. I use Murphy Oil Soap and English Oil, but not as often as I did in the old house- I just don't have the housework motivation, now. On the floors we use Paste wax and buff that out, on the polyurethane we get the recommended DuraSeal stuff. But I came across advice to clean polyurethane finished floors with a solution of 1 cup white vinegar to 3 cups warm water... I've got one of those industrial sized bottles of white vinegar around just for cleaning- I think it's time I tried it. Sometimes old fashioned solutions are the best.

There is an interesting site, The Online Floor Store, that has lots of good input in a forum. Check it out for comments on your own flooring challenges. I found it really interesting.

Well, that's it for this post- later:)

Technorati Tags: floors, woodwork

Bathroom Floor Choices

This isn't a major essay- just a little conversation about choosing a type of flooring for the bathroom. It used to be that you had a few kinds of things you chose, but they have some new products out that widen the choice range.

I've lived in houses that had the usual vinyl flooring, but living in older houses also meant the baths had some of the older types of flooring that you don't always see now. One was little rubber tiles that were laid to mimic the favored ceramic style of the day: 2x2 squares in contrasting colors. Cobalt blue and white, in my case. The fact that they lasted so long and still looked good is a testimonial to that part of rubber tile's benefits. The official info on rubber floors is that "Rubber flooring is also a long-life product (20 years) and is derived
from a potentially sustainable source (trees). ~Walls, Ceilings and Floors..., Stepping Stones, No.64 (December 2001) http://www.naturalstep.org.uk/steps_64.pdf"

They are comfortable underfoot and were easy to clean. I used Murphy's oil soap and Pine Sol on them.

I've often had ceramic tiles, but they are a little cold underfoot for northern climes. I love it in my kitchen [a granite stone look]! But for our bathroom we went with sheet vinyl flooring, though we did use ceramic tile on the walls and in the shower surround. My husband installed everything, and the flooring made him nervous. He really doesn't like working with sheet flooring, although it turned out well. Usually they recommend you get a pro to do the job ...which is probably for good reason.

In our latest project we found something new at The Anderson's Store: click together floor panels that look like ceramic tiles. Very realistic, but warm underfoot and less likely to mean sure destruction to things dropped on it (another drawback of ceramic, marble, and other hard floor choices).

Speaking of marble. When I visited Hungary I stayed in a home entirely floored in marble. The bathroom had it on the walls as well, and though it is beautiful, cool and lovely underfoot, it is also very slippery. The lady of the house was in a cast because she had slipped on the stairs while cleaning. Just saying.

My son also had shiny marble tiles in the bathroom at his house in Phoenix, along with ceramic tiles everywhere else. That is a great choice for the desert climate, easy to clean, and the coolness is an asset there. But when you have cold winters those kinds of floors feel pretty chilly on the old feet.

So far I'm sold on
laminate flooring,the click together ceramic look tiles, rectangles of 4'[foot] long tiles that are made to look like they have 4x4 inch tiles. The style we chose looked exactly like some German made tiles (real ceramic) that we used on the kitchen counter top[link is to the actual store we went to, but not the tile choice we used], so that guaranteed that I liked them! They were put together in a snap and I use a Swiffer to clean them, although any simple mopping keeps them clean. It is hard to say how long they will look nice, they do seem capable of chipping, but for now, they seem pretty durable and we're happy with them.



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