porcelain tiling advice.

[meir]

Hello Guys, and happy new year.
I’m about to tile my garage floor with 24x14 3/8" thick porcelain tiles.
The garage is 19’x19’ with concrete floor, located in south Florida.
The advice that I need, is regarding any treatment needed to do to the concrete slab, before installing the tiles.
I have few cracks in the concrete, and the area close to the garage door shows some level of moisture on the surface. Is it recommended to use some sort of a membrane under the tile?


will appreciate your input, and will try to upload some pictures later today, to show the problematic area.

 

[Shea]

You may want to apply RedGard or Mapei Aqua Defense first. They both act as a water proofing and crack isolation membrane for tile. You can check out Dakota's thread below which shows how it was used. He is the resident porcelain tile expert on the forum and his thread has a lot of great information.

https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=212509

If you search under "porcelain tile" you will find information from others as well.

 

[meir]

You may want to apply RedGard or Mapei Aqua Defense first. They both act as a water proofing and crack isolation membrane for tile. You can check out Dakota's thread below which shows how it was used. He is the resident porcelain tile expert on the forum and his thread has a lot of great information.



If you search under "porcelain tile" you will find information from others as well.

couldn't ask for more.
thank you very much Shea.

 

[ace10]

Not all cracks are created equal. Need pics and measurements.

 

[meir]

Hi ace10.
Here is the “larger” crack, located at the moist area.
The other cracks are very thin and hardly noticeable.

 

[meir]

Not sure why, but the other photo didn’t make it.

 

[ace10]

That's not bad.

I'm nine months into my 1800 ft2 tile job. I've got plenty of shrinkage cracks. Some are up toward 1/8" in few spots. Most of them are less than the width of a credit card.

For the ones that are a bit wider than I am comfortable with just relying on the mortar (Mapei Ultraflex LFT), I'm using Laticrete fabric membrane embedded in Laticrete Hydro Ban. The fabric for this application is sold in 6"X75' rolls.

My slab was power troweled, so it's pretty slick. I've been using acid gel to etch the areas where I'm putting down the fabric.

I ran several bond tests on concrete using the Ultraflex mortar and found no noticeable difference between heavily etched and the smooth concrete surface.

It's likely overkill, but it gives me comfort knowing that I won't be pulling up my work down the road.

I can't help you with the moisture issue. You may want to consult with the manufacturer of the mortar you're using in order to get guidance.

Good luck with the project. It's a big undertaking when doing the work well.

 

[meir]

Thanks for the input ace10.
i think i will go with the RedGard as recommended by shea.
i did some research about it, and looks like it is going to be perfect for my application.
2 layers will provide me both with the moisture control and the crack prevention i need.
i was thinking to use MegaLite Crack Prevention Mortar, but will take a look at the Mapei Ultraflex LFT.
i'm also thinking to treat this specific crack with some sort of repair before applying the RedGard, so i will appreciate anyone advice on that as well.