Hard flooring options

[FoxtArt]

I've put in a butt-ton of tile in my life. Currently in a whole-house wood look tile that I installed. If you install it right, it isn't ever breaking on tile or grout lines. Even if your shit settles by 6" on each side.

Ceramic actually flexes quite a bit before it breaks. Each wood-look tile can tolerate at least 3-5mm of flex before cracking. That's an inch every 10 feet, or so. Now, if you have drastic settling, the whole tile floor will crack as if it is concrete - in a lateral line going through the tiles, it doesn't matter where the edges or grout are.

Tile has two IMPORTANT factors:

1) Above all else, the tiles - especially the lengthy wood look ones - MUST BE BACKBUTTERED. RULE #1. You can lay out a grid of say, 4x2 tiles, spray them down with a spraybottle (always prewet surfaces), quickly spread your thinset over the block, then go to your surface, quickly spray it down, quickly set your thinset down (all lines should be parallel, swirls are from idiot installers) and slap your tiles in. You can lay pretty fast this way, but this is done RIGHT. I recommend using the cheapest thinset ($8/bag) mixed with the normal liquid ratio but comprised of 50% water and 50% latex admix ($28.00/2.5 gallons). This is very strong but also very cost effective.

2) When you install this way, you can drop a sledgehammer on the tile and it won't crack. (It'll just dent a bit). You can intentionally hit the tiles about a dozen or two dozen times with a claw hammer and they won't crack. You can neglect to install grout for years and they won't go anywhere. How do I know this personally? Well, let's just say don't install all your tile and then decide you want to upgrade to HVAC.

3) If you don't backbutter, many of the tiles will start to sound a little hollow when you walk on them, and over time the impacts will pulverise the thinset into dust and it'll come off. Also, if you drop anything on it, it will crack.

4) RULE #2: ALWAYS BUY AND STORE QUITE A BIT EXTRA (15% overpurchase SF). Tile lasts a looooooong ass time. Because it's not an interlocking design, lets say your floor settles 5" and you get a lateral crack running across a room. Well, fix it. Tile varieties don't stay in stores very long - months, at most, so you'll never be able to buy it when you need it, and they go out permanently. Manufacturers don't do "throwbacks".

Advantages: Sheer longevity and bullet-proof. Yet, readily repairable, if you don't mind pulverizing ceramic with a hammer until progressively pissed off). Fireproof. Pet proof. Renter proof. Crazy ex girlfriend proof. Bug proof. Shit proof. Immune to HIV. Makes you better at BBQ'ing. Makes you want a pool. Makes you want pool parties. Makes you install a pool. Makes you post fliers for pool parties.

Disadvantages: Young kids falling on tile isn't ideal, may as well be concrete. Even laminate has a ever-so-slight give. For the same reason, slightly harder on your feet. I've never noticed cold being much of an issue tbh, but that's me. (I actually prefer it, e.g. summer time). Also only two hairy old guys show up to your pool party, not any of the nice women you had in mind.


That said, the newer PVC flooring would be a lot easier to install.

ETA: Most/many tile installers horribly f$#$ installs up. Even if you are paying someone to install, you REALLY need to know the correct way so you can fire the idiots. People are happy hiring them because hey, even a crap job of tile will last a year ... more than long enough to write a review and pay a guy. If an installer tries to tell you that "swirls" in thinset are right, or that you don't need backbutter, you need to terminate ASAP. And these guys go on installing it incorrectly for sometimes 30+ years. Don't just expect "old" to mean "right".