Housing in Southern Africa October-November 2016

Floors & Walls

T AL Marketing Manager, Gela Ohl says, “Ceramic and por- celain wood-look tiles can be installed in areas of the home such as bathrooms, kitchens and outdoor areas – where humidity and damp- ness would make wooden flooring impractical. Many wood-look tiles are the length of wooden planks and are known as ‘large format tiles’, where the length of at least one edge is equal to or greater than 600 mm, or where the area is greater than 3 500 cm².” Installation tips There are permissiblemanufacturing tolerances for ceramic and porcelain tiles, and large format tiles may have permissible surface flatness irregu- larities. For example, the tile surface may be ‘curved’ or ‘bowed’. If this is not taken into consideration when planning the installation, there is a risk of tile ‘lipping’ – whereby the elevation of the edges and corners of the tiles are inconsistent. To minimise the risk of lipping it is important to ensure that the floor is level before starting the installation. “TAL SCREEDMASTER, a self-smooth- ingunderlayment,may be installed to achieve the required surface finish. Laying of tiles in a brick or running bond pattern should also be carefully considered because of potential lip- ping caused by the curvature of large format tiles. Amaximumoffset of 30% is recommended.” Tile tips Wood-look tiles with different shades per tileor box shouldbe laid randomly, Fashionable ‘wood-look’ ceramic and porcelain tiles are as aesthetically- pleasingasgenuinewooden floors. The perfect wood-look installation

Gela Ohl

not according to the colours. Start the layout of the installation from the centre point in the room, ensuring that the follow-on rows are offset by amaximumof 30% in a running brick pattern. To ensure full contact of the large format tile with the prepared surface, it is advisable to fill in the voids on the back of the tile with a thin coat of adhesive. This process is known as ‘back but- tering’. This, in addition to applying the adhesive to the substrate using a suitable notched floor trowel, will ensure a solid bed of adhesive behind each tile. The correct adhesive must be used when fixing the tiles to the prepared surface. TAL offers a range of cement-based tile adhesives from rapid or quick to standard setting, in a grey or white colour. The spacer sizemust be correct for the type of tile selected. “The joint width between glazed ceramic floor tiles should be a minimum of 5 mm wide, and a minimum of 3 mm wide between porcelain tiles, including rectified porcelain tiles. To achieve the natural look, opt for grout colour that is darker than the tile itself,”

joints must be installed around the perimeter of all floors and around any fixtures protruding through the tile installation, such as walls, col- umns and stairs. Intermediate tile panel movement joints should also be installed at maximum 5 m centres in both directions for interior surface bed applications, and maximum 3 m centres for suspended slabs and exterior applications. These joints must be a minimum of 5 mm wide, must extend through the tile and tile adhesive layers to the substrate, and must be filled with a good quality resilient joint sealant and suitable backing cord. When using large format tiles, there will be a smaller number of grout joints, compared with the same area of normal format tiling. As a result, less movement or ‘stress’ can be accom- modated at the tile joints. TAL products are designed, manu- factured and tested according to its high-quality standards. The Technical Advisory Service provides a com- prehensive range of solutions for all types of wood-look tile installations, ranging from dark-finish, whitewash or lime-wash effect, as well as large planks or smaller parquet blocks. For further information contact the TAL Technical Advisory Service on 0860 000 TAL (825) or visit www.tal.co.za ■

explains Ohl. Joint tips

Allowance for building, thermal and moisture movement must be made in all tile installations. Perimeter

October/November 2016