The best way to get a proper Tile Flooring Installation is to hire the qualified professional right? Of course it is because we all study the right way to do things, learn from other seasoned veterans and douse our brains in the TCNA Handbook for the best references for the various situations that arise. This is something that doesn’t happen over night because it takes years in the field to get that special touch when it comes to the final bling look of the job. Any specialty are are in remodeling will require different skills and some of which can be very easy to do with the right amount of repetition. Painting for instance can be one of them… rolling paint on walls can be simple, however, cutting in nice straight lines with a brush can be tedious to learn.
As a homeowner, I’m sure you have your limits and comfort zones on the types of projects you’d rather tackle yourself or just take the high road, bypass the stress and hire a pro. For many it can be a simple decision. In my opinion, I’ve always felt that installing tile is a complete different monster…. on your knees, crunched up under a cabinet, precise cuts, straight lines, fighting crooked tiles, watertight showers and the list goes on. A tile setter also has to have a great knowledge in the overall building practice because even if the right tile and mortar is used, on the Wrong preparation of flooring and structure there can be quick and ugly failures. I just can’t even think about having to tear up a tile floor in a kitchen (that went under cabinets)(topped with quartz counter tops) because of cracked grout throughout the floor from deflection.
In the last few years, there are more and more (and even more) DIY tutorial videos surfacing on youtube. Some are decent, some are bad but most of them are a down right disgrace to contractors in general. Recently, I saw a video (which I will post in the comments below) of a Realtor that was doing a demonstration on installing pebble mosaic tile on a small bathroom floor… To make a long story short, DO NOT EVER USE MASTIC ADHESHIVE to install floor tile. Mastic is the devil. 😈
Learning the wrong things from these videos can cost you a lot money when your flooring job fails. To the dime of the video poster’s… I’d say they are more concerned about making money from the ads placed in the videos in which youtube will pay the channel when they choose to monetize the videos. Last time I checked… if you were at work, and did your job completely wrong then you shouldn’t get paid right? To make a short story even longer… there are plenty of new and inexperienced contractors that rely on these videos to learn how to do tile flooring jobs, or showers. Yep, you are paying them to learn – not perform. This is all where the difference in job cost can bring a huge justification. But from the standpoint of folks thinking that Mastic Adhesive is a great thing… pound for pound, Mastic costs 6x as much as a bag of premium modified thin set mortar.
Cutting to the chase – the right mortar, grout, membranes, floor preparation etc… will make you a happy homeowner. If you choose to do things on your own be sure to have valid resources. If you’re looking to hire a company there are other ways of researching a contractor to make sure they’re not just putting lipstick on the pig. All in all, if you have any questions about your upcoming projects feel free to drop me a line.
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