In choosing bathroom tile (to replace a carpet) I read of the importance of “flatness” with that in mind as the tile you pick gets smaller in size , does the chance of cracking get smaller?
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Nothing to do with size. Flatness is determined by the manufacturing process and the quality control at the plant. Buying American made tile is usually a good way to eliminate concerns about quality and uniformity issues. It can also be cost effective.
flatness question/comments was about the floor, and for the same floor would smaller tile crack less often than bigger say 12 inch square tile?
Ed,
Why not describe the situation, using accurate measurements, and let us give you a more precise answer?
Are you talking about;
Flatness of each individual tile?
Flatness of the substrate?
Flatness of the installation?
They are all different.
.
A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I've seen just as many cracked floors with small tiles as with large. The type and quality of the subfloor seem to be much larger factors than the size of the tile.
The worst cases I've seen were about 50 years old at the time. The tiles were octagonal and about an inch across. As the subflooring aged and became more flexible, the grout joints shattered in zig-zag patterns. Some of the tiles also cracked.
I recently did an estimate on a bathroom with 8" tiles laid on plywood. Less than 20 years old, but several of the tiles near the center of the floor have disintegrated and others have cracked or pulled loose. The plywood is obviously laid over a '20s era floor, but who knows what's there.
My house has 4.25" tiles laid in the '60s. There are several hairline cracks in both rooms which extend across the room. My guess is that these cracks are directly over joints between sheets of plywood.
My mother's house in Tennessee also has 4.25" tiles laid in the '60s, but there are no cracks (the original grout is even in perfect condition). Judging from the visible installation method used for the wall tiles, the floor tiles were probably set in asbestos-reinforced concrete over expanded metal mesh attached to a plywood subfloor.
George Patterson, Patterson Handyman Service