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How best to bridge a slab crack prior to ceramic tile installation using the thinset method. What are some of your favorite techniques and products? I’ve seen some installers simply using Duct tape to bridge the cracks. Others use glued paper membranes over the entire slab surface prior to installation. Some use Noble-Seal. What thoughts among y’all?
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First we need some more information on the crack as all cracks are not created equal! Describe the thickness...fine, very fine, wide (1/8" or greater). Any displacement? Just one crack or a bunch of cracks? How old is the slab? Is it isolated or run the length/width of the slab?
Duct tape??!!
*Yeah, I've seen duct tape, latex caulking, masking tape, construction paper, even organic mastic by itself used for crack suppression. What a joke. The only reason I can think of why someone would waste their time doing these things is so they can say, "Yeah, we treated the cracks". Of course, the evidence is all covered up until the tiles begin cracking.I suggest using a material made for crack suppression, such as NobleSeal, Custom's Simco, or other. One good, inexpensive method is to put down scribing felt using mastic Type I over the entire area to be tiled. Scribing felt can be found at a supply house that stocks vinyl floor covering materials.If the cracks are wider than 1/8", you have some serious movement, so I wouldn't use the scribing felt. If you have cracking resulting in vertical seperation, you should take care of the larger problem--what's causing the upheaval of the slab--before you attempt any preparation for tile installation.