Started Tiling in the House

After a week of working on my contract job and not even going to the new house, we were back there on Friday to lay my first room with the orange tile underlayment called Ditra from a compnay called Schluter. This stuff is put down using a layer of thinset, just like tile. The tile will be put down over this stuff using more thinset.

The purpose of the underlayment is to de-couple the cement floor from the tile. If the cement floor cracks over time, there's a buffer between it and the tile that minimizes the chance of the crack translating to the tile. The underlayment has a 3D shape similar to a waffle.

It also has the benefit of being a moisture barrier so that wetness from the ground can't come up into the tile. Finally, it's supposed to provide a bit of sound dampening. I'm hopeful that it will take the edge off the cavernous echo that would otherwise come from tile throughout the house.

Today, we'll continue installing this underlayment in the other bathroom and luandry room (I don't plan on using it in the master bathroom). On Monday, I hope to start laying the tile in these rooms.