Tile & Stone

Removal

Getting the old floor, adhesive, and fasteners out without damaging the substrate.

• Removing Ceramic Tile and Mortar Beds

  Removing ceramic tile and mortar: manual methods for small rooms, tile breakers and scrapers for bigger jobs, carbide tooling, and dust control.

• Scraper Blade Selection: Width, Angle and Material

  Blade width, bevel direction, angle and blade type for each flooring material, plus how to keep blades sharp enough to matter.

• Tile Breaker vs Ride-On Scraper for Tile Demo

  How a wheeled tile breaker and a ride-on scraper each take up tile and mortar, and which fits the room, the mortar bed and the access.

• Walk-Behind vs Ride-On Scrapers: Choosing by Job Size

  How to choose between a walk-behind and a ride-on floor scraper by job size, access, material and power source, with the models that fit each case.

Grinding

Diamond grinding to profile, level, or remove residue.

• Grinding Off Thinset, Mastic and Glue Residue

  Getting thinset, mastic and glue residue off concrete: testing first, choosing between PCD, metal bonds and floor-machine attachments, and handling the dust.

Surface Prep

Patching, leveling, and testing so the new floor has something to bond to.

• Self-Leveling Underlayment: When and How

  Profile, primer, water, depth and cure time for self-leveling underlayment, including metal lath over wood subfloors.

• Silica Dust & Respiratory Safety (OSHA Table 1)

  What OSHA's construction silica standard requires for floor grinding, tile cutting and dust cleanup, including the Table 1 controls for the tools flooring cr...

Repair

Cracks, joints, and spalls fixed before anything goes down.

• Crack and Joint Repair Before Flooring

  Moving vs dormant cracks, which joints must carry through the flooring, rout-and-fill basics, and why no fill guarantees against telegraphing.

Installation

Layout, cutting, adhesives, seaming, and the install itself.

• Cutting Tile: Manual Cutters vs Wet Saws

  Manual tile cutters vs wet saws: which cuts each handles, large-format porcelain, blade choice, and the OSHA silica controls for tile saws.

• Knee Protection for Floor Installers

  Why floor layers' knees take more damage than almost any other trade, and how to choose hard-cap, soft-cap and no-cap knee pads for the surface you're on.

• Tile Leveling Systems and Spacers

  How clip-and-wedge leveling systems control lippage, what they can't fix, and the ANSI offset and grout-joint rules for large-format tile.

• Trowel Notch and Mortar Coverage for Tile

  ANSI mortar coverage rules for tile (80% and 95%), directional troweling, back-buttering, and notch sizes for small and large-format tile.

• Wet Saw Blade Selection for Porcelain and Stone

  Continuous rim, turbo and segmented diamond blades for porcelain and stone, plus RPM limits, dressing and water flow from MK Diamond's manual.

• Undercutting Door Jambs and Casings

  Undercutting door jambs and casings so new flooring slides underneath: setting blade height, choosing a jamb saw, and avoiding the cuts that show.

Finishing

Transitions, wall base, stairs, and edge details.

• Grouting Tile and Cleanup

  Choosing sanded, unsanded or epoxy grout by joint width and tile, float technique, haze cleanup timing, curing and sealing.

• Transition Strips & Thresholds by Height Difference

  How to pick a transition by the height difference between floors, what the ADA allows on accessible routes, and the mistakes that cause trip edges and failed...

Troubleshooting

• Lippage, Hollow Spots and Cracked Tile

  Diagnosing lippage, hollow-sounding and cracked tile: mortar coverage, deflection, movement joints, and how to replace a cracked tile.

Shop the tools

• Ceramic Tile Cutters & Saws
• Wet Saw Blades
• Trowels
• Grout Tools
• Tile Tools & Spacers
• Floor Scraping Machines