Tile installation guides, sourced from the standards

Lippage is an edge-height question. The note below stays with that measurement.

• Lippage is the step between adjoining tile edges

A hollow tap and a loose tile are not the same finding.

• A hollow sound is not always a loose floor tile

Dry layout is a planning step before adhesive is mixed.

• A dry layout shows small cuts before the adhesive is mixed

These notes separate deflection, cure, existing finishes, and sheet panels.

• New tile can go over old tile only when the old tile is bonded
• Floor stiffness for tile is discussed as L/360
• Concrete does not have one cure time before tile
• ANSI tile standards cited by the Tile Council exclude OSB
• Tile over laminate depends on the layers under the laminate

A mortar bed and a thinset coat do different jobs.

• A mortar bed is a packed layer, bonded or floating
• Thinset follows the substrate instead of flattening it

Crack isolation and a cleavage membrane move in opposite ways.

• A crack-isolation membrane stretches; it does not replace movement joints
• A cleavage membrane lets the mortar bed slip

Joints, tenting, and reflective cracks are different stress paths.

• Movement joints relieve stress between tile and its substrate
• Tented tile is often compression from a slab that kept shrinking
• Cracks in a slab can print through bonded tile

Width, color, cleaning, residue, epoxy, and cracks are separate grout questions.

• Cracked floor grout often starts with movement
• Grout joint width is a choice, not one required size
• Blotchy grout color is usually a mixing or washing problem
• Cement grout is cleaned with alkaline cleaner, not acid
• White grout residue is often minerals left by evaporating water
• Epoxy grout is not the same as epoxy-emulsion grout

A shower backing question is not the steam-room vapor question.

• Shower methods B421 and B422 leave the backing choice to the makers
• Steam-room grout passes vapor even when the glaze does not

Drainage, frost ratings, facade size, and pavers are not one outdoor rule.

• Exterior tile has to drain before water sits in the joints
• Frost resistant does not mean the tile survives standing ice
• The 2021 building code raised the adhered facade tile size

Absorption, certification, thickness, antibacterial tests, and indoor-air points stay apart.

• Porcelain means 0.5 percent water absorption or less
• A porcelain mark is a tested absorption claim
• A 2 cm porcelain paver standard is about unbonded strength
• Gauged porcelain is defined by thickness bands, not by the word thin
• ISO 17721 measures antibacterial activity on ceramic tile
• A Tile Council bulletin calls ceramic tile free of formaldehyde and PVC

A sustainability mark, a federal purchasing list, and environmental declarations answer different specification questions.

• Green Squared is the ANSI A138.1 sustainability mark for tile
• Green Squared was added to EPA's federal purchasing list
• A 2020 industry EPD compares North American ceramic tile with vinyl floors
• North American tile mortar and grout have their own environmental declarations

The handbook, the ANSI status list, and the lab's method list are different documents.

• ANSI tile numbers split installation from the product spec
• The tile handbook is consensus guidance, not an ANSI standard
• Wet-set mortar and a cured mortar bed are different ANSI documents
• The Tile Council lab named abrasion, absorption, and the Robinson floor test

Each link in this group opens a place-named hiring or repair question. The place is the question the reader asked. The note does not confirm work there.

• Local tile hiring questions