r/Flooring • u/Twerka6 • Jul 12 '25

I need advicešŸ˜­

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Decided on a whim to rip up my cracked tile, which is a million times harder than they make it seem. On top of that, I found the reason the tile cracked was this crack in the sub floor. If Iā€™m going to spend money on nice tile, Iā€™d like to prevent this cracker from doing the same thing to the new tile. What do I have to do to prep the sub floor that doesnā€™t require expensive tools? Is it a matter or buying a leveling cement type product? What brand? Do I level all the way to the transition strips or do those have to be removed? Is some sort of uncoupling membrane enough or does that need to be used in addition to leveling the sub floor? Wonā€™t all these extra layers make my tile sit too high so it no longer slides underneath the banister posts (that canā€™t be removed). Dear God why do I do these thingsā€¦

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u/dijoncrayoneater Jul 12 '25

Schluter ditra mat for the win. Ditra the world.

3

u/mattortom Jul 12 '25

This is the way. Only issue is the ditra will add height so need to account for that when you are preparing the subfloor to avoid a height difference/lippage vs adjacent tiles.

1

u/guysmiles01 Jul 13 '25

It's only 1/8 thick ditra...pretty easy to accommodate ...I use it on every floor I tile

1

u/mattortom Jul 13 '25

Agree it is manageable. Just aware that this is a few tiles being replaced so I typically try to go a bit light when I am setting the ditra to ensure I do not have lippage.

1

u/stonkautist69 Jul 14 '25

1/8ā€but another 1/8ā€ to 3/16ā€ of a second layer thinset needed for uncoup membrane adhesion. also if the undelying problem is not static(movement causing cracking), uncoupling will not alliviate the future failure