Why I Don't Recommend Stone on Wood Subfloors. Stone vs. Ceramic vs. Porcelain Floors

www.mtcopeland.com
What's the difference between stone, ceramic and porcelain tile? Although they can look and feel similar, there are a few things for you to consider when selecting a floor tile.
Farmhouses have traditionally been build on raised floors above a crawlspace foundation. At the Smith House Bellville Farmhouse, we continued that tradition and built the house on helical piles and a raised wood floor foundation. We love both the aesthetic and functionality of this design, but there are some idiosyncrasies to consider when selecting a tile to install on a wood subfloor.
Even though we built a very rigid subfloor, wood will always be slightly less rigid than a concrete slab foundation. As, a result, we decided to stay away from natural stone tile, as the required subfloor reinforcement per the NTCA would have required the use of transition strips between our wood floor and tile. Instead we opted for a porcelain tile which allowed us to have a thinner finished floor that matches the height of the wood floor, eliminating transition strips.

[@jameshutchins3396]

You just cleared up my questions as a consumer. Thank you sir.

[@TrailTrackers]

Good job on this one Jordan.

[@lanceodell8058]

Love the new studio, thank you for sharing!

[@JordanSmithBuilds]

Thanks for watching!

[@mikemetz82]

Exceptional video! Thanks for making it.

[@gvmiketodd]

Great topic and terrific explanation. Thanks.

[@scorpio6587]

Thank you for explaining that! I have long wondered what exactly were the differences among them.

[@ColeSpolaric]

One of the other advantages to porcelain and ceramic is ease of maintenance. They tend to be easier to clean with less worrying about if a specific cleaner is going to cause damage.

[@jerrymorrow5209]

definitely going with porcelain over our 1 inch wood planking (its petrified after 120 years!) + 1/4" hardiboard I don't want to add any height either, thanks for confirming this.

[@executiveflooring]

If your I-joist, or even regular dimensional lumber meet the minimum deflection requirements (L/720 for stone), you should look into Blanke Permat. You do not need the additional subfloor layer with it. Your buildup would simply be the little bit of mortar plus the mat 3/16-1/4” total. Obviously porcelain is far better for maintenance, cleaning, and care.

[@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb]

TCNA mandates two layers of staggered, decoupled plywood subfloor (top layer only screwed to plywood subfloor but not into joists) plus backerboard. Needs to l/720, no exceptions, with no acceptable alternatives. It seems vast overkill to me.

[@emilioincerto]

I'm trying blanke permat tomorrow! Will have feedback in about 10 years from now :)

[@iancormie9916]

Interesting, we were living in a rental house in Phnom Penh last winter (Miami equivalent I suspect) and in the middle of the night when the temperature dropped to 20 deg. C, half the floor tiles cracked. This floor was time over concrete so I didn't expect thermal expansion differences to be hugely different given that the tiles were probably set between 30 and 35 deg. C

[@benwhittle7204]

Thank you for the explanation! Interested in your thoughts on Kablan magnetic tiles, they look like a great concept but I don't know how well they'd actually work out in the real work, I don't know if the tiles will remain even. See if you can get some for testing!

[@cmm170526]

Very interesting topic. Thank you very much for your help!

[@JordanSmithBuilds]

Glad it was helpful!

[@kevinfrye6200]

Really liked the look of the porcelain tile. Where's it from?

[@CC-ku5mm]

Could you share details on the porcelain tile (manufacturer, color, where to buy, etc)?

[@T_157-40]

Which is better over a concrete, embedded radiant tube setup?

[@tjrooger1092]

You should try your intro theme at double speed.

[@arthurpendragon8192]

your intro at 1.25 speed is so satisfying

[@ctxgodsarmy]

Perfict timing ;)

[@superspeeder]

So other than the selection of finishes and lower water absorption, why pay more for porcelain? Is water absorption an issue, especially in a tile with a waterproof finish on the surface? Agree with another comment: 1-1/8” subfloor on 16” OC joists? Sounds very excessive unless you have a huge span or are using very small joists. Care to share more details about your floor?

[@jontelmurphy5996]

Why on Matt Risinger KZbin channel "Engineering an Open Attic with LVL site built trusses," on a video does it say RIP Jordan Smith-I miss that Guy

[@JordanSmithBuilds]

Because my buddy Joey (Matt's videographer) thought it would be funny. I chuckled.

[@jontelmurphy5996]

@@JordanSmithBuilds , oh ok, good to hear, you are indeed in the land of the living

[@pwhsbuild]

I'll have to read the TCNA book again, but that buildup over those substrates (1⅛ over TJI's 16"oc ,what size tji though) seems excessive. Shouldn't be that hard to meet the L-value needed. Again, lots of info left out so just my opinion.

[@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb]

Yup, seems overkill. TCNA's only approved method for wood subfloors is two plywood layers (subloor min 19/32 @ 16" oc, plus min 15/32 underlayment), plus backerboard, l/720 min. The apparent concern is natural stone is weaker than ceramics/porcelain and may crack at plywood subfloor joints (area of most deflection). With very stiff products like 1 1/8" Advantech using advanced polyurethane glues and screwed, their guidelines seem out-of-date as you can get floors much stiffer than l/720 depending on joist sizing/spacing.

[@89TNash]

im building a house and already picked the tile, too late. I wish I saw this 2 weeks ago lol. =|

[@beachboardfan9544]

2:30 That absurd, I did 24" tile on top of 1/2" plywood subfloor, with 1/2" cement board, 16" OC joist's, never had an issue. Theres no f*ckin way you need 1 1/8" subfloor with 1/2" cement board.

[@WattsUpDev]

He’s talking about the best results and you’re giving a situational example of how your work survived although you didn’t do the best option. Hmm 🧐

[@beachboardfan9544]

@@WattsUpDev Why not go with 6" thick plywood topped with 2" of cement board then?

[@athabascastonetile195]

Strata matt uncoupling membrane

[@wendyshoowaiching4161]

Granite

[@weekendwarrior3420]

Lose the 45-second-long company animation-presentation at the beginning of the video. This is bad user experience.

[@chrisleoleis6020]

Might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard .....,

[@mikemetz82]

The irony of your comment is so delicious. 🤣