Tile on fresh concrete
- Thread starter Jeff
- Start date
Help Support Flooring Forum - DIY & Professional:
Approximately 112 days, if it's a 4" slab. But you should still moisture test.
Ive never seen a single tile installer test any subfloor for moisture. I thought only us wood guys did that. I have seen a tile installer laying tile in an open sunroom in the middle of winter with a propane space heater though.
They should test it, but most don't.
Just telling you the standard. 28 days per inch of slab thickness. I doubt that anyone follows it.
Nick
In Remembrance
Don't speeding up the curing process weaken the concrete ?
That's what my father always said and he poured concrete for years.
Kman
Active Member
Generally, you can direct-bond tile on concrete 28 days after it is poured. There's nothing I'm aware of that requires you to wait longer. There is one exception that allows you to install sooner...much sooner.
Schluter Ditra can be installed over concrete as soon as you can walk on it. I don't think you'll find another product that can meet that standard. You can install tile over Ditra immediately after it's down, although I prefer to wait a day or two to allow a good bond between Ditra and the substrate. Another benefit of Ditra is that it will likely isolate the tile from any cracks that may form in the concrete later. While it's not actually touted as a crack suppression membrane, it will likely serve the same purpose.
If you have significant moisture migration through the slab, it's probably a good idea to cover the seams of Ditra with Kerdi. You can use Kerdi band, as it's thinner and already cut to the proper width, or you can buy regular Kerdi by the foot and cut it into 5" strips. It takes a little extra time, but saves some money. The only downside is that it's twice the thickness of Kerdi band, 8 mils vs. 4 mils.
Schluter Ditra can be installed over concrete as soon as you can walk on it. I don't think you'll find another product that can meet that standard. You can install tile over Ditra immediately after it's down, although I prefer to wait a day or two to allow a good bond between Ditra and the substrate. Another benefit of Ditra is that it will likely isolate the tile from any cracks that may form in the concrete later. While it's not actually touted as a crack suppression membrane, it will likely serve the same purpose.
If you have significant moisture migration through the slab, it's probably a good idea to cover the seams of Ditra with Kerdi. You can use Kerdi band, as it's thinner and already cut to the proper width, or you can buy regular Kerdi by the foot and cut it into 5" strips. It takes a little extra time, but saves some money. The only downside is that it's twice the thickness of Kerdi band, 8 mils vs. 4 mils.
