replacing carpet with ceramic tile (Home Depot, living, price)

[jons_wifey]

We'll be replacing a carpet with ceramic tiles.

There's so many thin-set mortars to choose from at Lowes, which one is recommended?

[TrapperL]

You want to use the thinset with the most polymer. If the floor should get flooded from a roof leak, plumbing leak, etc, it's not coming up. A cheap non-poly may not stick. If you are installing a porcelain tile you MUST use a high polymer thinset as porcelain does not want to absorb any of the water from the thinset. If you are having it done, consider installing it in a pattern such as halves or diamond. If you have a large room going to small, consider using an different tile at the doorway like a wood grain tile. If having it installed, the grout line is EXTREMELY important as is the color of grout. Most installers want to use a 1/2" grout line because they can do a sloppy job and it doesn't show up. Consider an 1/8" grout line. Make sure that the slab is CLEAN before installing any tile. I wash all of my floors before installing tile. I use a wet vac to suck up the crap and sometimes it's required that the floor be scrapped wet to remove any paint overspray or texture. Prep is everything as is planning on what you want it to look like.

This is on halves with 1/8" grout line. Note walnut woodgrain at opening. This tile is from Royal Tile and is porcelain. Royal was half the price of Lowes for the same tile


This is a ceramic tile from Mundo Tile. It's installed in a square pattern with 1/8" grout lines.

[SabresFanInSA]

I did my living room with "add water" kind from Home Depot and it has been great. I did my kitchen with Lowe's pre-mixed (comes in a big tub and is their brand I believe) and that worked really well too.

[Seguinite]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

...This is a ceramic tile from Mundo Tile. It's installed in a square pattern with 1/8" grout lines.

Are those pictures of your installation? Those grout lines don't look like 1/8" to me. And not sure I'd recommend anything less than what's in that picture on tiles that large. Larger the tile, the more variation there can be in size among the tiles. It may be a tiny bit, but adds ups quickly. Minimal grout lines (like 1/8) would make it nearly impossible to 'hide' that during installation. I wouldn't consider 1/4" inappropriate for the tile pictured. And anyone using 1/2" for anything other than Saltillo probably shouldn't be in the tile business.