ᐅ Terrace: 10 mm tiles installed on drainage mortar

Created on: 14 Aug 2020 20:53
M
M. Gerd
M
M. Gerd
14 Aug 2020 20:53
Hello everyone,

we are currently planning our terrace and, for cost reasons, we are opting for ceramic tiles. Normally, 20mm (0.8 inch) tiles are used when laid on drainage mortar. Unfortunately, the selection here is not very large, and as far as we know, 10mm (0.4 inch) tiles can also be used outdoors. One problem seems to be that tapping them into place carries a higher risk of breaking a 10mm tile, especially when the tile sizes are 120x40 or 120x20 cm (47x16 or 47x8 inches).

A 10mm tile feels quite sturdy, and I honestly can’t imagine there will be significantly more waste. Sure, if a few break, we can live with that, but if 50% break, that would be a problem.

So I wanted to ask if anyone has installed 10mm tiles on drainage mortar and if they encountered any issues. We would like to use 10mm tiles but can’t estimate how big the disadvantage might be.

so long...
H
HobbesX
24 Aug 2020 11:11
Hello,

we are currently installing 20mm (0.8 inch) tiles, but when choosing the tiles, I also asked several suppliers and landscape contractors whether we could use 10mm (0.4 inch) tiles instead. What all of them told me was that 10mm tiles can only be installed if the base is a concrete slab/foundation (with a drainage mat on top, followed by mortar and then the tiles), because otherwise there is a higher risk that the base might still shift slightly over time. The 10mm tiles are less able to tolerate such movement compared to the 20mm tiles, which could lead to cracks or breaks. Regarding “breaking during installation,” nobody mentioned this (though I admittedly did not specifically ask about it).

Our base is soil plus gravel/mineral mix, which is why we are using 20mm tiles.

This might not fully answer your question, but hopefully it helps a bit?
M
M. Gerd
1 Sep 2020 19:14
Thank you for your reply. Yes, it’s not 100% certain, but still very helpful. If different people have advised against it and my landscaping contractor wouldn’t do it either, then we’ll stay away from it. The likelihood that it will work out is practically zero. Thank you!