Installing ceramic tile correctly can be a difficult and complex operation. However, there are certain aspects of a job that are not within the installer’s expertise and should be left to the appropriate person.
The Tile Council of North America (TCNA) Handbook committee has gone to great lengths to provide guidelines and best practices that will help and protect the tile installer. For instance, the Handbook section entitled “Substrate Requirements” states: “For ceramic tile installation, maximum allowable floor member live load and concentrated load deflection for framed floor systems shall not exceed L/360, where ‘L’ is the clear span length of the supporting member per applicable building code. For natural stone tile installations, maximum allowable floor member live load and concentrated load deflection for wood framed floor systems shall not exceed L/720, where ‘L’ is the clear span length of the supporting member per applicable building code.”