Tile Flooring

Tile does not crack because the tile was bad. It cracks because of what is under it.

Tile is the right floor for a lot of Houston houses. It shrugs off humidity, it survives the water that comes in during a storm season, it does not off-gas, and it stays cool in a climate where that is worth something.

It is also unforgiving. Tile is rigid and brittle, and it sits on a slab that, in this city, moves. Almost every cracked tile floor we are asked to look at cracked because of the substrate, not the tile.

The Houston problem: expansive clay

Much of this region sits on clay soils that swell when wet and shrink when dry. Over a wet season and then a drought, a slab flexes. A tile floor bonded rigidly to a slab that flexes transfers that movement straight into the tile and the grout, and it cracks in a line.

The two things that prevent it:

An uncoupling or crack isolation membrane between the slab and the tile. It lets the slab move a little without dragging the tile with it. On a Houston slab this is not an upsell, it is the thing that decides whether your floor survives.
Movement joints. Soft joints of flexible sealant rather than grout, at the perimeter, at changes of plane, over existing control joints in the slab, and at intervals across large areas. A tile floor grouted solid wall to wall has nowhere to go.

A quote that does not mention either is a quote for a floor that will crack.

Preparation is the job

Check the slab for flatness, not level. Tile needs a flat plane. Modern large format tile is extremely intolerant of dips, and lippage, where one tile edge stands proud of the next, comes almost entirely from an unflattened substrate. Self-levelling compound where needed.
Deal with existing cracks in the slab. An active crack telegraphs through anything laid over it unless it is isolated.
Remove the old floor properly and grind off old adhesive, rather than tiling over a bad bond.
Check moisture. A slab on grade in Houston can carry a lot of moisture from below, which affects adhesive choice and matters enormously if anything other than tile is going down.
Plan the layout before a single tile is set: where the full tiles fall, where the cuts land, how the pattern meets doorways and transitions. A floor laid without planning ends in a sliver of a cut tile at the most visible wall.

Wet areas

Showers and wet rooms are a different discipline. The waterproofing is a system behind the tile, whether that is a bonded sheet or liquid membrane, and tile plus grout is not waterproofing. Grout is porous. Water goes through it, and the membrane behind is what stops it reaching the framing. Sloping the floor correctly to the drain, and a proper curb detail, is what keeps the water on the right side.

Material, briefly

Porcelain. Denser and less absorbent than ceramic, harder wearing, and the sensible default for Houston floors, including anywhere that gets wet.
Ceramic. Cheaper, softer, fine on walls and in lower traffic rooms.
Natural stone. Beautiful, and it is porous and needs sealing on a schedule. Travertine and marble in particular do not forgive neglect.
Large format. Fewer grout lines and a cleaner look, at the cost of needing a much flatter substrate. This is where preparation stops being optional.

Why a roofing company does floors

Because of where the work comes from. When a roof leaks long enough to take out a ceiling, it frequently takes the floor below it too, and a homeowner dealing with a roof, a ceiling and a floor should not be managing three companies blaming each other. We fix the roof, dry it, close the ceiling and lay the floor, on one Cost Plus quote.

What it costs, and how you can check

Every job on this page is priced Cost Plus. You see the supplier invoice for the materials, the crew hours at our published rate, the permit and disposal at what they actually cost, and one service fee of 20 to 30 percent set by job complexity and locked before anything starts. There is no second number and no change order conversation after the fact. The full breakdown is here.

Common Questions

Why did my tile floor crack?

Nearly always substrate movement rather than the tile. Houston's expansive clay soils move the slab through wet and dry seasons, and tile bonded rigidly to it with no uncoupling membrane and no movement joints transfers that straight into the floor.

Do I need an uncoupling membrane?

On a slab in this region, we recommend it on every job. It is a modest part of the cost and it is the single biggest factor in whether the floor is still intact in ten years.

Can you tile over my existing floor?

Sometimes, and usually we would rather not. Tiling over an old floor means you inherit whatever is wrong with the bond underneath, and it raises the floor height at every doorway and appliance.

What is lippage and how do you avoid it?

Lippage is one tile edge standing proud of the next. It comes from an uneven substrate, and with large format tile it is very visible. It is avoided by flattening the slab before setting rather than trying to correct it in the mortar.

Is grout waterproof?

No. Grout is porous and water passes through it. In a shower, the waterproofing is a membrane system behind the tile, and that is what keeps water out of the framing.

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