Coverings Atlanta Recap
Coverings is the biggest trade show in the tile industry. This is where I look forward to seeing new and innovative products released.
Well, this year, there were 4 new tile installation products that I thought deserved mention. I’ll list them in the order that I think is coolest to just cool. Starting with:
1. Laticrete Strata_Heat Thermal Pack
Now, this is an innovative product that I don’t believe existed until Laticrete launched it. These are little packets that you add to thinset mortar and encase electric floor heat wires with.
The benefit is that it increases the conductivity of the electric in-floor heat wires by 20% (according to Laticrete).
Obviously, this is something that Laticrete wants to be used with not only their own thinset mortars but also their Strata_Heat system. Additionally, they mention that it’s not to be used with their lightweight mortars. Currently, it’s only authorized with their 253 Gold, 254 Platinum, and 4XLT thinset mortars.
Of course, since this product is new and innovative I have a gazillion questions about how it works and how far one could push the limits of wire spacing but, alas, they’ll have to wait.
2. Mapei Planitop
There’s been a need for a wall leveling product for some time. This isn’t the first one on the market but it has a shot at being widely available with Mapei’s distribution chain.
In the past, to get walls flat and plumb the advice has always been to shim the studs or create walls out of old school mud work.
Typically, installers and DIY’ers do the best they can at flattening walls but still come up short in getting them perfect. Then the temptation is to skim thinset mortar over the walls to make up for any inconsistencies. Or, alternatively, apply more (or less) mortar to each tile to flatten them out as you install. However, both of these methods are outside industry recommendations.
The workability of it appeared to be very good. This would be an excellent choice for when other trades have installed cement board before the tile installer arrives. This is not an uncommon practice in new residential construction.
Foam backer boards are not specifically mentioned as a suitable substrate but they aren’t ruled out either. However, in general, this isn’t an ideal way of truing up foam backer board walls. Typically, the waterproof membrane goes in the front of the wallboard directly below the tile.
With all that being said, I can see carrying around a bag of Mapei Planitop for when my efforts at truing up backer board fall short- which is more often than I care to admit.
3. Ardex Flexbone Heat
With all the other uncoupling heat membrane systems out there I think it was a matter of time before Ardex came out with a heat version of their Flexbone uncoupling membrane.
However, rather than just come out with a membrane the people at Ardex came out with an entire heated system. This includes wire and thermostats.
A couple of twists that they’ve added are gentler curves on the returns. Additionally, they’ve added a little bump that helps hold the heating wire up off of the membrane. This would allow thinset mortar to get all the way underneath the wire which would, in theory, be slightly more efficient.
Ditra Heat Mat Installation: Ignore these two rules
The thermostats look good and include both a programmable touchscreen thermostat and a wifi option is also available.
With Ardex’s product line they do have some unique options available with this heating system. For instance, it appears that either thinset mortar or a self-leveling compound (Liquid Backer Board) are acceptable for encasing the heating wire over Flexbone Heat.
Furthermore, I believe the heated membrane can be eliminated and just the heat wires used with Liquid Backer Board. However, this product is not yet on the market and we’ll have to wait a bit longer to find out some of the details.
4. Custom Techlevel-WSF
Custom Building Products has come out with a self-leveling underlayment that can go over wood, or OSB, subfloor. Not only that, it doesn’t require the use of metal or plastic lath reinforcement.
Its only competitor that I’m aware of would be Liquid Backer Board (LBB) by Ardex. However, with Custom’s large distribution it will be interesting to see if this product comes into some of the big retail chains.
Over a primed wood subfloor, WSF can go as thin as 1/4 inch thick (versus LBB at 1/8″). In my local market, WSF is considerably less expensive than LBB on a per bag basis. However, when I factor in the coverage of each bag the savings aren’t as significant.
Even still, Custom Building Products is one of the early entrants to this field of self-levelers over wood subfloors. It is my belief that these products will continue to gain popularity up here in the northern climates where there’s a lot of wood subfloors and floor heat remains popular.
These weren’t the only new and innovative products that I saw at Coverings but just the four at the top of my list. If you see something I missed or have feedback about the products above then I’d love to hear it. Let me know in the comments below.
paul says
I’ll be sure to look into the Mapei Planitop (also maybe don’t look up “Planitop 330 Fast” on amazon at work, not what I expected…). Is there anything you would recommend for leveling off a plywood substrate before putting down Ditra? I’ve got a plank subfloor and I’m putting down 3/4″ plywood to level it out but 36″ plank tile is going over that (after Ditra) so a bit of extra leveling might be good.
Thanks!
DIYTileGuy says
If you are going to use Planitop then you may as well keep it in the family and use Planipatch for floor leveling. It’s a feather finish product that works great for flattening small areas. My local Lowes stocks it. But there’s also Feather Finsh from Ardex and Silk from Custom that work well also.
Thanks for the head’s up on Planitop on Amazon. 😀
It’s a new product but I believe that it is out and for sale right now. I’m sure that it would have to be ordered in and probably isn’t on the shelves anywhere yet.
paul says
Thanks, planipatch sounds like just what I wanted. (I’ll not look it up on amazon here at work…) I’m pretty certain it would go plywood, planipatch, CBP flexbond+Ditra, unmodified midbed mortar+tile but I’ve been making some bone-headed mistakes lately so is that right? Would the Mapei planipatch and CBP flexbond play nice together under the Ditra?
DIYTileGuy says
This sounds like a good plan!
paul says
I just noticed that planipatch has a 10 minute pot life. That’s a bit intimidating. The others are also fast-curing. Is there anything I could use that would let me take my time?
Also I see home depot sells Henry FeatherFinish “with Ardex” technology. Do you know if that’s the same thing as Ardex in a different box?
DIYTileGuy says
Ardex owns Henry’s and I can’t remember if it’s the exact same thing, or not. I think it is.
I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised with with either Planipatch or Henry’s. Start with small batches. It’s sort of pleasant stuff to work with.
Edit: I’ve inquired about this and I’m not thinking that it’s not the exact same product. Doesn’t mean that it’s bad but I don’t think they are the same.
paul says
Thank you for following up on it. I’ll try out some planipatch on a spare piece of plywood. I could use a _pleasant_ surprise for a change. (as opposed to, for example, “Surprise: the subfloor is rotted!”)
Floor patch application question: if I have a 1/8″ joint between two pieces of plywood (intentional), I’m assuming I want it to stay open. Is it necessary to keep that gap completely clear of the patch compound (like clear it with a point trowel before it dries) or is it better to fill the gap with gasket (like backer rod or sill gasket) and just smooth the patch over the gap?
DIYTileGuy says
Good question and I don’t really know the official answer. I looked at the Adrex Feather Finish data sheet and they make no mention either way on filling plywood seams (or keeping them clear).
I also looked at their YouTube video and it shows them filling the plywood seam.
https://youtu.be/qNvV3uZ5ZAI
Mapei may have different instructions for Planipatch. I know with some products that the recommendation is to keep the seams clear but I’m not sure how critical it is either way with these feather finish products.
paul says
Checked Byrne’s Setting Tile. He says to fill the seam with thinset to edge glue it. (He also says to replace plank subfloors with multiple layers of plywood up to at least 1-1/8 in and put CBU on top of that.) However, I got the impression that was for setting tile directly on the plywood.
I called Mapei tech support. They said to fill the joint with planipatch. The tech said to make sure to clean the crud out of the joint so it sounds like they really want the patch in there. I specifically asked if expansion was a concern and he said no.
Looks like we have the most votes for filling in the seam. It’s odd that you’re supposed to leave expansion joints between and around plywood panels but then you’re told to fill them in with what seems to be uncompressible material. Right now, I’m planning to fill the joint. The whole floor is only 5’x6.5′ and the plywood is glued/screwed to the planks underneath so it shouldn’t make much difference.
Any thoughts?
DIYTileGuy says
I thought that Ardex said it was OK to fill the seam also but I don’t remember clearly. I understand what you are saying about leaving expansion and it does seem like a contradiction.
A few years ago there was a discussion on the John Bridge forum about this subject and one of the members that were arguing against the need to leave expansion joints clear made the point that the subfloor will never see as much moisture as when it’s new and being built. Therefore it can only get dryer and then shrink. Naturally, this assumes that there won’t be an event with water but it made sense to me.
So if Mapei says it’s OK then I certainly wouldn’t think twice about filling it. I used to fill them all the time with thinset before I knew better.
paul says
I finally got to beak out the Planitop. It’s not quite what I expected. It can be made smooth pretty easily but it does not like to go on thin. I was expecting something I could feather out to fix shallow out-of-plane spots and this does not like to feather. The thinnest it goes on is 1/16″ and it is difficult to make it smooth at that thickness. The manual specifies a minimum thickness of 1/8″ as well. At that thickness or more it smooths and screeds pretty easily. I tried to mix it a bit loose each time but it always came out a bit thicker than I expected.
DIYTileGuy says
This is good feedback. I have yet to use this product so real-world experience is always a good thing to know.