Once all floor installations and plumbing work have been completed, air conditioning, and electrical work—as mentioned in previous episodes—only the floor tiles are then delivered to the site in preparation for the start of installation, provided that a prior agreement has been reached with a specialized contractor to carry out the tiling work, and care is taken to select qualified contractors, especially since tiling is considered part of the final finishes. The tiling contractor is typically a single contractor responsible for all tiling work in the building, starting with the exterior surface tiles, as previously mentioned, all the way to the courtyard and sidewalk tiles, with prices for each item of tiling work determined based on the type of tile, its size, and other technical considerations. If you wish to install an indoor fountain in the building, a water supply and an electrical connection must be provided to the designated location for the fountain, and it is recommended to consult a company specializing in fountain installation.
It is also recommended to clean the building’s floors with a broom, and it is a good idea to use an air compressor to thoroughly clean the floors, After that, determine the tile level and ensure that the screed is as thin as possible and does not exceed 10 cm. If there is a floor-mounted toilet in the restrooms, it must be installed first by a plumber to determine the tile level for that floor in accordance with the toilet’s height; this is extremely important. If a squat toilet is to be installed in bathrooms where the floors will be waterproofed later, it should be installed temporarily at this stage solely to set the tile level, Afterward, it is removed and reinstalled only after the waterproofing work for the bathroom floors is complete.
Once the tiler has finished determining the screed and tile levels for each floor, it is recommended that the supervising engineer review these levels and verify their accuracy, noting that the interior tiles for rooms, living rooms, hallways, and sitting areas, should be at the same level without any slope. Afterward, the bedding material is supplied; it is recommended that this be «Kankari» gravel in the «Zero» size, and the use of red sand or clay in the tile bedding is strictly discouraged. If you wish to install parquet flooring or carpet in part of the building, the level of these areas must be 1 cm lower than the areas where marble, porcelain, or ceramic tiles will be installed, in order to achieve a uniform level throughout the building after the parquet or carpet is installed.
Floor tiles are installed in two ways:
Method 1: Installing tiles using a cementitious mortar. This method is recommended when the tiles are: ceramic, terracotta, traditional tiles, or marble, as installation with a cementitious mortar provides a strong bond with these materials.
Method 2: Installing tiles using tile adhesive, where the tiles are glued to the floor. This method is recommended for porcelain tiles, as it provides a strong bond, It is absolutely not recommended to install porcelain tiles using a cementitious mortar, as the tiles are prone to loosening and hollow sounds—which occur when air pockets form between the tiles and the mortar—resulting in noise as well as the tiles coming loose and falling offtiles to come loose or fall out soon. Installing tiles using adhesive (as described in “Method 2”) is considered the best option, though it is the most expensive, as it requires applying a floor screed; once this screed has dried, the tiles are installed with adhesive, which incurs additional costs for the floor screeding work, including the cost of screed materials, adhesive, and the labor required to apply the screed.
