Flooring Tile - new kitchen tiles, ditra

Hey guys,

I just went to purchase my ditra for doing my 12'x8' kitchen floor and I was.... floored with the price. I had called beforehand and was quoted 1.89sq/ft CAD - not bad. When I went to pick it up he said he misquoted me and it's 5.99sq/ft. No way I'm paying that much, that works out to 1934$ a roll before tax (CAD). So now I'm considering doing the floor without a membrane. I know installers around here do right overtop of subfloor (ply) but I want opinions on this. The kitchen is 2x10's 16" OC with the largest span being 8ft. The original floor is 1/2" ply with an additional 3/4" ply sub screwed and glued. What are my options here?

thx

No, no, no, no, no. DITRA runs around $1.23 for me and maybe $1.89 for you but $5.99 is just plain a mistake on someones part. You can buy DITRA at ALL HOME DEPOTS or from the Internet with same day shipping. Whoever quoted you that price has simply made a mistake.

I agree Bud but the HDs up here in Canada don't sell Ditra - never heard of it!:wall:

I was phoning around this morning to price out ditra at other stores and one shop told me I'd be better off using a product called, i think, Mat black? Says it's equiv to ditra, equiv to a 5/8" subfloor, but you staple it down and then tile over top. He said it is an uncoupling membrane but without the cost of ditra and just as effective. Has anyone heard of this stuff and if so is it any good?

Is there a reason you don't want to use Hardibacker board as your uncoupling? It runs about 9 bucks a sheet (usd) at all Home Depot's. That works out to about 65cents a foot. It would cost you about 65 bucks for enough for the whole kitchen. I personally prefer the Hardi to ditra, I find it easy to use and a good price.

Later
Bryan

Try this website for ditra

www.tile-experts.com

well I would but my original plan was ditra, so I've already put down 5/8" screwed and glued. This already brings my floor height in the kitchen/bathroom up to 1" over the rest of the flooring. I just had a look at this other stuff. It looks like a mesh that you lay over the floor, staple it down, and then do a tight coat of thinset 1/8" thick over top of it, and then tile overtop. I dunno about it but it doesn't really sound like an uncoupling membrane like ditra. Have any of you heard of this?

Canadian Home Depots don't sell DITRA or they just don't stock DITRA? Not too many HD's stock DITRA and in most HD's the employees aren't smart enough to know if they have DITRA or not. I assume that all Home Depot's have the same mother-ship and would think it could be ordered since HOME DEPOT is the WORLD'S LARGEST SCHLUTER DISTRIBUTOR.

Order it from tile-experts and they will ship it immediately.

They may be the largest schluter distributor in the world but I don't think many of their employees know that.