Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - I went with Ditra for my kitchen floor (first time)
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spta97
10-04-07, 02:19 PM
I am remodeling my kitchen and decided to use Ditra. I wanted to give some opinions to other people who may think about using it.
1) The technology is very cool. It works as an uncoupling membrane so it can prevent cracking on your finished floor.
2) It is SOOOOOOO much lighter than Hardibacker or other CBUs you can carry the whole floor in with one arm.
3) Putting it down is easy, just make sure you cut off any sections where the mesh backing may have pealed away in transit.
4) No screwing required (:thumbup: ).
5) Cuts with scissors or a utility knife. (:thumbup: :thumbup: )
6) Make sure you unroll it onto the thinset bed rather than trying to put down the whole sheet at once - I had to clean up quite a mess after that!
7) It can be a pain to put down the thinset on top because of the little squares but I think it was well worth the trouble.
All in all I am happy with the way it turned out and would use it again. :) I did previously buy 10 sheets of Hardibacker but ended up bringing them back to HD. Man, that is some heavy stuff.
1) The technology is very cool. It works as an uncoupling membrane so it can prevent cracking on your finished floor.
2) It is SOOOOOOO much lighter than Hardibacker or other CBUs you can carry the whole floor in with one arm.
3) Putting it down is easy, just make sure you cut off any sections where the mesh backing may have pealed away in transit.
4) No screwing required (:thumbup: ).
5) Cuts with scissors or a utility knife. (:thumbup: :thumbup: )
6) Make sure you unroll it onto the thinset bed rather than trying to put down the whole sheet at once - I had to clean up quite a mess after that!
7) It can be a pain to put down the thinset on top because of the little squares but I think it was well worth the trouble.
All in all I am happy with the way it turned out and would use it again. :) I did previously buy 10 sheets of Hardibacker but ended up bringing them back to HD. Man, that is some heavy stuff.
HeresJohnny
10-05-07, 07:37 AM
Yes, ditra is a great product. Some key things to remember though.
The framed floor must meet deflection criteria before the ditra is in place. If it does not, ditra will be useless.
Ditra is generally a more expensive proposition and not always needed.
This is a controversial comment but I'll say it anyway. Ditra claims it can be used over 5/8" subfloor with 16" oc joists. IMO, if you have a 5/8" subfloor you should add more plywood. Ditra will not stiffen an inadequate subfloor. I'd give the same advice for 1/4" cement board though.
You need a dead flat floor for ditra so any leveling needs to be done underneath before you put down the ditra.
Youll use a lot more thinset in a ditra installation than other methods.
Im not discouraging ditra's use, as I sometimes use it myself. Im just pointing out some of the minuses - maybe. Most of my ditra use is over concrete slabs as I think its great insurance for future cracking and failure. Anytime I use it over plywood or osb I make sure I have two layers of plywood. According to Schluter, not necessary but Im not comfortable with that. My opinion, still nothing better than a mud floor, its cheap to do and will last forever.
The framed floor must meet deflection criteria before the ditra is in place. If it does not, ditra will be useless.
Ditra is generally a more expensive proposition and not always needed.
This is a controversial comment but I'll say it anyway. Ditra claims it can be used over 5/8" subfloor with 16" oc joists. IMO, if you have a 5/8" subfloor you should add more plywood. Ditra will not stiffen an inadequate subfloor. I'd give the same advice for 1/4" cement board though.
You need a dead flat floor for ditra so any leveling needs to be done underneath before you put down the ditra.
Youll use a lot more thinset in a ditra installation than other methods.
Im not discouraging ditra's use, as I sometimes use it myself. Im just pointing out some of the minuses - maybe. Most of my ditra use is over concrete slabs as I think its great insurance for future cracking and failure. Anytime I use it over plywood or osb I make sure I have two layers of plywood. According to Schluter, not necessary but Im not comfortable with that. My opinion, still nothing better than a mud floor, its cheap to do and will last forever.