Have you ever had that sinking feeling when you know the winter deep freeze and snow is coming. You have installed porcelain tile outdoors and it gets it’s first winter test.
No worries here. Outdoor Floor System® has covered this condition for the past 17 years with zero warranty claims and call backs. Normal or standard tile installation outdoors would most certainly be a problem.
expanding-contracting condition freeze-thaw cycle
So what happens with industry standard porcelain tile installations in outdoor, exposed conditions. These installation methods use some type of sub-tile preparation followed by a thin-set bonding material and a grout material in the joints. Yes, it is true that these materials all use some type of polymer for flexibility or epoxy for sealing. Unfortunately, all of these materials still use a ground powder silica-sand material. This is the achilles heal to this installation method: rigidity in a expanding-contracting condition and moisture absorption in a freeze-thaw cycle.
Let’s direct these two issues.
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RIGIDITY: Yes bonding materials and grouts use additives in an attempt to address winter-moisture conditions. The problem is that over time, micro-cracks occur in the grout, that can allow moisture creep, which happens undetected and becomes the unseen gremlin that during freezing temperatures, begins to break down the grout and the tile bond. This fracturing occurs because this material cannot absorb the stress conditions created by the extreme temperature changes.
- MOISTURE ABSORPTION: In the same manner, for the conditions sited in #1, any silica-sand is going to absorb some moisture in and around the bonding materials. When moisture is present in these conditions, the stresses of the temperature changes begins to break down the bonding connections to the porcelain tile.
Outdoor Floor System® created the ultimate solution in 2005. It is a solution that avoids all of the conditions cited above.
~All structural components absorb no moisture and have a micro coefficient of expansion-contraction. ~Our Hold-Tite® Stone and Tile adhesive has no silica-sand, absorbs no moisture and remains flexible through the life-cycle of the product. ~No grout is used between tiles to allow moisture to drain away.
Don’t let the winter weather cause you to use sleep. Design for cold winters with sustaining beauty.
