Ceramic floor tile in the kitchen?
 

Please forgive me if what I am about to ask sounds silly. I simply am absolutely ignorant about this issue but I want some feedback. My home was built in 1956. The home has had only tile or linoleum since it was built. We came across some ceramic floor tiles. There should be enough to tile the small kitchen area, step and landing to the basement. (Of course I will measure first to be absolutely sure.) Here is my question. The tiles are 12x12. When I move the boxes around downstairs, they are very,very heavy. I am afraid they will be too heavy for the floor. Is the structure of the house strong enough to hold the weight of all those tiles? I realize the weight will be distributed, but I am so afraid the floor will begin to sag, or the structure is not strong enough to hold the all the added weight. Can you help with some of my fears?

Welcome SJH:
Floors are typically designed to hold 125# per square foot and the tile only weighs 1 to 2 pounds per piece. Your floor is probably holding a refrigerator just fine and that's a lot more than 125#psf.
A question is never silly or dumb; you may be asking what 6 others want to know and won't ask. Consider it to be 6 favors. No one here will make fun; its what we're here for.
Glenn

SJH:

If your basement isn't finished, go downstairs and measure the floor joists under your kitchen. Measure how long they are between supports, how high each one is and how far they are apart (center-to-center). If the house was built in 1956, it will almost certainly have fir 2X? floor joists.

The problem won't be that your floor won't be strong enough to support the tiling, the problem may be that the floor won't be strong enough not to bend when you walk on the floor, and there-in lies the problem. If the floor bends when you walk on it, then the bending of the floor may be enough to cause the grout joints to crack in a ceramic tiled floor. A floor will bend slightly when you walk on it, and it's the amount of bending that's at issue. Ceramic tiling and grout simply don't have hardly any elasticity at all to accomodate any bending of the floor. And, of course, the stronger the floor, the less bending you'll have.

So, Glenn is correct in saying that the floor is strong enough to support ceramic tiles. But, that really shouldn't be the question. The correct question is whether the floor is strong enough to be SUITABLE for ceramic tiles.

Thanks you guys. My fears about the weight of the tiles has been settled. Sure appreciate your feedback. I will check in the basement too. sjh