Wall tiles for the floor?

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NH1993

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Hi,
We are remodelling our master bathroom, and found some really nice mosaic tiles that would look perfect on the floor. A while back we lived in a 1930's home, and it had very similar tiles on the bathroom floor. Our concern is that the mosaic tiles we like are wall tiles, they are about 1/4 inch thickness, and not sure if they would be suitable for the floor. We have concrete slab foundation. The bathroom is a rather small room, so we won't need a lot of tiles to get the job done.

My question is: Can mosaic wall tiles be used for the floor?

Thanks in advance for your advice!
 
NH1993:

Tiles meant for floors are made from different clays than tiles meant for walls, and that makes floor tiles much stronger than wall tiles for the same size tile. I'd check with the manufacturer of the tiles (or their North American distributor) that these tiles are approved for use on floors before you use them on a floor. You may find that these tiles break whenever you drop something on them.
 
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The other thing to consider is the glazing/finish on the tile. Tiles that stand up against floor traffic are often have a harder more scratch resistant surface than wall tiles.
 
Thank you for your responces!
I talked to the manufacturer, and they said the tiles I asked about were okay to use on the floor. Now that that part is settled, I have another question.
My next concern is the surface preparation. We have concrete slab foundation and though there's no foundation damage anywhere in the house, there are some minor cracks in the concrete here and there. The house was built in the early 80's. Would it be a good idea to put some sort of underlayment on the concrete floor before installing the mosaic tiles? What should we use?
 
You can buy a membrane to put under the tiles.
 
Both Schluter and Mapei make ceramic tiling products that allows you to tile over an active crack in concrete. Schluter makes the more popular product, called "Ditra", and Mapei makes several different products for movement isolation, one of which is called Mapeguard SM.

With the Ditra, you spread it into thin set and then set your tile in thin set over top of it. The Mapeguard is a peel & stick membrane that you stick down and tile over.

http://www.schluter.com/6_1_ditra.aspx
 
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I personally wouldn't trust using wall tiles on the floor, doubt they would be strong enough and would most likely be extremely slippy when wet or walked on with wet feet or no shoes.

I know the manufacturer said they where ok, but then why don't they sell them as a wall/floor tile..... It's probably worth looking about a bit more to find a floor specific tile, i'm sure there must be a floor tile out there that looks the same or similar.
 
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