![]() ![]() Mud jobs are still the way to go for poured concrete floors and for high-end work, but for most bathroom and kitchen construction, a mud job’s cost and weight are overkill (assuming you can even find someone with the skills to do it). Ceramic and Stone Tileĭecades ago, the only way to lay tile-especially in wet areas like bathrooms-was on a flat, smooth, 2″- thick slab of troweled cement mortar, or the once-ubiquitous “mud job” of yore. ![]() The catch is, not only do underlayments vary from material to material, but they also diverge from what you may remember using in the past. In kitchens and bathrooms, where tile and resilient coverings appear most, the right underlayment is critical for the best looks and long life of the floor. What’s typically needed is a subfloor combined with an intermediate material or underlayment that bridges gaps and joints while presenting a smooth, stable surface for the finishing flooring. ![]() What may be a surprise, though, is that a tongue-and-groove subfloor, the typical base in old-house floors, and even common construction plywood or chipboard is neither smooth enough nor solid enough to be a good foundation on its own. The old saw about how a good house starts with a good foundation applies to laying tile and resilient flooring. For a moisture-prone installation in a tiled bath, Unifix’s PermaBase brand cement board provides a rigid substrate made of Portland cement, aggregate, and glass mesh.
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