What would be the general practice when laying travertine tile on concrete slab if there is going to be a kitchen island? Do I lay the travertine tile first and then build the kitchen island framing on top of the tile or should I build the framing first and then tile around the framing? The advantage I see from tiling first is that the install would be faster since I would not need to make the cuts to the tile to accommodate the framing. Plus the framing height would exactly match the cabinet height.
The only thing lost if tiling under the island is the tile itself, compare this against the labor to cut the tile to fit and I think your answer presents itself rather easily.
I was going to drill holes through the travertine tile and into the concrete slab and then use 1/2" lag shield anchors with 1/2x4" lag bolts. I am not sure that is standard practice since there is a chance that the travertine tile will crack when tightening the bolts.
Drilling thru the travertine wouldn't be a challenge but you would run the risk of cracking tile. How many I wonder.
The next thing is you would more than likely use a percussion drilling tool to drill those holes thru the tile and into the concrete. H-m-m-m-m. Wonder what could happen if you did that?
I wonder if the percussion could rattle the grout right out of the grout joints in the area? H-m-m-m-m-m! Don't know.
I wonder if the percussion could cause tiles to debond from the concrete substrate? H-m-m-m-m-m! Don't know.
Then there are the lag-shields. Now there's a handy product. Problem is...lag shields work by expansion of the product when the bolt is inserted. The expansion depends on contacting an adjacent surface for its grip. I wonder if that type of strain on the travertine would over time cause a tile to crack. H-m-m-m-m-m! Don't know.
Just throwing out some food for thought because if I proposed all of those issues as positive things that will/could happen, some turkey will come along and tell you "Oh hell I've drilled travertine and concrete a million times and nothing has happened and Bud's an idiot."
Ah!! Yes much more to this than I originally thought. I guess I could pre-drill and set anchor shields in concrete prior to tiling. And also pre-drill travertine tile prior to installation. Still, there might be potential for cracking when bolting the framing to the floor.
I guess I'll play it safe and anchor framing directly to the concrete slab and adjust the height to match the cabinets after the tile has been installed.
Whenever I set an island over a tiled area I secure 2 x 4 cleats for the island with screws through the mortar joints and not the tile. In your case with the concrete slab, I would use tapcon screws. Its easy enough to drill through the mortar joint without hurting the tile, assuming your joint is wide enough to take the tapcon, about 3/16".
Mike Hawkins
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