Saw a huge tile job at the new Portland airport and it made me think

I was picking up a friend at PDX last week and noticed the new terminal floor. They used massive format porcelain tiles, maybe 4x8 feet each, across the whole main hall. The expansion joints looked perfect, but I kept wondering how they handled the subfloor prep for something that big and busy. Has anyone here worked on a public space with tiles that size?

3 comments

3 Comments

carter.gavin21h ago

But what if the subfloor prep is overrated? Modern leveling systems and flexible mortars can handle a lot more than we give them credit for, so maybe those huge tiles are less fragile than they look.

ward.jamie2d ago

Wait, 4x8 foot tiles? That's basically moving a whole sheet of drywall for each piece. I can't even imagine the flatness they needed on that subfloor, a high spot would crack one of those monsters in half. Did they use a special kind of mortar to stop them from sagging?

brian3282d ago

Remember my buddy who tried that and his whole floor cracked like a dried-up riverbed?