I live in a townhouse on the 2nd floor. The building sank or shifted or whatever and we have a cracked slab on the ground and 2nd floors. The foundation was repaired and pulled straight with cranes and big cables and everything.
I want tile put in. I have had 5 tile guys out to look at it. They cut my carpet and looked under the pad at the cracks and I have 5 different answers about what I should do. The answers and explanations are:
- Don't do it, you can only have carpet or vinyl from now on. Foundation repairs don't last. It will buckle again later and break all the tile.
- We'll do it, but you need 5/8" wood sub-flooring nailed down. If it buckles a little, the give in the subfloor will keep the tiles from breaking until they align the building again.
- We'll do it, but you have to vacate for 2 days while we pour leveler up to 1/4" thick and screed it all out. If it buckles, call the company that repaired the foundation.
- It looks like a really good foundation repair. The floor looks almost perfectly level and the cracks are now only hairline. We'll do it with 1/4" latex modified thinset and leveler if necessary. If it buckles, call the company that repaired the foundation.
- Basically the same as (2) but floating 3/8" sub-flooring. If it buckles, since the floor floats nothing will crack.
Cost is not a factor, they're all within $200 of each other. These guys all have good references so I don't think anybody's really wrong, just different ways and I just don't know which way to go.
Does anybody have experience with any of these methods to say if one certain way is better than any other way? Which of these is most likely to give me the least grief?
Thanks!
Judy