How to Determine the Height of a Tile Floor

An installed tile floor’s thickness and height is important when creating a transition between the tile and flooring in an adjacent space. Thresholds, traditionally milled or cut from hardwood, stone or metal, are used to level out the transition between tiled areas and adjacent floors. They are typically installed in doorways, screwed to the floor or subflooring material. Know the thickness of the tiled floor to choose an appropriate threshold. The thickness is easily calculated by finding the sum of the thicknesses of all flooring and materials used.

Measuring tape

Instructions

- 1
  List all materials for constructing the tile floor. Do not include the subflooring material, which is typically concrete or plywood attached to the floor joists. Because the subflooring is common to adjacent rooms, the flooring materials’ thicknesses do not include this dimension. Depending on specific installation methods, your list includes items such as plywood or cement backer board, moisture barrier cloth, fiberglass reinforcing mesh, mortar and tile.
- 2
  Measure and note each flooring component’s thickness on your list. Plywood and cement backer board are available in standardized thicknesses. Add the thickness of moisture-barrier cloth to the thickness of a mortar skim coat applied to adhere the cloth to the plywood, concrete board or subfloor. The mortar layers’ thickness is equal to the depth of the teeth in the trowel you plan to use.
- 3
  Add the individual flooring components’ thicknesses. The sum equals the total height of the tiled floor, measured from the level of the sub-flooring base.

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