Tile – Which is least likely to crack due to high traffic, large or small tile

floorremodelingtile

Consider a kitchen on pier-beam flooring with two doors allowing traffic to flow through it.
The floor is 10×10 feet. I plan to tile and would like to minimize risk of cracking.

Which size tile would be least likely to crack tile or grout, small tiles(2-4 inch sq) or large tiles (1x1ft)?

Best Answer

Smaller tiles are less likely to crack on the tile itself, the joints will give first. But larger tiles are stronger in general.

That said, you should work on increasing the strength of your floor before tiling if you are concerned about cracking. If you can access the joists, sister any weak places between two load bearing points. On the floor itself, install a cement board with lots of screws along the joists. Stagger any joints from the subfloor below. And make sure the entire surface is perfectly flat (level is good, flat is required).