Floor Leveling Compounds: Ceramic tiles have to be installed on a clean, flat, even surface and the base must be solid so that when you install your ceramic tiles on top of it it will not shift and cause cracks in your ceramic tiles.

For this purpose there are floor leveling compounds to help you install your ceramic tiles. Because floor leveling compound is made from cement, when it dries there is no way that you will be able to use it so when mixing the compound only mix an amount that you know you will be able to use within a certain time.

The surface of the sub-floor has to be level before you can install an additional backer board to your sub-floor, so if you have an uneven sub-floor you will need to use floor leveling compound to even them out.

A sub-floor of any given home is usually made of either concrete or wood and in order to make your flooring even more sturdy you will have to add some additional backer board to the sub-floor before you can install your ceramic tiles.

This is compulsory in order to avoid your flooring from shifting and causing your tiles to shift which will eventually cause them to develop cracks.

Concrete backer boards are the best type of backer board to use when installing ceramic floor tiles. They are very sturdy and heavy and provide a good solid base to your floor.

These concrete backer boards comes in slabs of pre-fabricated concrete blocks which are easy to install. Their only drawback is they are quite heavy and will need some strong muscles when transporting them from the hardware store to your home.

It is important to have a sturdy floor structure before you install your ceramic tiles and this will guarantee that your ceramic tile installation will last for a very long time.

Remember to mix only a small amounts of floor leveling compound that you will be able to use up at any given time and use a trowel to spread the floor leveling compound on your sub-floor.