Ceramic Tile Lippage Standards

Long narrow tiles are used.

Ceramic tile lippage standards.

Lippage is the vertical displacement between two adjacent tiles of a ceramic glass or stone installation. They are telling me it is within the standard based on the tile warpage. Lippage refers to differences in elevation between edges of adjacent tile modules the ansi standard notes that the perception of lippage is influenced by many factors such as. American national standards institute ansi a108 02 2013 general requirements.

Rectangular tiles are harder to lay flat. It states for grout joints that are less than 6 mm 1 4 in wide. There are tolerances for tile lippage. Some joints are 1 8 others are 5 8 with a lot of lippage some even at 6 credit cards deep.

For large tiles exhibiting the maximum allowable warpage 50 offsets are guaranteed to exhibit lippage. Today however the ceramic tile industry has grown far more complicated as 12 in by 24 in 18 in by 18 in 24 in by 24 in and larger tiles are manufactured in abundance. When excessive this can lead to numerous problems ranging from chipped edges to snagged furnishings and appliances to safety hazards. Narrow grout joints may look pleasing to the eyes but it increases the chance of tile lippage.

Some types of tiles also curve as much as 0 5 the length of the tile such as polished porcelain tiles. Variation in the height of adjoining tiles is called lippage. This is defined in the ansi american national standards institute standard a108 02 section 4 3 7. The standards state that a tile with a grout joint that is less than wide can have 1 32 of lippage in addition of what the actual warpage is of the tile being installed.

The ansi a108 02 standards say that acceptable lippage for floor tiles with a grout joint width of 1 16 to less than 1 4 is 1 32 plus the allowable inherent warpage of the tile. I just had a complete remodel of my bathroom contractors are using 12 x 24 porcelain tiles. If the grout joint width is 1 4 or greater then the allowable warpage is 1 16 plus the allowable inherent warpage of the tile. To address this on a practical basis some manufacturers recommend against any patterns with offsets in excess of 33 if the tile being used has an edge larger than 18 inches.

A bad batch of tiles tends to show lippage more. For your tile size and joint width presuming no offset the maximum allowable difference in elevation between tiles lippage is 1 32nd of an inch in addition to the inherent warpage of the individual tiles. The allowance for such warpage is also spelled out in a137 1 and would apply if your tiles are advertised as meeting that standard. This is assuming that the warpage of the tile is within the standard s acceptable range for that type of tile.