Nonn's Flooring has 25 years experience installing carpet, vinyl, tile, stone and granite in Wisconsin. For exterior decking applications over traditional 16" O.C. wood joist, Nonn's solution was to use a modified interior installation method.

This method consisted of first placing USG Durock®­a water-durable, mold-resistant panel for use under tile and other finishes in a variety of interior and exterior applications­ over decking boards. Next the Schluter® Ditra System was applied, a polyethylene membrane with a grid structure of square cavities. The tile was thin-set to this surface.

This installation was the second attempt at this installation method. Unfortunately the system failed and Nonn's needed a more dependable solution for handling the extreme conditions of exterior tile deck installations. For this customer and others that wanted an exterior tiled deck, they had no other option other than reverting back to decking boards.

Nonn's had located DexSystems® GratedeX® Outdoor Floor System® for a previous application. GratedeX® is a structural flooring system for placing thin gauged natural stone or porcelain tile over traditional joist framing. This system was selected to replace the current failed tiled deck.

The tile, Schluter®, Durock® and decking boards were completely removed down to the decking joist. Once complete, the GratedeX® underlayment panels were fastened to the joist with the provided Bite-Tite® fasteners. Tile was glued to the GratedeX® panels with the Hold-Tite® TA flexible adhesive.

Nonn's Flooring found this to be an excellent way to install tile on an exterior deck. The combination of the free-draining open tile joints, open structural GratedeX® panel and the flexible Hold-Tite® TA adhesive, ensure the finish floor could withstand the freeze-thaw cycles of the Wisconsin winters. Nonn's is very pleased with the product and this exterior tile solution.

DexSystems was the former entity name for ODF Inc. Early production GRATEDEX® panels were 48”x48”.