# Noble CIS or Schluter Ditra??????



## nhill2090 (Dec 11, 2010)

Ok, this question is for my personal home this time. The project is in an outdoor "breezeway" that is about 150 square feet. There will be a nice quality porcelain 24x24 going down in it. 

However, there is a decent crack running through the floor the whole 11 foot width. Its between an 1/8 and a 1/4 wide and has not moved or widened that I can tell in the past 2 or so years. The crack is on a high spot in the concrete, which I plan to partially grind down and self level the rest.

I want the tile to last, as it is pretty expensive. Normally I would treat the crack with a roll on membrane with a mesh and use ditra, however doing a little research I came upon the Noble Crack Isolation Membrane that seems pretty legitimate. It looks similar to kerdi in the pictures, but unlike Kerdi, it claims the crack isolation properties.

Opinions?


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## opiethetileman (Apr 7, 2005)

NOBLE is the way to go. hand tight i can get eric to come and explain it better for you:thumbup:


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## JohnFRWhipple (Oct 20, 2009)

When you compare a piece of Nobel TS to Kerdi you can see the difference in thickness and strength - the Nobel TS looks and feels superior to Kerdi. No surprise that it out performs Kerdi as well in head to head testing.

As for the Nobel Crack Isolation this SKU I have not played with at all. I do plan on ordering in the Nobel Deck Waterproofing and even though it is not approved for use here in Vancouver I will install it anyway on my own back deck.

I have had some Nobel TS exposed to the Wind, Rain, Sun and what not now coming on 7 months and it's holding well. I used a little Laticrete 254 to install this band aid to my torch on roofing - and it is holding up great.


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

While I'm not Eric, I think I can explain it well enough.

Ditra is not a crack isolation membrane, NobleSeal TS is.

See, that wasn't so hard :laughing:

You can read some of the benefits for yourself here.

If you don't have a local supplier to get Noble products, Midwest Trade Tool sells them online. NobleSeal TS is cut to order. The roll is 5' wide and then you just order by what length you need. 

You don't need to cover the entire slab with a membrane if you don't want the added expense. You can just treat the cracks like below. Substitute a crack for the relief joint.









EDIT: You can use either CIS or TS. TS seems to be in stock in more locations.


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## JohnFRWhipple (Oct 20, 2009)

Angus I think a lot of the Nobel SKU's are in fact the same product with just different ink used in the production. Something about keeping things easy for the inspectors but if you look at the sheet membranes many are the same material and same thickness just different colours.

JW


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## nhill2090 (Dec 11, 2010)

Thanks for the replies. I will take it all into consideration.

Oh, and Angus..how do you normally do your soft joints when using quartzlock? Is it deemed flexible enough vs a cementious grout where you would use a color matched caulk?

I plan to use quartzlock, that why I ask. 2 labradors + breezeway = stained grouts otherwise :thumbsup:


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## angus242 (Oct 20, 2007)

I have not used QuartzLock in a soft joint situation. I have used it in various situation where caulk is normally required and have not had it crack (yet). 

I don't think I would use it for a soft joint in a customers home without some kind of testing first.


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