Tiles are often more limited in terms of size, color, and finish than their wall-tile counterparts. This is mainly due to the need to pass certain tests in order to guarantee quality. To test for this, three credit cards should be placed next to the edge of a chip. If the third card does not slip, it is usually too much, unless it is a special tile such as a hand-molded one.
When placed on tiles on tile support plates, they can hold up to 60 kg per m², which is ideal for even the largest porcelain tiles. In the morning, I would lift and replace the tiles repeatedly in order to level them. I would use different widths of grout to space the tiles with my hands and reduce slippage. The tile should be positioned so that any perimeter joint that is too wide can be foreseen and then adjusted accordingly. The only time tile sliding on a wall is a problem is when there is direct light on or near it, creating shadows at the grout joints and making it appear as if there is excessive sliding of the tile. Wall tile applications are more prone to detachment by mistake when the tiles meet the standards, but due to the lighting in the area, they seem to be excessive.
If an installer is unable to compensate for the irregularities of the substrate and tile when placing the tile, it suggests that they do not have the necessary skill to install it correctly. An elastic joint filled with an ASTM C920 sealant should be placed at the joint between the tile and base in order to mitigate possible movement within the tile. As long as the tile has been properly installed, any detachment will not affect its life beyond what was stated above. In Canada, a grout joint that is no more than 7 mm wide plus 1 mm for deformation inherent to the tile meets standards. However, how the tiles are installed and how much thin layer is used will influence how much slippage occurs.
The ANSI A108 standards on allowable slip should also be taken into account; this is the difference in height between two adjacent tiles. According to ANSI A118 industrial tile installation standards for adhesives for dry fine set mortar tiles, dry set mortars are designed as direct bonding adhesives and are not intended to be used to bind or level underlying substances or for other people's work. I recently completed a tile replacement in Arizona where the installer did not pull up the base boards; when they installed the tile and grout, you could see irregular cuts of the tile and part of the height of the baseboards was lost. They specialize in terrace-cement tiles, terrace-resin tiles, encaustic cement tiles and Zellige tiles.
