nothing beats a mortar bed installation. It's how stone has been installed for thousands of years and still how the majority of the world installs stone and ceramic tile, and considering its historical longevity, it's a no brainer, but in it's use, the cost may be prohibtive when compared to thin-set and backerboard technology. Also it's hard to find mud-bed isntaller in the USA and expensive when you do find them. As to your subfloor movement, or deflection, the industry standards are as follows: The Tile Council of North America recommends a deflection of no more than L/360 of the span for ceramic tile, and the Marble Institute of America recommends the deflection of the subfloor/substrate to be no more than L/720 of the span for natural stone, or twice as much as that of ceramic tile. To calculate deflection, convert the area span from feet into inches then divide by 360 or 720. The end result gives you the maximum amount the floor can move under an "expected load". To give you a close estimate of your subfloors deflection rate, here is a handy tool at John Bridges website called: Deflectolator subfloor/substrate deflection calculator. Ok now on to your choices if you dont want the problem of finding a mud-bed isntaller or the cost of mud-bed installations. There are 4 products I recommend whole heartedly and proved to be suitable solutions when deflection is within the above tolerances: Schluter Ditra - waterproofing, load-distribution, and ucoupling membrane Wonderboard - Cementious Backer Unit Durock - Cementious Backer Unit hardibacker It is important to note that no mortar bed, membrane, or backer unit will sturdy up a subfloor/substrate in terms of deflection, and that the substrate needs to be withing deflection paramneters BEFORE any of the tile system is installed to support that system. The subfloor/substrate needs to be within specified deflection prior to the installation of any tile system. It simply adds rigidity between joists to carry the load without it cracking, and in cases of membranes, it adds waterproofing, load-distribution, and uncoupling properties. A self leveling compound will not add to any framing/joists ability to carry a load. In fact, it adds alot of extra weight to that system possibly limiting the load even more than any mudbed or CBU/FBU system. According to the specifications, the framing needs to be within specified deflection before topical coatings, menbranes, backer units, mudbeds, or thin set is added. In conclusion, it depends on your framing and deflection rate as to what is best for you. I am not a huge proponent in SLC's for ceramic tile over a wood substrate simply because the way alot of houses are built today the extra weigh of the SLC can cause problems. I believe in fixing the woodworking and subfloor system or patching it to within height tolerances. Over concrete it is fine because concrete is much more sturdy. I just think some use SLC's way to liberally as a blanket easy fix, when they may very well work in one persons house and not well in anothers. I have repaired many tile jobs over SLC's over wood because of this. Every year we have a few customers whom we make cracked grout joint and tile repairs for because someone used an SLC over their wood subfloor as a base for their tile job because the added weight of the slc when combined with the added weight of the tile and thinset made deflection that much more, and they dont want to rip it all out and fix it right for the time, expense, and mess involved. I am not saying anything in particular is right or wrong for you, or that any will absolutely succeed or fail, but I just want you to consider the information. It all depends on your framing/joist system and its deflection, so figuring that out is the first step then you can decide from there.

Tough call, if its me, I try grinding that area to lower that rise down to 1/4 in over the 2-3 feet. Since the area is small, I would use an angle grinder with a concrete plate, its very dusty, so be prepared, and use a vac if possible. In my experience with self leveler, it works wonders, but still requires a tad bit of grinding once set up to smooth it out. also seal that crack, and check the moisture reading on the concrete. nows the time to find out if theres moisture issues, before you lay down an expensive floor.

I suspect you will regret bamboo. I have stranded bamboo in a kitchen and I wouldn't put it in a bath. If you really don't have the money to truly fix the deflection, use a small mosaic tile, hexagon or penny-round will probably work best. Use a masonry board or a uncoupling membrane and then adhere the tiles with a flexible thin set. I prefer Laticrete 254, but if you have to do the big box store, Flex bond from Home Depot isn't bad. Then use a decent flexible grout. The Mapei flexcolor is a solid product. If your floor is flexing enough to break those tiles then you have much bigger problems. Eventually the grout might work loose but you should have quite a while before that becomes a real problem. ETA: Check my advice on the johnbridge forums if you would like. You can literally paste my advice to your problem over there and get opinions from professional tilers who will put their name and experience right there in their signature.

Oh man! Thanks for all the laughs, people 😆 Cringeworthy is putting it mildly. I also have eaten while on Zoom - with camera off. It was with family, and they were asking me to turn the camera on, and I refused until I was finished, and told them why. I am very conscious of how I am appearing on camera and do try to be as considerate as possible. It's very hard not to look at oneself, IMPE. It's funny, but at the last work meeting on Zoom, I realized I was the only one who was showing any expression in response to what was being said, the others were rigidly staring intently at their screens. I think a lot of people are just not that aware of how they are appear to others, and then there's the sad truth that not everyone has the advantage of knowing proper etiquette - business or otherwise. It's not something people are born knowing instinctively. Oh, and over the past 2 years I bought a folding screen and a clothing rack with the idea either could be used as backgrounds on video conferencing. The clothing rack would have fabric draped over it.