Friday, September 10, 2010
So here's a tip to help with your stackable tile installations.
What I mean about "stackable tile" is tile that is stacked on top of each other. These particular tiles have a lug on the sides to create a very small grout joint. The problem with strackable tile is that they are not always the exact same size. So, after you stack up several rows of tile one row will be a little longer or shorter than the ones next to them. With such a thin grout joint, it doesn't take very long before the intersection is no longer a true plus and stops looking symmetric. Imagine going several feet and things go all to hell.
The farther away from your starting point the worse it gets. So in order to minimize the indifference here are two things that will help.
Begin in the center of the wall and work from the center towards the edges. In doing such, you now have cut the distance in half for things to start getting misaligned. Secondly, here is an old timers tip that I was taught by an old timer some twenty five years ago or so.
When the tiles are glazed at the manufacturing facility the travel along on a conveyor belt to get sprayed with the glaze. This causes over spray on two opposite sides of the tile and none, or very little on the opposing edges. It's easy to see if you grab a hand full of tile and look at the edges. Some are clean and others have over spray on them.
When I start to install from the center line I start by sorting by hand all the over spray stacked in the same direction. If I begin this way then, hopefully, the rows of tile will "grow" at the same pace. As you continue farther away from your starting point, (center line), eventually it will come to a time if you go very far, that some adjustments need to take place. So here's the final trick.
If you have a row that is getting progressively shorter than the others you can install the next tiles using the over sprayed sides stacked together and the over spray will act as microscopic shim and eventually that short row will catch up.
http://www.customtouchtile.com/
The opposite also applies. If you need to shrink a row, use the clean edges stacked. against each other. So by using stacks of growing and shrinking tiles as you need them you can adjust your grout lines to stay straight with nice intersections through out.
The farther away from your starting point the worse it gets. So in order to minimize the indifference here are two things that will help.
Begin in the center of the wall and work from the center towards the edges. In doing such, you now have cut the distance in half for things to start getting misaligned. Secondly, here is an old timers tip that I was taught by an old timer some twenty five years ago or so.
When the tiles are glazed at the manufacturing facility the travel along on a conveyor belt to get sprayed with the glaze. This causes over spray on two opposite sides of the tile and none, or very little on the opposing edges. It's easy to see if you grab a hand full of tile and look at the edges. Some are clean and others have over spray on them.
When I start to install from the center line I start by sorting by hand all the over spray stacked in the same direction. If I begin this way then, hopefully, the rows of tile will "grow" at the same pace. As you continue farther away from your starting point, (center line), eventually it will come to a time if you go very far, that some adjustments need to take place. So here's the final trick.
If you have a row that is getting progressively shorter than the others you can install the next tiles using the over sprayed sides stacked together and the over spray will act as microscopic shim and eventually that short row will catch up.
http://www.customtouchtile.com/
The opposite also applies. If you need to shrink a row, use the clean edges stacked. against each other. So by using stacks of growing and shrinking tiles as you need them you can adjust your grout lines to stay straight with nice intersections through out.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Why is my grout cracking every where?
Most of the time cracked grout is not a good sign, The only place where one might usually expect to see cracks in grout is in inside corners, or around the perimeter where the tile transitions to a foreign material. This is expected and is easily rectified by caulking with caulk.
Almost always, when grout is failing it's because of two different scenario's. The most common is that the tile or natural stone is not affixed to the substrate well. This could be either a failure where the adhesive marries the substrate or where the adhesive connects to the back of the tile.
Both could normally be avoided if the adhesive was keyed onto a dust free surface. Wet tile needs to be dried off after cut on a wet saw with a dry towel.
The reason the grout is failing is because the tile is not glued on solid and the vibrations of a loose tile separates the grout from the tile.
The second reason is, once again a failure to establish a stable solid substrate, This happens when the particular substrate is not attached well enough to what ever scenario is behind it. On floors? the cement needs to be glued and screwed solidly. The same holds true on walls, The cement board needs to be nailed or screwed solidly and taped and top coated at all the seems.
So. The answer to the question is you can try and tear out the failed grout but more often than not the same problem will return because the deeper problem has not been addressed. Usually the job needs to torn out and redone!
http://www.customtouchtile.com/
Almost always, when grout is failing it's because of two different scenario's. The most common is that the tile or natural stone is not affixed to the substrate well. This could be either a failure where the adhesive marries the substrate or where the adhesive connects to the back of the tile.
Both could normally be avoided if the adhesive was keyed onto a dust free surface. Wet tile needs to be dried off after cut on a wet saw with a dry towel.
The reason the grout is failing is because the tile is not glued on solid and the vibrations of a loose tile separates the grout from the tile.
The second reason is, once again a failure to establish a stable solid substrate, This happens when the particular substrate is not attached well enough to what ever scenario is behind it. On floors? the cement needs to be glued and screwed solidly. The same holds true on walls, The cement board needs to be nailed or screwed solidly and taped and top coated at all the seems.
So. The answer to the question is you can try and tear out the failed grout but more often than not the same problem will return because the deeper problem has not been addressed. Usually the job needs to torn out and redone!
http://www.customtouchtile.com/
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Getting started right!
Lots of people know that the first piece is critical as everything else evolves around it. The same holds true for the first row as well. With wall tile the first coarse needs to be in a straight and level line on the wall so you can then stack the rest of the tile on top of the first row. Often times, especially in custom showers, the bottom row is normally not a full tile off the floor. This is mainly due to the need to position the wall tiles up or down to accommodate feature stripes, design elements, and basic layout issues.
I lay out what I call a "story pole" on the floor. I space the tiles and all of the design pieces out on the floor just as it will go on the wall with no deviation. this then allows me to measure where the tile will sit on the wall. Now that I know where the first grout joint near the bottom will be I can now get ready to get started. All to often the floor or tub/shower basin is not level and sometimes not flat. To eliminate the head aches of trying to get started on a less than optimum starting platform, I like to screw a slat of straight wood where my story pole tells me my lowest joint on the wall will be. Make sure it's in the right place and level as well.
Now that I have a straight and level "bridge" screwed onto the floor I can quickly get started setting my wall tile on the bridge. Once the adhesive is dry I can now remove the bridge and cut in the lowest piece and scribe the bottom to the un level or undulating floor surface.
For more information, visit http://www.customtouchtile.com/
I lay out what I call a "story pole" on the floor. I space the tiles and all of the design pieces out on the floor just as it will go on the wall with no deviation. this then allows me to measure where the tile will sit on the wall. Now that I know where the first grout joint near the bottom will be I can now get ready to get started. All to often the floor or tub/shower basin is not level and sometimes not flat. To eliminate the head aches of trying to get started on a less than optimum starting platform, I like to screw a slat of straight wood where my story pole tells me my lowest joint on the wall will be. Make sure it's in the right place and level as well.
Now that I have a straight and level "bridge" screwed onto the floor I can quickly get started setting my wall tile on the bridge. Once the adhesive is dry I can now remove the bridge and cut in the lowest piece and scribe the bottom to the un level or undulating floor surface.
For more information, visit http://www.customtouchtile.com/
Can I set tile on top of vinyl flooring?
One of the most important things in a good installation is a stable substrate. You can not set tile directly on top of vinyl flooring.
You can how ever set tile on top of a vinyl floor once the following steps are put in place. We will be installing a cement board over the top of the old vinyl floor. The first thing we need to do is to peel off the old vinyl. If on top of concrete, use a dry wall knife and cut through the caulking around the perimeter. Once that is done, cut through the vinyl in long strips. Now with your hand , or with the knife pull up as best as you can the top layer of the vinyl. More likely than not, there will remain part of the vinyl still attached to the concrete. In order to remove what is still attached to the concrete take a 4" scraper and scrape of the rest of the stuff still stuck to the floor. Sweep clean and your now ready to snap some lines for your layout.
The other application is to install tile over vinyl on top of a plywood sub floor. Look around and pull up as much as you can where the vinyl is lose and not attached to what ever is underneath it. You won't need to spend a lot of effort trying to remove the vinyl that is stuck well. Once the loose stuff is removed sweep it up well. Now take 1/4" cement backer board and cut it to overlay the existing floor. I spend the time to cut and fit the entire floor before moving on/. Once you have all the pieces cut and laying there unattached we can move onto the nest step. Now remove the wonder board out of the area. Make sure to some how know where all the pieces will go back at.
Mix some multi purpose thin set adhesive in your bucket and let it sit undisturbed for about ten minutes. Mix it fairly loose in this particular application. after letting it sit remix it one more time. We will now take a 3/16th" v notch trowel and start at the far end of the pre paired floor and smear enough thin set to cover the area of your first row of already cut wonder board. Make sure this is keyed in well on a dust free floor. Cover it as uniformly as possible. Now take the appropriate pieces and lay them down on top of the thin set without disturbing the evenly spread mud. What I mean by this is to not drag the board over the top. Lay it on top nicely. Once the mud is covered, now step onto the wonder board and with your body weight press the board into the mud and try to cover as much area as you can. Once you have done that we will now "surf" the board further into place. What I mean by surfing is to try and shimmy the board back and forth with your legs and body weight . What we are trying to accomplish here is to move the board around some , trying to rub it into the thin set as well as we can to spread the glue to the bottom of the board/substrate to get the best bond possible.
Depending on how fast you can move along you can proceed onto the next row and complete this step in the entire room. Only do this if your area is small enough that you can surf the pieces into place and then come back a nail/ screw it off before the mud starts to harden.
You now need to affix the board tight to the floor with fasteners. You can use screws and screw it off or you can chose to nail it off. There are specific screws sold to attach cement board at your local home improvement store if you want to screw if off. I like to use galvanized roofing barbs and nail it off by hand . Well I actually use an air compressor and a roofing gun. You can certainty do it by hand though. Make sure you use galvanized roofing barbs . The galvanized will keep the fasteners from rusting in the future.
You will want to sew in the edges with fasteners about every 3" around all the edges of each piece of board and then uniformly attach it every 6-8" in the field.
Let it dry over night if you can afford the time.
Once that is done it's ready to tile.
You can how ever set tile on top of a vinyl floor once the following steps are put in place. We will be installing a cement board over the top of the old vinyl floor. The first thing we need to do is to peel off the old vinyl. If on top of concrete, use a dry wall knife and cut through the caulking around the perimeter. Once that is done, cut through the vinyl in long strips. Now with your hand , or with the knife pull up as best as you can the top layer of the vinyl. More likely than not, there will remain part of the vinyl still attached to the concrete. In order to remove what is still attached to the concrete take a 4" scraper and scrape of the rest of the stuff still stuck to the floor. Sweep clean and your now ready to snap some lines for your layout.
The other application is to install tile over vinyl on top of a plywood sub floor. Look around and pull up as much as you can where the vinyl is lose and not attached to what ever is underneath it. You won't need to spend a lot of effort trying to remove the vinyl that is stuck well. Once the loose stuff is removed sweep it up well. Now take 1/4" cement backer board and cut it to overlay the existing floor. I spend the time to cut and fit the entire floor before moving on/. Once you have all the pieces cut and laying there unattached we can move onto the nest step. Now remove the wonder board out of the area. Make sure to some how know where all the pieces will go back at.
Mix some multi purpose thin set adhesive in your bucket and let it sit undisturbed for about ten minutes. Mix it fairly loose in this particular application. after letting it sit remix it one more time. We will now take a 3/16th" v notch trowel and start at the far end of the pre paired floor and smear enough thin set to cover the area of your first row of already cut wonder board. Make sure this is keyed in well on a dust free floor. Cover it as uniformly as possible. Now take the appropriate pieces and lay them down on top of the thin set without disturbing the evenly spread mud. What I mean by this is to not drag the board over the top. Lay it on top nicely. Once the mud is covered, now step onto the wonder board and with your body weight press the board into the mud and try to cover as much area as you can. Once you have done that we will now "surf" the board further into place. What I mean by surfing is to try and shimmy the board back and forth with your legs and body weight . What we are trying to accomplish here is to move the board around some , trying to rub it into the thin set as well as we can to spread the glue to the bottom of the board/substrate to get the best bond possible.
Depending on how fast you can move along you can proceed onto the next row and complete this step in the entire room. Only do this if your area is small enough that you can surf the pieces into place and then come back a nail/ screw it off before the mud starts to harden.
You now need to affix the board tight to the floor with fasteners. You can use screws and screw it off or you can chose to nail it off. There are specific screws sold to attach cement board at your local home improvement store if you want to screw if off. I like to use galvanized roofing barbs and nail it off by hand . Well I actually use an air compressor and a roofing gun. You can certainty do it by hand though. Make sure you use galvanized roofing barbs . The galvanized will keep the fasteners from rusting in the future.
You will want to sew in the edges with fasteners about every 3" around all the edges of each piece of board and then uniformly attach it every 6-8" in the field.
Let it dry over night if you can afford the time.
Once that is done it's ready to tile.
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Here's a tip for you when your redoing your tub surround
If you desire to retile your tub surround here are a couple of tips that will make it easier for you. In order to replace your tile without a bunch of dry wall refinishing you need to replace the existing wall board. As you probably know the joint between the new substrate and the existing needs to be taped with mesh tape and skimmed over with thinset. If this is done outside the tile you will then need to do a bunch of texturing work and painting to bring everything to a nice finish. Here's a way to do it without all those extra dry wall steps.
When you begin with the demolition start by removing the last row of tile on the out side perimeter, usually trim pieces (bull nose). Do this with care so as not to break the dry wall or wonderboard. Take a drywall knife and cut next to the edge of the tile to cut through the caulking and paint. Now take a flat bar and a hammer and carefully break the tile off of the wall. Do this around the entire perimeter. Once this is finished, now take a saw of some kind and cut right next to the tile that's still on the wall all the way through the wall board. Be careful to not cut through wires and/or plumbing while doing this.
You can now tear off the rest of the tile and wall board until it's all gone and your now down to bare studs. Now cut your new cement board to fit the empty spaces, starting first with the back wall. On the vertical joints where the new cement board will join with the existing wall board you will first have to screw in some wood backing so that you are able to screw both sides of the joint tight to the wood backing. I use cedar fence pickets for this application. They are the right width, soft enough to cut easily and easy for the screws to grab as well. Cut the fence picket to the required length and start by screwing it to the existing wall board on the back side of the wallboard first. Make sure to split the picket so half of it is behind the existing wall board and the other half is exposed in the space where the new cement board will go. Now you can install the new cement board in the space. Screw or nail it to the studs first and now you can sink some screws into the picket behind the new cement board at the seem, sewing it together. Once this is accomplished you can now tape the joint with mess tape and slick it over with thinset.
Your now ready to tile it with your new hard goods. In doing this the joint is now inside the new tile installation, covered with tile and you won't have any drywall repair to do because it's all covered underneath the tile.
When you begin with the demolition start by removing the last row of tile on the out side perimeter, usually trim pieces (bull nose). Do this with care so as not to break the dry wall or wonderboard. Take a drywall knife and cut next to the edge of the tile to cut through the caulking and paint. Now take a flat bar and a hammer and carefully break the tile off of the wall. Do this around the entire perimeter. Once this is finished, now take a saw of some kind and cut right next to the tile that's still on the wall all the way through the wall board. Be careful to not cut through wires and/or plumbing while doing this.
You can now tear off the rest of the tile and wall board until it's all gone and your now down to bare studs. Now cut your new cement board to fit the empty spaces, starting first with the back wall. On the vertical joints where the new cement board will join with the existing wall board you will first have to screw in some wood backing so that you are able to screw both sides of the joint tight to the wood backing. I use cedar fence pickets for this application. They are the right width, soft enough to cut easily and easy for the screws to grab as well. Cut the fence picket to the required length and start by screwing it to the existing wall board on the back side of the wallboard first. Make sure to split the picket so half of it is behind the existing wall board and the other half is exposed in the space where the new cement board will go. Now you can install the new cement board in the space. Screw or nail it to the studs first and now you can sink some screws into the picket behind the new cement board at the seem, sewing it together. Once this is accomplished you can now tape the joint with mess tape and slick it over with thinset.
Your now ready to tile it with your new hard goods. In doing this the joint is now inside the new tile installation, covered with tile and you won't have any drywall repair to do because it's all covered underneath the tile.
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