I just installed a full bathroom in my basement. The rough plumbing was in when I had the house built, I did everything else, walls, plumbing, electric, etc. The floor is tile and everything came out very nice. My daughter saw it and asked if I would re-do her bathroom and put in glass tile. I said yes of course, but I know glass tile is installed differently. Any suggestions? Dennis |
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Dennis-
The recent issue of FineHomebuilding magazine has an article about glass tile on the cover;o)
Dennis,
I completed a glass tile installation in a bathroom a bit prior to the article in FHB.
To be honest with you (or anyone else) I would tell you that unless you have a vast amount of experience doing tile and stone installation don't even try this. I charged double what I normally would to do an ordinary first class tile job.
That said, it is not impossible. Gather LOTS of information before you attempt this and make sure you have alot of time. The two most dificult aspects of this installation are providing a proper setting bed for the tile that will allow good adhesion but will not result in thinset oozing from the joints. The second hard part is adjusting the little squares (remember, this is a mosaic!) after the paper has been removed. This is the (in my book) biggest pia that was left out of the article in FHB. Of couse how well you would like the grout lines lined up is up to the individual.
The tile I installed came with explicit direction including specs for the thinset and grout and a good tech line. That is what you should look for when making your tile selection.
Again, I would not recommend this to amatuers, but hey, give it a try if you think you can.
Good luck and let me know if you need a specific answer to something.
Eric
I read through the article once, and he mentioned adjusting the tiles. I read that the tiles are adjusted for two reasons...once for looks and once cuz they come loose. Tell me more...
Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell'em "Certainly, I can!" Then get busy and find out how to do it. T. Roosevelt
The craftsman formerly known as elCid
The tiles are on 12x12 sheets with the paper glue to the face. They are not neccesarily in perfect alignment out of the box. Unless you time the removal of the paper perfectly some will move when tou remove the paper. A less than perfect layout or setting of the sheet are going to create more misalignment. Remmember, you could be talking about 15x15 rows of tile on a single sheet! Where you might want to twist a single large tile that-a-way an 1/8" or so, now you have rows and rows to contend with. I found that using a six inch taping knife and a pocket knife to be useful as the tile face is now all gooey from the residue of the paper glue. And you cant clean that off UNTIL the tile is fuly set.
I beleive the tile coming loose thing was as a result of making the adjustment or rushing the removal of the paper.
I am extremely anal about alignment of tile so perhaps I spent more time than most would or should. After all it IS a mosaic.
I have some pics that I will post after scanning them from photos. Not the best, but I have more coming.
The job I did was with numbered sheets; agradient of shading of the tiles with three numbers per sheet. Started at #24 on the floor (dark) and worked my way up to #2 at the top of the walls. It was a way cool look and everyone was thrilled with how it turned out. The client is and artist type guy and the designers husband was the g/c architect.
Very challenging work but satisfying upon completion.
Eric
Your tag is applicable to how I felt going into this job and I have lots of good tile experience!
Eric
Thanks for the heads up. I am retired, so time is not an issue. My daughter and husband are artists like one of the other replies mentioned. Now that it is not for the "faint of heart" I will try it, but I will do a lot of research first.
Thanks,
Dennis