Hello All, newbie here, Got a question on bathroom tiles.
Trying to make the wife happy, we have an 1927 style bathroon, Pink and green, Green American Standard fixtures. And are trying to replace the tub surround tiles with tiles that don’t look brand new.
The tiles that match best (and the best price) have a gloss finish. We’ve been all over looking at all tiles and can’t find as good a match colorwise.
So the question is, is there a way to make a glossy tile look Matted or old??? Was hoping I could paint them with something, even put them back in a kiln. Looks like I’m getting kinda desparate.
Thanks, RobH1
By the way, on another front,, if you make one sawhorse a little shorter than the other, they stack-up better.
Replies
You might try here.
http://www.tiles.org/
They have lots of link to resources for historic tiles.
Also here http://www.designsintile.com/
http://www.handcrafttile.com/
http://www.missiontilewest.com/
And you might ask at the forum here, also check there resource links.
http://www.ambungalow.com/AmBungalow/home.htm
Tiles are glass.
You could do anything that you do to glass. Tiles are fired to different temps, and my guess is that all bath type tile is vitrified, meaning that water cant penetrate the clay because the heat was so high, it was melted into one solid object. Unlike a terra cotta, or other lower fired tile that you can see the water soak up through.
So if you were to sand blast, or etch, even the whole glaze layer off, the tile still wont take on water. You run more water penetration risk on the grout line anyway. These methods will give you a 'satin' finish, but will probably collect mildew and scum if it is over done.
You may end up spending more time, and effort doing that than buying a satin glazed tile.
My suggestion is that if the color doesnt match, get away from that color, and pick one that complements(using term loosely) it. There isnt much worse then close but doesnt match.
-zen
I'm using tumbled marble.looks old.the cuts I "have to make" I F.Up with my belt sander on the edges cutting into them then smoothing them to look natural.....doubt you can do this with a gloss tile but maybe can depending on the finish if you use one then the grout.
Be F'd up ( I love that expression in building when it interpets to being the real deal)....
a...
The secret of Zen in two words is, "Not always so"!
When we meet, we say, Namaste'..it means..
Rob
I can loan you my 4 dogs.
They can make it look old in a day.
Jeff
I can think of to things that might work. You'd have to experiment to see if either would work. Nearly anything you did to the glaze would risk making them less impervious to water, but perhaps only slightly. The base on which you mount tiles is supposed to be resistant to water anyway because the grout is porous, so making the surfaces less hermetic should not be a problem.
The first idea is to use the paste used for frosting glass. It contains an acid that etches glass and other ceramics. You absolutely must use rubber gloves and follow directions. The material does rinse off thoroughly and leaves no residue that would be harmful, though. I'd try a short treatment, just enough to take the edge off the shine, not produce a rough surface.
The other is to sand the surface. I'd try wet sanding with a slurry of fine grit, such as lapping compound. Lots of work, though.
Thanks to all,
Have tried searching the web previously, but without much success. Will try all suggestions,, except for the dogs.
Thanks, RobH1