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I’m considering several alternatives for adding tile to a brick fireplace. The brick has been painted and seems to have good cohesion to the brick.
The options include, (a) thin set on top of the painted brick (b) traditional mud job and (c) concrete backer-board.
Any suggestions? If a traditional mud job, is wire lath recommended or is a concrete bonding agent sufficient?
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The cement backer underlayment would be the easiest. You could also use the expanded lathe. Thinsetting directly over the brick is probably not the way I would go.
*Ya' know, this very thing came up a while ago on Breaktime. And several of the posts mentioned "thinsetting directly over the brick..." as an option. I don't see how this would result in a completed job that is equal to, or better than, using CBU or mud as substrate. Actually, it seems to me this method would require a higher skill level to keep those tile in plane over an undulating substrate. Besides, wouldn't this take more time than installing over CBU? Any takers?
*Are we talking about tiling the hearth or the face of the fireplace?
*Last spring I tiled over a painted Roman brick corner fireplace. I chiseled off the hightest points of the Roman brick. Next I skim coated the brick with a stiff mix of an epoxy thinset, this created a flat substrate. This could be done in two coats if necessary. The tiles were then set with epoxy thinset on the verticle surfaces. The hearth was a 2" thick honed limestone also set in epoxy thinset. Small pebbles kept the heavy limestone from squeezing out the thinset. A silky smooth waterborne urethane finish over a black walnut mantle completed the project. I would not attempt to laminate the brick with a cement backer as fastening the board would be time consuming. The method of using skimcoats to flatten and level masonry/cement substrates has other applications and is worth having in your bag of tricks.Incidently, the tiles were 6"x6", 6"x12", and 12"x12" in a "random" pattern. I do not anticipate any callbacks for this job. It changed an eyesore into a beauty.Joe
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I'd be uncomfortable with thinset bonding to any painted surface. I like the idea of using a CBU but I'm not sure how I'd anchor it to brick without spending all day doing it.
I would probably wire lath and parge to create a substrait for the tile.
Another possibility that might actually be less work would be to rent a small sandblaster and take the paint off the brick.
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Ryan, the only time I would ever again sandblast inside a house is if it were unoccupied, as in, bare, empty, nothing in the house. My folks had a painted brick fireplace--hearth and surround--and I sandblasted for 3 days. I don't know what was worse, the fine dust everywhere or my mom complaining about the dust. (Of course I had it tented off) Never again.
I think now that if I ever had to do it again I'd use a low RPM sander with a course grit.
*My reasoning for not thinsetting over brick is because I feel you are putting a lot of faith in the bond. With lathe you get a sure as shit bond.
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Thanks for all the input. After doing more research,
here is what I did. I used a bunch of Tapcon screws
to anchor some CBU to both the hearth and the face of the fireplace. I was really concerned about the paint
not providing a good bond, and I thought the lathe would
be a good way to ease my fears. I then applied mortar
over the entire surface to obtain a flat surface
for the tile. We should know this winter how it
holds up. Thanks again.
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I'm considering several alternatives for adding tile to a brick fireplace. The brick has been painted and seems to have good cohesion to the brick.
The options include, (a) thin set on top of the painted brick (b) traditional mud job and (c) concrete backer-board.
Any suggestions? If a traditional mud job, is wire lath recommended or is a concrete bonding agent sufficient?