Hello,
We just bought our first house and are in the process of fixing up the kitchen. We have taken out the cabinets along one wall, removed the peninsula/island thing that had a cooktop on it and are interested in tiling the countertop, backsplash, and floor (over old strip wood and vinyl). If I can figure out how, I will post a photo or two. Specifically, I was wondering if anyone has heard of “Silk Road Kermont Ceramiche” tile that I was looking at for my backsplash. It is a little “streaky” and the accent pieces have dandelions on them. I have googled and googled and can’t find anything at all about them. I am located in the Toronto area if it makes a difference.
Thank you very much,
Michelle
Replies
Find a dealer that sells the tile and see if they have the information you need.
As a displaced Canuk who visits back to TO often, welcome to Breaktime. DO NOT tile over linoleum or vinyl flooring!
Let's not confuse the issue with facts!
You mentioned "streaky".
Don't know what you meant but there's some streaks on this page.
http://www.bottegadarte.irisceramica.com/
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
You may want to try asking your question at House Chat too, they are more into interior decorating and someone may there may be able to help you (not saying that people here can't help you, but the more the merrier).
Not sure what it is that you want to know about these tile other than if anyone has heard of them.
You have a lot of issues concerning your installation over vinyl, over strip floor...........and, tile countertops suck in my opinion. No a better adjective than that to use, sorry.
Try posting your query here as well.............http://johnbridge.com/vbulletin/index.php
Eric
I Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
[email protected]
Welcome and here are a few more questions to help us get a handfle on what it is U R looking 4
Do you intend to set this tile yourself?
Are you looking more for advice on designer/colour/taste advice or for installation advice?
If the former. the House Chat forum ( see line above in header) is the right place to be.
If the latter, you need a sound substrate to set tile to. The strip flooring and the sheet vinyl are not acceptable if you want the job to last for more than a year. You would need a cement board or other underlayment well adhered for tile setting on a floor. That means that the floor would end up nearly an inch higher than it is now and create problems with other elevations re appliances and thresholds into other rooms. Theat means that you probably need to remove the existing flooring down to the subfloor and work back up again.
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where ...
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Thank you for the varied responses. I suppose I should have prefaced with "I have found this tile at a local tile dealer and even they do not appear to know anything about it. Apparently the display rack is brand new and they don't know how much it costs or even if it is available up here (though why they would have it on display and not be able to get it would be beyond me). While my sales person is trying to track down the supplier / rep of the tile, perhaps some of the experienced pros over on breaktime are already working with this tile down in the states - it's probably old news to all those pros." I will re-post over on House Chat as yes, perhaps it is more geared to designers and not craftsmen.
Otherwise, thank you for the input. I have just joined the John Bridge group and will direct my countertop tiling questions over there - I know he hates tiled countertops as much as you seem to but we're exploring our options at this point since we don't have the budget for granite as much as we may like it. We may just end up using BB for the counters and porcelain for the floor, after, of course, putting plywood or cement board on top of the existing floors.
Wow I'm really sorry but I can't help but feeling I just wasted a lot of people's time (and reading the "amateurs welcome" column before getting to this one tonight didn't really help). I will try and learn a LOT more before asking questions here for the next time! And for the record, the one really good show we get up here is This Old House. The magazine's not half-bad either.
Thank you to those who tried to answer my original post. I will keep trying to track down information on these backsplash tiles.
Michelle.
There are beginner questions here all the time and in a lot of cases it's best for the poster to read a book on the subject rather than asking that one be written here for them. I'm not saying you were doing that, but it does happen. The best thing you can probably do is buy and read Michael Byrne's "Setting Tile" book, which is what I read when I first started setting tile, and still re-read parts of frequently before doing certain types of work. Good luck!
I have no problems helping newbies, Schelly, as long as we can converse in the same language.;)
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
If you want to learn how to tile well, get one of the Taunton books on the subject. You'll learn a lot.
I'm really sorry that you feel unwelcome, or that you have not received valid answers. I must admit that your first post was a little unclear ... did you want help finding the tile, or installing it?
For finding the tile, the folks at Inspired House might be a good starting point, although it's odd that the store can't help.
For installation help, there are several people here who can give good advice, but we almost always give reference to the johnbridge.com site cuz they are more specialized then we.
Even though some people don't like tile counters, if you ask a specific question here we will usually give an opinion as to what we like or don't like, then we'll give a valid answer to your question. But of course there will always be people here who are having a bad day ... just try to ignore them.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Im sorry you didnt feel welcome also. based on the info you gave I felt the answers were as best and accurate as they could be.
heres my take , you cant install tile directly over lynolium(sp) but you can install the backer board over it and install the tile on top of that. Then because you have a height difference between your orginal floor and tiled floor you will have to make a transition piece. usually a piece of stained hardwood rounded over or angle cut to make the transition less dramatic.
But as for info on different tile manufacturers cant help you there.
All I can tell you is tile is basically personal preferance as far a looks go. Now mat'l types such as a natural stone tile or porcelin well thats different. But you didnt ask about that
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Michelle - I hope you didn't run away too fast...I want to let you know that not everyone hates tiles on countertops. My 2 cents: I did my home countertops with tile a few years ago and haven't had any real problems with them. One thing that I did was used epoxy grout to prevent the stains in the grout. (Mine was green, to go with the "marble" tile.) Grouting was a royal pain. But it was worth it. Nothing stains the stuff. The tile were easy to work with, more forgiving than granite and a whole lot cheaper. Good luck.
Don
Hi Everyone,Well, I got a phone call today from the tile shop that the tiles I was looking for come from overseas somewhere and will take eight weeks if I want them. Needless to say, my DH sincerely wants to be living in the house long before eight weeks from now, so I will be looking for something else... I spent the better part of the day today getting my hopes up about a concrete countertop (after reading everything here about it I was overjoyed to see a link on the CA countertop guru's site to a canuck of all things in my very area, but he sent me back an email saying he is overwhelmed with a few huge projects right now that will take him into the fall and hence no kitchens... and don't try it myself it's extremely difficult... so back to searching for tile we like!)I haven't run away, I just have realized there are still too many options out there for me to be asking intelligent questions just yet (I really was just looking for someone who had heard of that particular tile before). I have spent the whole evening trying to figure out what the different types of slate are, trying to find a tile "glossary" of sorts etc. Just too many choices I think! I will come back when I have specific questions to ask as we tackle things bit by bit. thanks though! you guys are a wealth of information! mcd
I have heard that some of the cheap slate is actually shale, and it gets soft when soaked in water. Apparently the dry appearance is almost the same as slate, and it is easily confused.
Only 8 week delivery for the tile? Go ahead and order it. There will be plenty of other things come up that will delay the completion, so by the time the tile arives it will only be a 1-2 week delay.
I'm sorry, I thought you wanted it done the right way.
Yeah, shoot, it took me eight or nine weeks to get some tile from Califirnia.
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ya probably ordered it from the mile of tile a street with about 1 mile plus side streets of tile stores near me in anaheim..next time let me know and I can pick it up and ship it to ya ..probably quicker
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Actually, the customer ordered it. I knew when she made that choice that I would be a-waiting...;)but thanks for the offer, somethinhg to keep in mind.You still thinking about CO someday?
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yea for a visit..maybe next year the wife is going home to mexico this year...
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U need something to set that tile on ...
so go ahead and build it.
then cover it ...
and use it as counter space till the short 8 weeks is up.
How long do ya think anything else is gonna take?
decision time ... final decision time ... finding the materials ... finding the sub ...
getting on their schedule or figuring out how to do it yourself ...
8 weeks is nothing.
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry In Carpentry
Pittsburgh Pa
Keep in mind that tile floor is VERY hard. It is actually falling out of favor a bit (and wood is returning) as we boomers get older. You really feel tile after a short period of time of standing on it.
If you do use tile for the counter top (I really like how the counter top and back splash can be integrated) look for a tile with all of the nice trim pieces (base cove, bullnose, those rounded 'L' ones). Not all tiles have them, and it seems most European ones do not. Swimming pool tiles usually do, and they tend to be less expensive. Also, you might want to consider a stain resistant grout, like epoxy grout, or one of the newer ones that are supposed to be more stain resistant. My one complaint about tile countertops is grout lines with stains. Very narrow grout lines look more refined and slick, especially with dark tile and dark grout.
Here's another resource for you:
http://www.johnbridge.com/
HTH,
Ken