Tiling - lessons learned
#6
I tiled the laundry room about a month ago and thought I would pass on a couple tips.

Layout - measure carefully and do the layout on the computer (I used Sketchup 2017). My room was small (11x12) but complex with intruding cabinets on two walls. Made it easy to adjust my tile layout to minimize the amount of cutting required and easy to create a cut-list showing what tiles needed to be cut to fit where. Also gave me a super-precise view of the qty of materials I needed.

Cutting tiles - I have a 15+ year old Harbor Freight sliding tray wet saw designed for 12-14" tiles. I slapped a plywood overlay table on top and I was able to rip 24" porcelain tiles. Score one for the budget.

Edging tiles - Decided to do a tile baseboard. I bought a $43 dollar diamond bullnose blade and made my own bullnose tile out of regular floor tile. Took some finessing to get an even bullnose profile cut into the tile, but score another one for the budget.

Mortar - buy mortar that's close in color to your grout. Because it's no fun discovering dark mortar peeking through your light color grout.

Installing tiles - bought an off-brand tile levelling system (Ogori) from Amazon. Wedges and clips. Highly recommended for large format tiles and waaay better and less money than the QEP LASH system - the wedges and clips are much bigger making them easy to handle. The tool for setting the wedges is worth the money ($13).

Grouting - I used PowerGrout for stain resistance. Mixes very dry. Work in small batches to avoid the grout setting up before you have it placed.

Clean-up - a 'no scratch' scouring pad works great for removing dried mortar and grout from the tiles.

-Mark


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#7
I use the same lash system. Economical and easy. Didn't know there was a tool. Hopefully I'll never do tile again. Those little wedes come in handy doing mosaic work and leveling base bull- nose tile. Most of my wedges are cut in various lengths now. IMHO, all grout sets too fast.
Neil Summers Home Inspections




" What would Fred do?"

... CLETUS











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#8
thanks for linking the lash system, I'll have to check it out.  Got some lippage on my last job.  I used up some width and didn't figure that out until I had mortar down.  Don't know why I didn't leave myself more room.  I want to tile the kitchen and dining room, I'll probably shop that around to have someone do it for us.  I think I'll do the remaining bathrooms myself
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#9
I have a cheap tile saw, but I bought a very good quality scoring tile cutter.  The scoring cutter is so very much faster and neater and cleaner that it is a worthwhile extra.  I still use the tile saw for stopped cuts.  And also a 4½" grinder too.

The tile cutter I got was similar to this one (mine is listed as 28½"; this one is listed at 25½".  Realistically both can cut 24" tile.  The 28" might be an advantage on a slight diagonal.

It is a fairly expensive cutter, but I don't regret buying it.  Very nice to  use.

Tile Tools is an excellent vendor.  


https://www.tiletools.com/product/shii-t...g-clinker/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HNMniKT1xY
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#10
The only time I pull out the wet saw is for marble. All else is a 4-1/2" diamond blade on my angle grinder and a 25" tile cutter.
Neil Summers Home Inspections




" What would Fred do?"

... CLETUS











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