Renovation 4th Edition

by Michael Litchfield

  Trim tile is further classified as surface (or sur-

  tiles, leave the paper facing on until the adhesive

  face bullnose) and radius (or radius bullnose).

  dries, then dampen the paper and remove it.

  Surface trim is essentially flat tile with one

  Disadvantage: Paper facing obscures tile joints,

  rounded edge. Radius trim, also known as

  making them tougher to align. Back-mounted

  quarter-round, curves dramatically to conceal

  sheets are easier to align, but the bond between

  the built-up bed on which it is set. Both types

  the tile and the adhesive may be compromised

  of trim include a range of specialty pieces that

  slightly because the backing remains stuck in

  finish inside corners, outside corners, and

  the adhesive.

  wall joints.

  Water reSiStance and durability

  There are almost as many physical distinctions

  manner, tiles are rated for walls, floors, and

  among tiles as there are tile types, but the most

  counters. A reputable tile supplier will give you

  important traits to consider are water resistance

  good advice on appropriate uses and durability

  and durability.

  and will stand behind the tiles you buy.

  Water resistance. Here, three of four official

  P R O T I P

  categories of tiles include the word vitreous,

  Tools

  which means glasslike, and suggest how much

  ask your tile supplier about

  Many tile suppliers sell or rent tiling tools and

  the tile will resist or absorb water. The categories

  appropriate adhesives each time

  offer workshops on techniques and tool use.

  are nonvitreous, semivitreous, vitreous, and

  you buy tile. the correct choice is

  impervious. Nonvitreous is the most absorptive,

  not always obvious. Vitreous por-

  Tools and safety. Tiling is deliberate, methodical

  celain tile, for example, is not

  and impervious the most water-resistant.

  work and is not as inherently dangerous as some

  porous and requires a strong,

  Use nonvitreous tiles on dry areas, such as

  remodeling tasks. Still, it poses hazards, so for

  polymer-modified thinset.

  interior fireplace surrounds and hearths. Use

  starters, note these minimal safety rules:

  semivitreous or better on shower walls, tub sur-

  

  Use a voltage tester to ensure that

  rounds, backsplashes, and areas that are inter-

  power has been shut off to outlets, fixtures,

  mittently wet. Use vitreous and impervious tiles

  switches, and devices you’ll work near. In

  for wet installations such as pools, hot tubs, and

  addition, ensure that bathroom and kitchen

  outdoor surfaces in rainy climates. In general,

  receptacles have GFCI protection, as spelled

  the less water a tile absorbs, the less hospitable it out in chapter 11. Corded power tools

  will be to bacteria and mold. That’s why hospitals should be double insulated and grounded

  and laboratories usually use impervious tiles.

  with a three-prong plug. Or use cordless

  tools instead.

  Durability. Tile durability ratings, based on

   Rubber gloves reduce the risk of electric

  structural strength and surface imperfections,

  shock and prevent skin poisoning from

  typically assign softer, weaker tile to less

  prolonged handling of mortar, adhesives,

  demanding areas and harder, impervious tile to

  sealers, and the like.

  heavily trafficked, wet, and outdoor areas. In like

   Wear goggles when cutting tiles, whether

  making full cuts with a wet saw or nibbling

  Classic vitreous porcelain tile is often

  bites with a tile nipper. Tile shards can be as

  used in bathrooms because it resists

  stains and sheds water.

  sharp as a scalpel.

   Wear a respirator when mixing masonry

  materials, applying adhesive, cutting

  cementitious backer board, and so on.

   Knee pads will spare you a lot of

  discomfort. Buy a pair that’s comfortable and

  flexible enough to wear all day. Flimsy rubber

  knee pads won’t protect your knees.

  452 chapter 16

   Open windows and turn off pilot lights

  on gas appliances when using volatile

  adhesives or admixtures. Closely follow

  manufacturer’s instructions.

  baSic tool kit For tile

   Safety equipment: rubber gloves, goggles,

  respirator mask, voltage tester, and knee pads.

   Measuring and layout: straightedges,

  framing square, spirit level, pencil or felt-tipped

  pen, chalkline, tape measure, story pole, and

  scribe (or an inexpensive student’s compass).

   Setting and grouting: notched trowel,

  margin trowel, plastic spacers and wedges,

  beater board, rubber mallet, grout float,

  round-cornered sponge, and clean rags.

   Cutting: snap cutter, tile nippers, utility

  knife with extra blades, and wet saw.

   Cleanup: sponges, rags, plastic buckets,

  plastic tarps, and shop vacuum.

  Straightedges are indispensable for

   Miscellany: hammer and wire cutters.

  tile layout and installation. They tell

  you whether surfaces are flat and

  MeaSuring and layout

  help you align tile edges.

  Substrates are never absolutely flat or perfectly

  plumb, so layout is a series of reasonable approx-

  imations. Clean tools give the most accurate

  readings, so wipe off mortar or stray adhesive

  Snap cutters work great for straight

  before it dries. Here’s what you’ll need:

  cuts on vitreous tile. With this

   A 4-ft. spirit level is long enough to give

  model, you score the tile in one pull

  you an accurate reading. It’s indispensable for

  and then push down on the tool’s

  checking plumb and leveling courses of wall

  wings to snap the tile along the

  tiles. If a 4-ft. level proves unwieldy on the

  scored line. Here, blue painter’s tape

  keeps the cutter’s wings from

  short end walls of a bathtub, use a 2-ft. level or

  scratching the tiles.

  a torpedo level instead.

   A tape measure lets you measure areas to

  be tiled, triangulate diagonals for square, and

  perform general layout.

   A chalkline allows you to mark tile layout

  lines before applying adhesive.

   Straightedges are useful for aligning tile

  courses, marking layout lines on substrate,

  and guiding cuts on backer board and

  plywood. Professional tilesetters have metal

  straightedges of different lengths, but wood’s

  OK if it’s straight and sealed to resist water.

   A framing square is used to establish

  perpendicular layout lines on floors, walls,

  and countertops.

   A story pole is a long, straight board

  marked in increments repr
esenting the

  average width of a tile plus one grout joint (see

  “Storytelling” on p. 466). With it, you can

  quickly see how many tiles will fit in a given

  Wet saws are relatively cheap to rent, and they cut almost any type of tile cleanly. Wear safety

  area, as well as where partial tiles will occur.

  glasses and hearing protectors when using one. To extend blade life, change the water often.

  tiling

  453

  A handheld grinder with a diamond blade can

  cut curved lines in tile (make a series of shallow

  passes) or plunge cuts for holes in the middle of a

  tile. Be sure to stop the cuts short of your cutlines

  and remove the waste with a pair of nippers.

  Because a grinder is noisy and throws lots of dust,

  use it only outdoors, and wear a respirator mask

  and eye protection. An oscillating multitool (see

  p. 49) with a grinder blade is a good alternative.

  A utility knife scores cementitious backer board

  (which you snap like drywall), marks off tile

  joints in fresh mortar, cleans stray adhesive out

  of joints, and so on. However, if you’ve got a lot

  of backer board to cut, use a handheld grinder

  with a diamond blade instead.

  Using nippers is more like nibbling an ear of corn than chomping through a

  hamburger. Twist the nipper handles slightly as you break off little pieces of

  the tile’s edge, and be patient.

  Setting and grouting

  Setting means positioning and adhering tile to a

  substrate. Grouting means sealing the joints

   A scribe is used to fit sheet materials

  between tiles with a special mortar.

  (cementitious backer board, plywood) to a

  bowed wall or to transfer the arc of a toilet

  A notched trowel spreads adhesive. Two edges

  flange to a tile.

  of the tool are flat, designed to spread the adhe-

  sive initially. Then, on subsequent passes, use the

  cutting

  notched edges to comb a series of parallel ridges,

  which will spread evenly when the tile is pressed

  Always wear goggles when cutting or nipping tile, into it. Notch height should be about two-thirds

  especially when using power tools.

  the thickness of the tile.

  A snap cutter works well on manufactured vitre- A margin trowel is a utility tool that’s great for

  ous and impervious tile. This tool has a little cut-

  P R O T I P

  mixing small batches of powdered adhesives,

  ting wheel—make sure it’s not wobbly or

  cleaning mortar off other trowels, buttering indi-

  chipped—that should score the tile in one pull.

  keep tile from overheating and

  vidual tiles with adhesive, and removing excess

  Then reposition the handle so the “wings’ of the

  cracking as you drill by immers-

  grout or adhesive that oozes up between tiles.

  tool rest on the scored tile, and press sharply to

  ing it in a water-filled box just

  Plastic spacers and wedges enable you to

  snap it. Note: When using a snap cutter, it’s tough

  larger than the tile—build the

  shim individual tiles so their edges align to your

  to get a clean break on nonvitreous tile, tiles with

  box from scrap wood and caulk it

  layout lines.

  textured surfaces, and floor tiles. For those you’ll

  so it won’t leak. if countertop

  need to use a wet saw.

  tile is already installed, build a

  A beater board is just a flat board placed over

  dam of plumber’s putty around it

  tile sections and rapped gently with a rubber

  A wet saw, which you can rent, is especially use-

  and add water before drilling.

  mallet to seat the tiles in the adhesive. Not all

  ful for cutting nonvitreous or irregular tiles or

  Mexican and other handmade

  tilesetters use a beater board. Many just press

  trimming less than 1 in. off any tile. It cleanly

  tiles tend to crack when drilled

  tiles in firmly or use a fist to seat them better.

  cuts all tile types. To make U-shaped cuts around

  without mortar support under-

  soap dishes and the like, make a series of parallel A grout float (rubber-faced trowel) applies grout

  neath, so install them before

  cuts with the wet saw before removing the waste

  drilling. to avoid electrical

  in a process that takes at least two passes.

  with tile nippers.

  shocks, use a cordless drill.

  Holding the face of the grout float at about 30°,

  sweep the grout generously over the tile and pack

  Tile nippers allow you to cut out sections where

  it into the joints. Then, holding the float almost

  tiles encounter faucet stems, toilet flanges, and

  perpendicular to the surface, remove the excess

  the like. Nippers require some practice and lots

  grout, unloading it periodically into a bucket. To

  of patience. Take small nibbles—use only part of

  avoid pulling grout out of the joints, make your

  the jaws—nibbling away from the sides of a cut

  passes diagonally across the tile joints.

  into the center, gradually refining the cutout. As

  you approach your final cutlines, go slowly.

  Round-cornered, tight-pored sponges are less

  likely to pull grout out of tile joints. After grout

  A carbide-tipped hole saw is perfect for cutting starts to haze over, wipe lightly with a dampened

  holes for faucet stems and pipe stubs. To be safe

  sponge, rinsing the sponge often. Get several

  around pipes and water, use a cordless drill with

  types of sponges. Kitchen sponges with scrub

  this saw.

  454 chapter 16

  A small group of setting and grouting

  tools. Clockwise from upper left:

  grout floats, notched trowels, hand-

  drill mixing bit, and sponges (of

  which you’ll need a variety).

  pads on the back are useful for removing stub-

  born grout.

  Mastering The MeSS

  A mixing bit in an electric drill can mix large

  amounts of powdered adhesives or grout. Slow

  Controlling the mess is a big part of successful tile setting. If you’re tiling a tub sur-

  mixing speeds of 300 rpm to 400 rpm work best.

  round, cover floors with builder’s paper or plastic, mask off cabinets, and line the

  Keep the bit immersed to minimize mixing in air,

  bathtub with a heavy canvas drop cloth before you start. Masonry debris is abrasive,

  which weakens the batch. Wear a respirator.

  so vacuum as it accumulates. Also, keep a clean 5-gal. plastic bucket (joint compound

  pails are perfect) full of clean water for sponging mortar, adhesive, or grout off tools.

  Materials

  Last, a bundle of clean, dry rags is useful for buffing dried grout haze off tile and

  soaking up messes.

  Here’s a quick survey of materials you might use

  to create a durable tiling job.

  Think of the job as if it were a layer cake. For

  example, in floor tiling, the bottom layer (con-

  ceptually the table under the cake)
would be the

  floor joists. Nailed to the joists, in most cases, is a

  plywood substrate. For a wet installation such as

  a shower wall, next comes a waterproofing mem-

  brane, followed by a setting bed of cementitious

  backer board or a mortar bed. Troweled onto the

  setting bed is a setting material, typically thinset

  adhesive or organic mastic. Tiles are applied to

  the setting bed, and once the bed has hardened,

  tile joints are grouted. Later, a sealer may be

  applied to make tile and grout more water- or

  stain-resistant.

  Methods and materials are rarely predictable

  in a renovation, so it’s a good idea to survey the

  back or underside of the surface you’re about to

  tile, both to see how many layers there are and to

  check if they’re in good condition. You can pull

  out a heating register to see a cross section of the Because handmade tiles are irregular, they often need to be moved slightly flooring, for example. Or test-drill a small hole in after they’ve been set in adhesive. Use plastic shims to raise tiles so they’re an inconspicuous spot to determine the thickness level with others in the course.

  tiling

  455

  and composition of an existing wall, floor, or

  countertop.

  zzzzzz typical Wet installation Floor

  Tile

  Thinset

  Setting bedS

  Grout

  Tile can be set on a variety of setting beds. Keep

  in mind that the substrate below the setting bed

  must be securely attached to the framing. That

  assembly must be thick and stable enough to

  support loads with minimal deflection (1⁄360 of

  the span). And when used in damp or wet areas,

  it needs to remain unaffected by sustained expo-

  sure to water.

  Mortar beds. Where walls aren’t plumb or floors

  aren’t flat, mortar beds are usually the best set-

  Backer board

  ting bed. They can easily be screeded level or

  (setting bed)

  plumb to create a flat surface. In fact, a mortar

  bed is the only practical choice if you’re tiling the

  1/8-in. gap

  sloping floors of a shower stall. But few novices

  Mesh

  Plywood

  have enough skill to float a mortar bed. If your

  substrate

  surfaces are badly out of whack and you’re not

  Waterproofing membrane

  experienced in floating mud, hire a pro for this job.

  Backer board. If walls and floors are reasonably

  plumb and level, backer board is a durable set-