On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:08:41 -0700, Charles Spitzer wrote:
"Keith Williams" wrote in message
T...
In article .com,
says...
We are actually planning on using an 18" tile, but for some reason the
person who quoted this did it for 12" tiles...not exactly sure why.
The contractor is also going to be the one providing the thinset
(that's part of the $920 that they quoted for materials); all we're
going to provide is the tile itself. I'll look into the
hardibackerboard. Is it superior to concrete board?
I'm a DIYer and have used both. I like the HardiBacker much
better. It's easier to work with and from all I've been able to
find, just as good. The cement board seemed to crack when flexed
(under its own weight).
Thanks for the information on the tile as well. I'll see what we can
get in porclain.
I'm going to do the same. I'm planning on doing the master bath
when the weather gets better. The wet saw makes a mess and doesn't
work too well when the "wet" part is frozen - BTDT. ;-)
work in your garage. hang up plastic sheets to contain the spray.
This time of year the garage is well below freezing, as well. A few
years ago the wife left a 12-pack of soda in the garage after shopping.
The next morning I heard booms from the garage. The cans were going off
like grenades and little solid chunks of coke were fizzing all over the
floor. It was -20F in the garage. :-(
The other issue is cleanup. It's a pain to clean up mortar in the house.
I spread a plastic tarp in the wildflowers (a.k.a. weeds) and hose the
tools down on that. I'll wait until after mud season. ;-)
OTOH, "calhoun's" idea of using windshild washer fluid is a good one!
I've had projects go into November and have fought frozen saws with hot
water. Duh!
In your opinion how difficult is this sort of thing for a home owner
to do? I am pretty handy (but then who doesn't think that grin) and
just finished adding a 30 x 16" deck. I think I'll pick up a good
tile-laying book and investigate that route.
I've done two bathrooms (bath and a half), laundry, and a couple of
closets. It's hard work but I don't find floors to be all that
difficult. Walls are another matter since gravity isn't working in
your favor.
gravity is your friend. otherwise you'd have a hard time trying to walk
on the ceiling.
;-)
start at the bottom. add shims of some sort between courses to hold up.
use mastic or modified thinset rather than regular thinset.
Of course (NPI) I started from the bottom, or actually on a
ledger screwed in where the top course came out in the right
place. Then came back the next day and removed the ledger, cut the tile
for the bottom row and placed it. Ffor shims I used the tile
"stars" of the appropriate size (1/8", IIRC).
I've heard the term "modified thinset", but not quite sure what it is. I
used "Flex-Bond" or some such (not cheap).
I'm not sure I'd want to tackle 475sq.ft. all at once. I'd certainly
buy one of the mini mortar mixers if I tackled something that size.
Mixing thinset in a bucket gets old ($3700 doesn't sound bad 
.
not much difference except scale. work in small pieces and eventually
it'll get done.
get a mixing paddle and use it in a large drill, or using a short
handled hoe in a wheelbarrow. your elbows will really thank you.
I tried the mixing paddle and drill thing. My drill is obviously not up
to the task. I ended up mixing just enough to do about 15sq.ft. at a time
(about 16 cups of thinset[*]) in a 5-gal. bucket with a 6" taping knife.
I thought about the weelbarrow since that's what I use for concrete. I
didn't think I'd use enough thinset at a time to bother. Maybe, at least
for setting the HardiBacker. It goes down pretty quickly (I precut and
fit it).
[*] I think the measure was 4 cup measure. I found if I made it the same
way every time I could get the right consistency more easily.
--
Keith