nightjar wrote:
"Biggles" wrote in message
...
My brother & sister-in-law are keen on the small kitchen tiles which are
fashionable at the moment and would like to tile the whole kitchen, but
not all with small tiles. Advice he has been given is to not mix small and
larger tiles in the same room, but I suspect that's because it makes life
more difficult for the tiler. Has anyone had experience of mixing large
and small tiles (e.g. small ones between work tops and wall cupboards,
larger elsewhere), how difficult was it to design, any tips, and what was
the result like (picture if possible please!!).

As long as the different sizes are for different sections there is no
proble except guessing what it will look like. It might be an
improvement. As having identical tiles soon get boring. And there is no
sense of scale.

The main problem is getting the joints to look right where they join. I
avoided it by using a contrasting colour of mosaic sized tiles (the stuff
that comes on canvas backing) in a strip about 150mm wide between two
different sized tiles. Done carefully, it looks like a design feature,
rather than a bodge to overcome a problem.

It is a design feature and costs accordingly.

The trick with using tiles that vary slightly in size is to set them
out to the largest tile size and if possible put a row or column of
them in first or make a gauge and use it with rigid care.

Cheap tiles tend to be out of square as well as of variable size. You
might want to measure them all first, bearing in mind that all tiles
should be fixed taking them a few from each box at a time.

That can be very time consuming indeed.

Select a batch of "these, them and those" and lay them out in a line
and measure them rather than measure each one. Nice wide joints cover a
multitude of sins. Work quickly to allow the tiles to be adjusted. They
stick "fast" extremly quickly.

Someone remind me as it has been ages: Is it an idea to wet the tiles
to gain more time for fiddling with them?

Another thing to worry about before you start is walls that belly. If
you can sort them out first it would save a lot of effort later. Ditto
boxing in and electrical sockets. Make the cut-outs first and keep them
ready. Leave the edges for last if there is any cutting to do. Work
from the centre (or just off centre) out.