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krw

In article ,
says...
Bill wrote:

Well I put in tile for under my woodstove and I would say of all the home
improvement projects I have done, this was the most royal PIA. If I can
avoid doing this in the future, I will. Maybe pay someone else to do it.

The problems are lining up all the tiles so the gaps work out to be right
and it looks nice. Then the walls might not be 90 degrees square and you
will have larger gaps on one side than another, so need to scoot things over
a bit so it looks right. But then you have all that adhesive drying and you
need to keep it wet. Then applying grout you need to hurry up and get it on
quickly then wipe it all off the tiles before it dries.

Basically once you start, you can't stop work to take a break because
everything will dry. And can't take your time lining everything up because
everything is drying. And then the lines or gaps between tiles don't match
up with the walls because the walls are not perfectly 90 degrees square.

I suppose there is a learning curve to all this, but in the future I would
rather watch someone else do all the learning! I know a couple of people
who install tile and they like the work. I have a lot of respect for them.
It is an art.

Yes, there is a learning curve to tiling and you apparently are still at
the beginning of it (no offense).

Key things to remember:

The tape measure, square and chalk line are your friends - Do all your
layout in advance, mark the key layout lines on the underlayment /
backer board before starting. You should *never* be figuring out the
layout as you go.

A CAD package can help a lot with layout. I used A9CAD (freeware)
on my last tile project. The best layout became obvious once I
"placed a few "virtual tiles". It helped lay out the backer board
too.

You can take a break any time if you're using the correct materials and
applying them properly. Do not try to mix all the thinset at once and do
not apply it to more than about a 2' square area at a time. There is no
magic to this, you can stop at any point and just scrape off any exposed
thinset so it won't dry in place.

I found that about 15 sq.ft. at a time was about what I could do.
This took about 16 cups of thinset. 15sq.ft. is a complete sheet
of Hardibacker so it was easy to estimate how much I needed. About
30 sq.ft. a day was all I could manage without getting too tired
and started making mistakes. Yes, I'm a DIYer. ;-)

Spacing and alignment, if your tiles are not of the self spacing variety
with little nubs on the sides to hold even spacing, buy a bag of the
little plastic cross spacers. Remove the spacers after you're a couple
rows of tiles away.

I'd use the spacers anyway. I tried it with the nubs once; didn't
work out as well. I leave the spacers in until the next day. I
also use them to clean up any thinset that squeezes out into the
grout line. They're just the right size. ;-)

Grouting is also not a marathon. Unless you're doing a truly huge area
there should be little concern about the grout drying in the bucket
while you try to apply it. You also do not need to instantly wipe off
the surface of the tiles as you go, you do that as a second pass later
once the grout in the joints has set a bit. Even if you leave the haze
on for a while you can clean it off with muriatic acid.

My floor was ~60sq.ft. It took about an hour to float the grout
in. I then waited about 45 more minutes for the grout to set a
bit, then wiped the floor down twice with clean water. It went
very well, this time. I have left the haze on a few times (not
enough water or not clean enough). The blue/green scotchbrite pads
clean grout and even thinset off glazed tiles quite well. The
surface is pretty hard and stuff doesn't stick tight.

There are plenty of DIY tiling books out there and all of them will say
pretty much the same thing, especially figuring your layout before
starting.

When the tile is down, it's too late to cut it. ;-)

--
Keith