Hello All,

I'm planning to start tiling my bathroom next week. Floor will be
18x18in travertine and shower walls and bathtub counter and backsplash
will be 12x12in marble tiles.

A few questions.
1 - I read here that many people are using that little $88 wet saw
from Home Depot quite well. Any experience with the tiles I'm
planning to use? Buying one seems to be a better deal than renting
the large ones at HD for $50/day.

2 - Anyone advise using, or not, those adhesive aditives that we mix
with the thinset to improve adherence? The guy at HD told me to not
use the pre-mixed thinset because they are not suitable for stone. I
should buy the powder and mix it myself. Comments please?

3 - I noticed that we apply the thinset on the floor and then on the
back of the tile when laying tiles on the floor. However, di dnot
see references of doing the same when laying them on the walls. For
walls we just apply them on the wall and not on the back of the tiles?

4 - I'm going to install an electric floor heater below the tiles.
Heard two ways to do it. One says to lay the electric mat and then a
self-leveler compound on top and then the thinset/tiles after its
cured. Other way tells to apply the thinset directly over the mat.
Any experience or advice on this? I'd rather do the second, if there
are no problems, since it will raise the floor a bit less than the
first method.

Thanks much in advance!

I bought one of those saws to do the tub surround in my bathroom last
winter. It seemed to do the job pretty well indeed. Just go slow and
steady, especially with the big tiles. It's kind of messy to use, but
any wet saw will be.

As for the other questions, I used all porcelain tile, so I can't say
what stone will need. I had small (4x4) tiles, and I used the premixed
thinset adhesive/grout. Mostly, due to the small spaces involved, I
just back buttered each individual tile. That worked fine for me, but
I think it would be a disaster for you, setting really big tiles on
the floor that need to be perfectly level and smooth.

On Mar 29, 9:19 pm, "Rookie_Remodeler" wrote:
Hello All,

I'm planning to start tiling my bathroom next week. Floor will be
18x18in travertine and shower walls and bathtub counter and backsplash
will be 12x12in marble tiles.

A few questions.
1 - I read here that many people are using that little $88 wet saw
from Home Depot quite well. Any experience with the tiles I'm
planning to use? Buying one seems to be a better deal than renting
the large ones at HD for $50/day.

2 - Anyone advise using, or not, those adhesive aditives that we mix
with the thinset to improve adherence? The guy at HD told me to not
use the pre-mixed thinset because they are not suitable for stone. I
should buy the powder and mix it myself. Comments please?

3 - I noticed that we apply the thinset on the floor and then on the
back of the tile when laying tiles on the floor. However, di dnot
see references of doing the same when laying them on the walls. For
walls we just apply them on the wall and not on the back of the tiles?

4 - I'm going to install an electric floor heater below the tiles.
Heard two ways to do it. One says to lay the electric mat and then a
self-leveler compound on top and then the thinset/tiles after its
cured. Other way tells to apply the thinset directly over the mat.
Any experience or advice on this? I'd rather do the second, if there
are no problems, since it will raise the floor a bit less than the
first method.

Thanks much in advance!

On Apr 4, 9:08 am, "Andrew Duane" wrote:
I bought one of those saws to do the tub surround in my bathroom last
winter. It seemed to do the job pretty well indeed. Just go slow and
steady, especially with the big tiles. It's kind of messy to use, but
any wet saw will be.

As for the other questions, I used all porcelain tile, so I can't say
what stone will need. I had small (4x4) tiles, and I used the premixed
thinset adhesive/grout. Mostly, due to the small spaces involved, I
just back buttered each individual tile. That worked fine for me, but
I think it would be a disaster for you, setting really big tiles on
the floor that need to be perfectly level and smooth.

On Mar 29, 9:19 pm, "Rookie_Remodeler" wrote:

Hello All,

I'm planning to start tiling my bathroom next week. Floor will be
18x18in travertine and shower walls and bathtub counter and backsplash
will be 12x12in marble tiles.

A few questions.
1 - I read here that many people are using that little $88 wet saw
from Home Depot quite well. Any experience with the tiles I'm
planning to use? Buying one seems to be a better deal than renting
the large ones at HD for $50/day.

2 - Anyone advise using, or not, those adhesive aditives that we mix
with the thinset to improve adherence? The guy at HD told me to not
use the pre-mixed thinset because they are not suitable for stone. I
should buy the powder and mix it myself. Comments please?

3 - I noticed that we apply the thinset on the floor and then on the
back of the tile when laying tiles on the floor. However, di dnot
see references of doing the same when laying them on the walls. For
walls we just apply them on the wall and not on the back of the tiles?

4 - I'm going to install an electric floor heater below the tiles.
Heard two ways to do it. One says to lay the electric mat and then a
self-leveler compound on top and then the thinset/tiles after its
cured. Other way tells to apply the thinset directly over the mat.
Any experience or advice on this? I'd rather do the second, if there
are no problems, since it will raise the floor a bit less than the
first method.

Thanks much in advance!


Thanks! I bought one and it has been working fine with the 12x12
marble. Did not try on the 18x18 travertine yet. I noticed the
marble has to be cut very slowly otherwise it breaks on the "veins".
Shower walls are done and the wet saw provided a very smooth cut
virtually similar to the factory one so I did not have to sand or
polish anything after that.

Also got a diamond saw for my reciprocating saw to cut the curves
(around the shower valve) and a 1.5in hole-saw also special for stone
and tile for the shower pipe and both also worked fine.