If I were to ask “what is one thing that every tile installation needs?” I would get answers like “tile, mortar, trowel, patience”. Nobody would answer with “Movement Joints”. Nobody. Most people wouldn’t understand what they are. And installing them sounds like it would be technical and complicated. Good news! The majority of movement joints […]
Installation
The Little Known Cause of your Loose Floor Tiles
Loose floor tiles can be very frustrating. Why is it happening? What’s the cause? What went wrong? I have a text book for contractors called the NTCA Reference manual. One of the features of this book is that it has tables and charts that list different tile problems. Then it gives a cause. Then […]
Mesh Tape: Don’t skip this step
Mesh Tape: Don’t skip this step There are some aspects of tile installation that seem small or insignificant but they aren’t. They really have a big impact. The way you treat your backer board seams is one of them. Doing them improperly can lead to big problems down the road. But these problems can be […]
Miserable Pebble Tile Flooring
A crash course on installing pebble tile flooring How can installing pebble tile flooring be a miserable endeavor? After all, when you use words like organic, zen, natural, and feng shui to describe the bathroom that you want aren’t pebble tiles always in the scheme somewhere? Well, I have a huge pet peeve when it […]
Ceramic Subway Tile: 3 Pro Installation Secrets
Ceramic Subway Tile: 3 Pro Installation Secrets I have 3 tips to share for ceramic subway tile. The first is a lesser known layout technique for subway tiles. The second is an installation detail and the third is a cutting method done tutorial style. Let’s get right into it. Also, don’t forget to check out […]
Subway Tile Installation: Three Basic Tips
Subway Tile Installation: Three Basic Tips Subway tile- what’s not to like? It’s classic and timeless. A fairly easy tile to work with and install. And the white subway tile is usually pretty inexpensive. In this post I will talk about three things that can help to get you started with your subway tile installation. […]
Exterior tile installation over occupied space
Exterior tile installation over living space This week I got an email about tiling outside over an occupied room. This isn’t something that I’ve talked about so far but this is a high-risk situation and I wanted to expand on it a bit. Here’s the question: Hello.. I was hoping you could provide some advice. […]
Installing a Recessed Shampoo Niche in an Exterior Wall of a Shower.
Here’s the dilemma. The customer wants a recessed shampoo niche. But once the walls were opened up there’s no good place to put one. There are either wires and pipes in the way or the stud bay is too narrow. The only good place to install one would be on an exterior wall which would […]
More tips for installing wood look tile flooring
Installing wood look tile Porcelain Plank Floors Wood plank tile floors have gained a good amount of popularity in the last couple of years. For good reason: they don’t have ugly wear patterns after a couple of years, they don’t need to be refinished, and they don’t dent and ding like real wood floors do. […]
Bathroom Floor Tile Layout in 5 Easy Steps
Bathroom Floor Tile Layout It seems like a simple project- a small bathroom floor. You’ve picked out your tile at the local box store along with a few supplies and you’re ready to go. The problem is: Where do you start? See my previous post on tile layout concepts and why this layout was chosen. […]