Tile Help......

[nathank]

My wife FINALLY picked out the tile she wanted for the bath/shower install and I am NOT a tile man. I have some questions and was hoping the Green Screen brain trust could help answer some questions.

The tile is 18" travertine tile.
I am using mastic to set the tile.
What size trowel should I use to put the mastic up?

Also anybody that is in the Tyler, Henderson, Longview, Overton area that is bored and wants to help put in said tile and not doing anything for the next couple of nights is more than welcome to come over and tell me everything I am doing wrong........

[Bill]

If you're not a tile guy, my advise/ experience from doing our master bathroom is to find one to either do it and help him, or help you. Wall prep was a key to the job, and the worst part was in the grouting when we chose to use an epoxy grout instead of conventional since it does not get mildew. It's tough to apply correctly and have it look good and not have any residue we found.

What we did was posted on Craiglist for somebody and said for budget we were OK with him working nights/ weekends on the job. We found a guy who was experienced and had the professional cutting saws for $25/hour who was a hustler and believe it or not we started the job on Easter Saturday, and he and my son were in there for 4 hours working on Easter morning to keep the project moving.

[nathank]

Thanks Bill for the suggestion will look into it..

[Geezy Rider]

U tube is your friend. I just did my first tile job remodeling a bathroom and I got all my info from u tube and the sales gal at Lowes. Mine came out great.

[Bazo]

Use a half inch trowel.

I did my floor over the summer with 12x12 and was advised by the flooring store to use the half inch trowel. The .25 inch trowel is for smaller tile like 8x8 or 6x6.

[Geezy Rider]

Here's the one I'm working on.

[glen]

I thought about doing my own but decided to go work overtime and pay someone else to do it. Travertine is hard to cut but it is beautiful

[nathank]

Here's the one I'm working on.

That looks great.... Mine wont be near as ornate as this....

[BTLowry]

I like to do things myself when I can but


When it came time to tile my shower I wanted it done right so I paid someone to do it rather than chance having to be without a shower or having it leak or turn out looking terrible etc
I would try floors but something about the shower made me a chicken

nathan let us know how it turns out

[jefandaward]

V notch trowel for walls and square notch for floors

[Buckshot4900]

There's a member on here that's pretty good at that task. Ask and I'll PM you his name cause every time he posts a job on here it gets whacked.

[nathank]

Well I spent 4 hours last night drawing lines on the walls trying to get the layout of the tile. After all of that my wife walks in and says.....I think we should do this....soooo back to the drawing board so to speak.....will keep ya'll updated as the weekend progresses.. I send out the invite again for someone who actually knows what they are doing to come tell me what I am doing wrong...OTHER THAN MY WIFE...LOL

[8mpg]

Id do way way more reading before you do it. Mastic is not for showers and baths. Mastic is good for say a kitchen backsplash. You should be using thinset for the shower/bath. I always use a premium thinset like Versabond ($12/bag vs $5/bag). You need to worry more about waterproofing. Redguard the whole enclosure to make a membrane to keep the water out of the walls. Its not terribly expensive but great insurance.

Read up on the JohnBridge forum. Its a tile forum

I just finished my whole home remodel in November. I personally used Laticrete Hydroban for the showers (walls and floors) for a continuous membrane. I have used Kerdi before and honestly next time (if there is one) will go for Kerdi. Id recommend their Kerdiboard. Its not cheap but much faster.

[Chuy]

I like to do things myself when I can but


When it came time to tile my shower I wanted it done right so I paid someone to do it rather than chance having to be without a shower or having it leak or turn out looking terrible etc
I would try floors but something about the shower made me a chicken

nathan let us know how it turns out

Id do way way more reading before you do it. Mastic is not for showers and baths. Mastic is good for say a kitchen backsplash. You should be using thinset for the shower/bath. I always use a premium thinset like Versabond ($12/bag vs $5/bag). You need to worry more about waterproofing. Redguard the whole enclosure to make a membrane to keep the water out of the walls. Its not terribly expensive but great insurance.

Agreed. Thinset is the way to go on a Redguard waterproofed Durock. Redguard runs abour $40-45 a gallon and will cover about 120SqFt. You will need two coats (one vertically, one horizontally)

If you arent too comfy with the tile work, Id seriously consider hiring someone to do it. Thats what we did. I got the project up to the point where they took over and just installed tile. Turned out pretty cool looking and I know its built to last. Piece of mind.

Also remember that travertine you are going to have to seal.

http://discussions.texasbowhunter.com/forums/showthread.php?t=515827

[Bazo]

Well I spent 4 hours last night drawing lines on the walls trying to get the layout of the tile. After all of that my wife walks in and says.....I think we should do this....soooo back to the drawing board so to speak.....will keep ya'll updated as the weekend progresses.. I send out the invite again for someone who actually knows what they are doing to come tell me what I am doing wrong...OTHER THAN MY WIFE...LOL

What I would do it decide how you want it laid out and do it on the floor first. Mark off the size of the wall on the floor with tape and dry run it to see how it works. That way you can kind of get a feel for where everything goes before you get started. That's what I did when I was doing my floor and the small sections of my kitchen back splash.