Have tiled a kitchen floor with 12″ x 12″ marble tiles and want to add partial tiles to the wall in place of baseboards.
Questions
1. Is there a recommended height on the wall? For eg., same height as the baseboard would have been? Or… ?
2. The tiles were laid with thinset using a 1/4″ x 1/4″ notched trowel. I appreciate that this is to support the tiles and the load on them and transfer that load to the subfloor. Surely, this thickness of mortar is not required to hold the tile on the wall. What thickness of mortar do I require?
3. Should I in fact use thinset mortar or would a tile adhesive be beter?
Thaks for your suggestions.
Replies
If it were my house ...
Probably not more than about 3" high, or the same as abutting wood base.
Thinset sticks well to most everything, so it's not a bad choice for the base. And you're right about the thickness. You need to get good coverage on the tile, and enough depth to bridge any high or low spots in the wall. Thicker thinset give a little more adjustment room. Nothing worng with several good beads of PL.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
I'd go with what looks good, cut a couple and take a look.
Thinset works good especially if that's what you using, otherwise mastic. If you bevel the top of the tile it may look a little better.
You can tape the wall and run a nice controlled grout line for a finished detail. A lot of times on normal tile there is one of the four edges that has a glaze overage. If I'm trying to use it as a finish edge I use that and recess the grout line back, say about 2/3s the thickness of the tile.
Thanks for replies to date. Got me thinking but not succeeding, unfortunately.Doing this as a diy'er with a small tile saw. vibration, I think, is my problem... lack of mass & rigidity. Tried bevel cuts to mitre corners together but no go. No matter how fast or how slow - likely combined with marble's characteristiics - I advance the tile into the blade I get chipping along the cut. Instead of a smooth edge I get one that looks like a series of small chips like the blade of a bread knife - in other words ugly.Any suggestions on how to cut smoothly?If not, edge treatment(s) to mask/minimize the "end-grain" of the cut, but unpolished, marble?Is polishing these cut edges (a smooth cut just not polished) a diy'er possibility? If yes, How?Thanks again for any ideas.
I don't know if this works on all types of tile, but there is a rough stone like thing used for smoothing cut edges. Basically it is something like a sharpening stone, but designed to be hand held.Personally, I prefer a trim tile for any exposed boarder. A simple one is the basic bullnose (I think that is what it is called).
Aware of bullnose tiles but none are available in this tile pattern. Have one of the smoothing stones but the problem is that the chips are along the outer face of the tile. Smoothing would not remove these chips sufficiently.Would love to have bullnose tiles but not available. As an aside, they seem to be a reare commodity these days as the plastic/metal edger strips become more prevalent - can't say that I like them tho on the wall. I have cut my large tiles to approx 2-1/2" width and want to use as a border instead of conventional baseboard + quarter-round. Can make 90 degree cuts with minimal chipping but the 45 degree mitre cuts are a no-go as far as appearance is concerned.Another day is coming... perhaps better luck then.
I've found that swimming pool tile lines have the best selection of trim tiles. Inside corners, outside corners, base cove, etc.Good luck!
Hey, sometimes a bold look on the base looks awesome, like 6 or 8".
Having trouble cutting, go out and rent a nice new saw; the newer the store, the newer the rental tools.
Definitely bevel the edge, too.
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com
Sorry to not get back to you , cause I'm on the road on the way to Va.
#1 maybe check and see if the other side of the bevel cut is smooth. If it is cut the tile upside down. Also bevel it first and then cut or snap to 2.5". Maybe the bigger tile will give it more stability.
#2 Beg borrow steal rent or test the home depot store wet saw.
Funny,,,,,,,,,
Today I put some baseboard trim ceramic tiles on and ripped off the cove base in a bathroom. Used thinset. They were like an 8"x3" bullnose tile that the customer got from a tile stores "boneyard" in the back room. They loved them.
Tomorrow I will go back and grout and lay a nice clean thin bead of caulk at the floor and the bullnose.
Grunge on. http://grungefm.com