"My walls are going to be painted tongue and groove pickwick paneling (v. similar to beadboard), so I don't think I can tile to that--or can I?" You can tile on wood. But it does depend on the tile that you are using as well as the intended adhesive. Some of this is personal preference, what I mean is that if using "regular sized porcelain tile" sure, I'd not have a problem going over properly prepared wood. For glass mosaic? No. The better bet would be to mark out the area for the backsplash. Then come in a half-inch or so from that perimeter line and mark a new cut line. In that area instead of your wood paneling, insert a fill piece of cement backer board. Pad out the backer board so the face is flush with the wood paneling. Then you can do whatever you want on that space. Glass, ceramic, stone, mosaic, non-mosaic. And you can use the appropriate adhesive. With the backer board being slightly smaller than the tiled area, your top course and side column tiles will lap over the backerboard/paneling seam for a nice transition. If the edges of your intended tiles don't have a level of finish appropriate for exposure, then you could use a border or frame (wood or tile) to contain the design, just like in the photo above. Mongo

HI-old thread but wondering if there are any new product recommendations for honed marble? I would like to seal our marble pre-grouting. Then post-grout too unless that is not recommended?? Also-Is there any downside to sealing the marble before it is applied to the wall? Thanks very much!!!

Perfect thermal isolation is an idealization; there is always some "thermal contact". The study of heat conduction between solids is thermal contact conductance (or thermal contact resistance). Thermal contact does not imply direct physical contact. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_conduction ++ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_radiation = TWO factors that combine. Heat moves in a solid touching other solid matter. Slab to Tile. Tile to Slab. -- Not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convection -- The more general case : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_contact http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_transfer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics -- The whole subject can be studied from the opposite point of view. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_insulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_barrier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-layer_insulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_insulation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_insulation_materials Placing heat cables on a slab, under tile, means that you are heating the slab and the tile. More about this later.

the Emser website says it has a water absorbtion rate of 3.75%!!! The picture on their website shows the tile installed in a bathroom with a shower tho and, when we picked it, I figured if Emser's website showed it being used in a shower, it must be okay to use that way. So, maybe the website is supposed to say 0.375%? It's GOT to be a typo. I've yet to ever run across a porcelain with that high an absorbsion rate. Even the .375% would be extremely high for porcelain. Most of them are closer to .02- .03%. Next, could some of you kindly tell me - in baby-talk terms please - just what I need to specify with respect to getting my showers built correctly so that they don't leak? And then, what should I watch out for to make sure that whoever I hire is doing the job the way it is supposed to be done. I don't have the time, energy, or money for another law suit if my showers start leaking and my tile guy won't or can't fix them! THere's a link below with the most detailed instructions I've yet to see on the subject. I had hoped to use the 16" tiles on the floor (except for inside the shower where I figured we would use a smaller mosaic). I am willing to use the 12" tiles instead tho if they will be less prone to cracking. 16" should be fine. Okay. As far as the Kerdi system is concerned, that certainly is a consideration, and yes, it CAN be used for off shaped showers. You just need to build the pan out of mud, rather than using the styrofoam base piece. (I've built more Kerdi showers than I can count at thi point, and I've yet to use those foam bases even once yet.) As for cost, it might be a bit higher, being that the waterproofing has to continue up the walls with the Kerdi, and the drain by itself is about 100.00 or more, but it doesn't necessarily have to be Kerdi to be a good shower pan. Here is a link that might be useful: Harry Dunbar's shower pan install instructions