Need Help with Kitchen Plank Tile Flooring Installation Issue
Kimberly
8 years ago
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8 years agoRelated Discussions
Help, please! Subway tile installation issues
Comments (12)Here's several sources of irregularities in a tile installation: Unless the tile installer shimmed out the backing to compensate for any wavy studs, you will have a wavy backing, and the tiles will follow the waves ... occasionally one will hit the crest of a wave just right and you have a corner like you see. 2 - With a square-edged tile all the tile installer has to do is wipe ALL the grout off the face of the tiles and it's all even. With a rounded edge the visible grout width will vary depending on how much grout is wiped away from the rounded edge to reveal the joint. That's part of the "charming hand-made" look. Had they known that you wanted machine-like precision in the grout lines they may have been able to warn you that the rounded edges of that tile are not conducive to precise grout joint appearance unless you want to pay for someone to use calipers and Q-tips on all the joints. 3 - Tile size variation depending on where they were in the kiln. It's tiny, but it adds up over the course of several rows of tile. 4 - Those spacers are not "machined" they are cast or pressed into the clay before it's fired, and subject to shrinking. They are a help to the tile setter, not any guarantee of absolute precision. ---------------- As for the spacers, unless your walls were perfectly squared and ceiling perfectly level, some of the joints probably needed to be widened a scooch so the tiles would line up properly with the tiles on the other wall. the easy way to do this is to slip a spacer into the joint and twist it. My tile installer (and contractor) had to compensate for a 1 inch difference between one side of the alcove's rear wall and the other. He did it by starting about three rows up from the rim of the tub and widening the grout gaps a tiny bit on the high side, tapering back to normal on the low side. It looks great, but it took him the better part of three days to do all the measuring, marking, and scooching, then letting each couple of rows set up so he wouldn't mess it up with the next rows....See MoreNeed help. Can I replace a tub after installing the tile floor?
Comments (6)We were not going to replace our cast iron tub in the kids bathroom which doubles as a guest bath when we have company. I have the mentality that if it's not broke, why fix it? We ripped everything else out and decided to replace the tub as well. Everything else in the bathroom would be new except the tub which was not new and shiny and more importantly, the drain was 25 years old. We decided to pull the tub. I would hate to have an issue in a few years and have to ruin all the new stuff we are putting in. My 12 year old and I had fun breaking up the tub with a sledge hammer until daddy came home and did the final whacks to split it in half. Once out, we decided to bite the expense of a larger tub. What was there was a 30 inch tub which was only about 9 inches deep to the overflow. The new tub is 32 inches wide, a nice shape lending to more room in it and allows 12 inches of water to the overflow. Those few inches were costly; doubling the expense of the tub, but man what a nice tub it is!...See MoreQuestion about installing tile wood look plank on kitchen floor
Comments (5)First, make sure the floor meets a deflection of no more than L360. I would probably use Ditra to help with flatness (to a degree) act as an isolation membrane and contain spills. Check for the degree of "cupping" by putting two of them face-to-face and see if there is substantial "rocking" of the tiles. If minimal, you can probably get by with HD's Versabond. Try to pick an installer that has experience with plank tile and insist on a 1/3 stagger to minimize lippage. 1/2 stagger WILL accentuate the problem. (don't ask how I know) A leveling system can help the final "tweaking" of the floor and may or may not be necessary...depending on the tile, the floor and the setter. It is not a cure-all........See MoreVinyl Plank vs. Engineered Hardwood Flooring and Transition Issues
Comments (3)I have vinyl plank with huge dogs in my walk out basement where they have free access to a large dog run it has been in for 11 yrs and still looks awesome. We have a laminate on our main floor that looks like slate and has also stood up to the brats for 11 yrs there is no way wood could have handled all that abuse. IMO laminate or vinyl plank in good condition is better than scratched up wood floor that would have to be refinished before sale. We now have a great pyrenees as our 2 old dogs have passed away and he really is rough on floors , no wood could possibly stand up to him.The pic is the laminate floor and the old dogs...See MoreAnglophilia
8 years agocpartist
8 years agodesertsteph
8 years agoKippy
8 years ago
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