We did this in our m-i-l apartment we just built and will use the same in the house. It looks fantastic and people can't believe it's not real wood. We both love the look of wood and wanted it. But for the same reasons, dogs and living on 15 acres and the dirt we knew real wood wouldn't hold up. We went with Interceramic Timberlands in Golden Saddle. The only thing I told my tile guy is that I wanted the smallest grout lines possible. He did a great job. I have a couple of pictures but they are on my office computer. I will try to figure out how to post one tomorrow. One thing I was told was to not use the really long planks. Keep it 24" because the longer tend to warp worse and are harder to lay. And if you're hoping it will be less costly than real wood..... Nope, not around here anyway. Price was comparable to a good hardwood. I love it and it will be the main flooring in our house.

To the OP: make the framing smaller, so you no longer have to concern yourself with the thickness of the backerboard. It's a FIVE inch piece of framing so don't overbuild it: make it small (thin) and then after it's got backerboard on it, it will line up with the plane of your concrete wall. -- - - BTW, to cover a five inch space, you CAN use 1/4" backerboard because it only crosses about one inch of empty space between the top and the lower pieces of wood...... -- - - BTW, if you totally need to use products that are warranteed for every square inch, get 1/4" Hardi, because Hardi is made for this application, when the empty (unsupported) space is even larger. To the second and third posters: as far as i know, you CAN use the m-word on a vertical surface and that includes a backsplash, and the tiles can be large if you tile real slow (days and weeks) and use spacers to support the weight while it dries and hardens in place. This makes use of the one big advantage of mastic, its ever-ready state in the tub. Thinset has to be mixed just right and then applied all in one go. Homeowners can enjoy doing a tile a day with mastic on a vertical surface; professionals can't. Hope I'm helping. -david

The grout joint is supposed to be a bit rounded into the joint, and not perfectly flush. That said, looking at your pics, I don't see anything that sticks out as a problem. Also, He's right-- of he regrouts over the top, there's a good chance it'll start to flake off within a few weeks.

I installed Carrara dog bone tiles in my guest bath and Calacatta basket weave tiles in my master bath. My tiles were ordered through my designer but she purchased them at Emser which is also a retail source. They have a retail store in my location but I actually looked at Carrara and Calacatta tiles at another place when I was selecting my marble slabs. Unlike marble slabs, one doesn't need to "select" tiles as the tiles themselves are variegated although I would imagine one would order a sample and/or take a look at the stuff in person. I relied on my designer, my GC and the tile setters to do quality control of the tiles when they arrived and also set the tiles out they look well. However, with smaller tiles, I am not sure that kind of color matching is as important as with large tiles in which the individual pattern of the tiles needs to "go" with adjacent tiles. I relied on her expertise in terms of purchasing from a reliable supplier who sells good quality materials. FWIW, here is a picture of my floors - I especially like the Calacatta tiles because they have gold warm tones which complement the warmer tones and other tile work in my master bath. Here are some pictures of my master bath - They aren't the greatest shots because I wasn't trying to highlight the floors but it might give you some idea of why I like the Calacatta. My Calacatta tiles are honed as is my marble slab because I wanted a "softer" look in the mater bath. I used polished Carrara in my guest bath and that is gorgeous but that room has a more "glitzy" feel although it is still traditional in feel since it has the same wood cabinets and a copper sink. This is the master bath looking through my doorway. It's a small bath in an urban high rise. You can see how the Calacatta tiles have warm gold as well as gray. This is a view of the shower floor while under construction. I chose to have the same flooring so as to not chop up the space as much as possible. Here's another view with the floor kind of peeking out - I am posting because it shows why I deliberately opted for Calacatta because of how it complemented the rest of the colors in my master bath.