Greetings! I've been browsing the net for tips on just this subject and your thread has answered a lot of questions - thank you! I just have one more inquiry - do you know of a way to make the end product of one-part self curing silicones (after curing) softer and stretchier (lets say more like human skin, goal hardness is 10-30 shore A)? The reason I'm asking: I am a resident in heart surgery and I'm trying to make practice models of parts of the human heart and tissue to use for training outside the operating room. As you said the platinum cure silicones are used for this purpose but the price difference is tenfold and they're a bit too expensive for us.

I spray my porcelain tile floors with a 50/50 mixture of alcohol and water and use a wet wrung out mop. It does not streak. Make sure the mop is not soppy wet, wring it out like you are ready to put it away until next time. If this does not work, contact the mfgr.

As far as I am aware, silicone is caulk. There is caulk that is acrylic and caulk that is silicone. In both my bathrooms I used Laticrete silicone caulk for change of planes on my tile. It is matched to my Laticrete grout that I used. Find out what brand grout & color you used and buy the matching silicone grout that the manufacturer offers. When I had contrasting colors between surfaces I choose the color caulk that matched the least level or straight surface. For example my toilet was white and my floor dark. The floor was somewhat rustic and rippley. The toilet was real smooth and straight edged. I used a dark caulk to highlight the clean white edge. If I would have used white, the white would have highlighted the ripply floor surface, which I didn't want to do. I used blue painters tape to line the surfaces before I caulked. Making sure the tape was really close to the edges. I caulked, then ran my finger over the caulk to get a nice finish. I used alcohol on my finger as I ran it along the caulk. I wouldn't spray anything first, before the caulk, as it might make it not stick to the inner tile edge surfaces. Pull the tape right away, before the caulk sets. I would use alcohol on a paper towel to clean up any stray caulk. I know others have said that windex works too. I am no expert, only a few DIY jobs. But this worked for me. There are many great people on this forum that can help.

Not sure about the Durock or wire mesh, which is one of your main questions. I don't do tile work, but I do design fireplace covers and gas fires and often help people with an overall finished look. So I created these two mockups to help you along the way, seeing as we don't know what direction you are really going with the style of decor in this room. I was going to create a mockup also showing a more traditional style mantel surround, but ran out of time. If you go that route, those two electrical supplies will likely need to be moved. Tile floor to ceiling with glass doors and burning glass with geoshapes Tile half way up with glass doors and matching metal angle iron trim to hide the exposed tile edge. We can make that metal trim any depth necessary. This works well if you want a rather contemporary look. You can also use wood molding. (Shown with gas burning fireballs.)