Thank you so very much Mongo, you do a superb job of explaining things. I remember you telling me on a previous post about a small wet saw, thanks for reminding me. My husband doesn't have enough hair for spray so I think I'll use some cheapy brand; it is a wonderful tip. I can do this, I pulled it off on my kitchen backsplash with even less information and the herringbone ran on the diagonal. Those tiles were pre cut and I am thankful that they were, because I didn't have a clue to the problems that could have developed if they weren't. They were apparently cut to your equation because they matched perfectly. Crazy spacing, I like the grid tech for the floor:) I remember taping my 45* drafting square to the sides of these sections for drying overnight. One night I stayed up all night to tile. It was fun though. This was my first wall, I got better on the second wall as seen in the 2nd pic: I just picked a center spot over the stove location and started - it wasn't exactly centered though, The grout was still wet at this point: You've just boosted my confidence, and others if they are following this post. Thank you so much again Mongo, for your help on this project, and on all the other projects that us lost souls post on GW.

If you don't have any clear reason for a particular height for the border row, it coul dbe a good idea to put it at the height of a full tile; for example, if you have 12"x12" or 13"x13" tiles, run the accent row above four full large tiles. In both bathrooms we've just redone, I planned it out this way with the contractor; he figured out high and low spots and what small adjustments he needed to make it work -- you don't want to start with four full tiles and end up with a sliver or fat grout line somewhere because of an uneven floor or wall, so it may not work out to be exactly four full tiles all the way around, but the amount of cutting may be reduced and, more importantly, it looks like all full-size tiles below the accent row. I'm 100% certain Bill can make it look stunning with 3-1/2 rows ;) but my contractor's suggestion to go four full tiles up meshed well with my guestimate of the height I wanted the accent row, and we're happy with the results. Also think about where you want shower controls, wall bars, shower niches or any other wall interruptions as well, as any of these could also influence where you determine the best height for your break in the wall should fall. -- Eric

Although it looks intricate as hell, the herringbone is very simply, a brick joint pattern with every other tile turned on its side. Look at the pattern for a minute. You'll see that first the horizontal tiles look like steps, with each step being exactly a 1/2 tile advanced from the last. Then comes the vertical tiles doing the same thing. Then back to the horizontal tiles, and so on. Once you get going with it, it's really not as complicated as it looks. The only disadvantage is that your grout joint is predetermined by the tile size. If you lay two tiles longways side by side right next to a single tile cappling the ends of the two tiles, move the first two so their long edge is flush with either end of the capping tile. Whatever you have for a joint between the two tiles is what you're going to use for a grout joint throughout the floor. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Resummarizing here because it wont let me edit my main thread, with photos.. plywood is often used for observatory builds because its a smoother surface to seal off, i assumed it was ok.. Summarizing again: I've tried using some online deck building tools to generate the materials needed for what should really be a simple build for this, but i'm getting weird results and had some questions. I thought home depot had an online one, but only found an offline tool, lowes online did work, but in both cases they generated ridiculous materials lists and prices close to $10k. I know that a build like this should only cost $300 to $400. (with everything i have below and $69 to ship, its around $480 as of now, so higher than planned) On top of the deck will be the nexdome with 2 bay (astronomy plastic dome weighs around 300lbs i think). The first issue is the soil/ground. I have to make things level, so that i dont need extra height on a concrete pier, to keep the whole structure say 12" off the ground and not need a railing. Here is a shot of my ground so far, i wasnt sure if i should just get a bobcat and push it forward till level, or if tossing the extra dirt that is "high" on the upper part, to the lower part would suffice or cause a settling issue later? Either way, once down to level, i figure ill either just leave it as just dirt under, or put down plastic to block weeds and cover with a thin layer of gravel. Back to the deck build itself: 12x6 vs 12x8: I've seen many do the 12x6 route, but I wasnt sure, so for now i have it figured as roughly 12-13 12x8s? I have two 4x4x8's figured, but i'm thinking there will be at least 6 posts, with the deck surface at least 12" off ground, may need a few more to go into cement block Onto the blocks (going with blocks instead of posts in the ground, so when we move, we can just take the whole thing and go, or disassemble): I think these are the right concrete deck blocks? But now that i'm thinking about these, it looks like they are really meant to go under the 12x6 going longwise? So perhaps for the posts that will be 12-14" tall, i need something else here? (I figured 6-9 of these max) One of the online builder tools generated the list using these wood to wood triple zinc framing angles, again i'm not sure these are needed? I know i need joist hangers, unsure on the quantity, but these 2"x2x18 gauge triple zinc face mount joist hangers **the part on these i'm unsure on, is since this is low to the ground, how ill go about attaching these,since the floor needs in place, so i guess i need to tilt the whole structure to do this Many regular decking forums dont suggest using plywood for the floor, but i've seen many nexdome floors done with it, i was assuming it was this plywood: Severe Weather 3/4 inch common square southern yellow pine sheathing 4x8's $39? I was estimating i need 3 of these. Then I was figuring using all deck screws and not nails (in case i need to remove them), or maybe nails (which type?) for the hangers. These #8 2" ceramic I thought were the right ones? (or maybe 2.5") Here is the view of the joists as generated by the home depot offline tool, generally i was figuring a joist every 16, not sure about the extra ones near the pier location: Another question is on the underside, in the one online generator it shows these things that i'm not sure on, ie: the posts have those brackets and there are i think the right angle brackets: The other part i think i'm missing here are "toggle?" bolts that go into the posts? With nuts on the other side of some size? Any thoughts on all this so far, is this a pretty accurate list of things to do this simple deck?