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Questions about Tile
What kind of tile do you recommend for Floors? It all depends on the location and traffic on the floor. For high traffic areas, like mud rooms, kitchens, and foyers, I highly recommend a porcelain tile, especially one that's body is the same color as the surface. That allows the tile to be chipped and not show as badly. In bathrooms, most any tile will do. While there is a lot of traffic in the bathroom, it is not generally a place that needs a lot of durability. Any outside applications must be a Frost proof tile. As far as I know all porcelain tile is frost proof. I do not like polished marble on any floors. It is too easy to scratch. Honed marbles, limestones and travertines work well on floors. They are soft and easy to scratch, but with a honed finish the scratches do not show up as well. Granite makes a good looking floor, but not where slip resistance and/or water could be an issue.
What kind of tile do you recommend on walls? On the walls, the type of tile does not matter as much as the trim pieces being available. Bullnose, and mudcap are examples of trim pieces. When using most natural stones, We make the trim pieces as we need them. 4x4 "stack-on" tile will give a bathroom a Retro look. A rectangular tile, 6x8 or 8x10, will give a modern clean look. A tumbled marble or a hand-made tile will give the job an old feel. Polished stones will give the walls a classic look.
What size tile do you recommend? In most cases I recommend using at least a 12x12 tile on the floor and a 6x6 tile on the walls. I have used 18x18 tiles in a small bathroom and it looked good. In rooms bigger than 140 square feet, I would go with an even bigger tile. The reason for using the bigger tile, specially in a job with no pattern, is that the less grout used the easier the tile is to clean. On walls, a 6x6 or bigger gives a more modern look. The exception to this is kitchen backsplashes. On backsplashes, the current standard is 4x4 tumbled stone. How do you clean tile? For ceramic tile, I recommend wiping clean with either plain water or a mixture of 1 cup white vinegar in 1 gallon of water. If a deeper clean is wanted I use TileLab's Tile and Grout cleaning Concentrate. To clean any stone, DO NOT USE the vinegar/water mixture. Either use plain water or a product made for your stone.
Does tile need to be sealed? How often must it be resealed? Most ceramic tile does not need to be sealed, but the grout joints do. If you are installing a natural stone, most likely the stone must be sealed as well as the grout. When sealing grout or tile and grout, there are several types of sealer. Penetrating sealers soak into the material they are sealing and provide a natural look. Enhancing sealers will change the color of the stone and grout they are sealing. The most likely change is to make the tile and grout look "wet." Those are the 2 basic sealers. There are variations of these for specific uses. I use 2 different product lines. My primary sealer is Miracle 511 Porous Plus. The other sealer I use is TileLab's SurfaceGuard. The Porous Plus is a petroleum based sealer. It is the best I have found so far. The SurfaceGuard is a water based sealer. It is the best sealer I have found that can be used where ventilation is a problem. I also use this sealer when I am sealing in the same area as small children and pets. How often the surfaces need to be resealed depend on use, cleaning etc. With both sealers, we recommend sealing high traffic floors every 2 years. Low use areas, like backsplashes can wait up to 8 years. What surfaces can tile be installed on? On floors, we will not install tile directly on wood surface. Depending on the application, we will "float" the floor with a mixture of sand and portland cement or we will install a cement board substrate. We use hardiboard. We will install the tile directly on a cement slab, provided it is flat enough. Cracks in the slab must have a crack isolation membrane installed. Wall are divided into two catagories. In wet areas, Showers or Tub surrounds, we install a cement board (Hardiboard). In dry areas, backsplashes and wainscots, the tile can be installed on the sheetrock. In the case of ceilings, we install cement board. How much does a heated floor system cost? as you would guess, it depends on the size of the floor. The cost is about $14 per square foot of heated space plus $350. The additional cost is for the thermostat and approximate cost of the electrical connections. One thermostat will control 160 square feet at 120 volts or 320 square feet at 240 volts. A dedicated line will need to be run if the floor is bigger than 60 square feet. The heated space of the floor is generally significantly less than the floor space. eg you don't heat behind or beside the toilet. you dont heat under the vanities. How much does tile cost? The cost of your tile will vary. Ceramic tile can be found that costs as little as $0.49 per square foot. Porcelain tile starts at about $1.79. Natural Stone prices start about 3.50. These prices are just a starting point. The cost of the tile can go higher than $20 per square foot depending on your taste. How much does it cost to install tile? The installation costs vary as much as the costs of tile does. There are several things to take into account for the price: What prep work is needed? Install backer board. float non flat surfaces, remove existing finish What pattern is the tile set in? Straight, diagonal, dots on corners, pinwheel pattern, brick pattern Is the tile on horizontal or vertical? Is the tile ceramic tile or natural stone? Stone costs significantly more to set What size is the tile? Bigger tiles in small areas cost more, as do small tiles that are not sheet mounted What size is the job? The bigger jobs cost more, but less per square foot. overall, backsplashes are the most expensive tile to install when considered on a square footage basis What extras are needed to complete the job? R/R toilet, moving appliances, moving furniture, removing existing finish. What kind of access do we have to the job? How many floors do we have to move the tile/tools? where do we have to set up wet saw? do we have to haul trash away? Where can you have tile installed? I can install tile where ever you want it. I have tiled all the floors in a house for a customer that had severe allergies. I have tiled everything but the ceiling in a bathroom. In steam showers I have tiled the ceiling. Tile in general is a low maintenance, easy to clean surface. What are the differences between tile and Natural stone? There are pluses and minuses on both sides. Stone conveys a richer look, a warmer feel. Tile is consistently colored. Stone has several different hardnesses. Absolute Black Granite is one of the hardest stones I work with. Limestone is a very soft stone. Of coarse the hardness issue is not limited to stone. Ceramic tile comes in varying hardness depending on the quality of the glaze, and the base material the tile is made of. With stone trim pieces don't matter, I can fabricate the trims on site. Compared to ceramic, Stone tends to be more expensive to install. With polished granite and marble, the floors we set are level and the walls are plumb.
In remodeling a bath or kitchen, what needs to be done before the tile is installed? The tile can be installed as soon as a room is framed, or it can wait until all the trim is installed and the painting done. I prefer to come in after walls are sheetrocked and finished with the doors installed, but before the baseboard is installed. While I can cut close enough to baseboard to leave a small grout joint, that grout joint will crack unless shoe mold is installed. The same goes for any cabinets, although the cabinets toe kick will hide the cracked grout joint. With the cabinets I prefer tiling under them so if the cabinet plan changes the tile is already in place.
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