Help me price this job! (tile replacement in SUNROOM)

[G Henslee]

Ignoramus6767 wrote:

[G Henslee]

No doubt another green card carrying asswipe like yourself.

[G Henslee]

30 seconds of listening to your moronic ramblings on the phone would keep anyone away.

[G Henslee]

In a box car.

[G Henslee]

Go away you fu*king troll...

[G Henslee]

He's smart enough to know a troll when he sees one.

[Ignoramus20427]

G Henslee, I was trolling USENET years before you even knew how to turn on a computer. Do you seriously think that any posts of yours are going to make me upset?

i

[dadiOH]

If you can do the above, you can do the tile. Really, laying tile isn't hard.

1. Find center of area
2. Draw x-y axes (felt tip pen) making sure they are perpedicular to each other.
3. Decide if edge or center of tile should be on axis lines. Which depends on how much the tiles at the room edges will have to be cut - generally, you want the cut tiles to be as large as possible.
4. Lay tiles on your axis lines being *sure* that the edge of each lines up with the edges of the others (use a long straight edge). For spacing between tiles, use the plastic "crosses" to align tiles .They are available for various grout line thicknesses. Keep in mind that narrow joints are harder to lay and keep straight than are wider (1/4+) ones and that any errors will be more obvious; the larger the area, the more this becomes true. Take some time doing the tiles on the axes...their alignment determines how well all others line up.

As you lay the tiles, use a "beating" board to set the tiles so that the top surfaces are all the same. A beating board can be just a piece of

3/4 ply with a piece of low pile carpet (or an old towel) folded over and fastened to the top. To use, lay board over a couple of older tiles and the newer one(s) and tap with a mallet so top of new is same height as top of old. After beating, make sure all edges are as they should be.

1. Lay the rest of the field tiles using the plastic crosses for spacing. They don't have to be all laid in one session, you can stop anytime.
2. Cut your edge tiles. Rent a diamond blade wet saw or use a "snapper tile cutter". Put the cut edge toward the wall.
3. Wait a day or two and grout. Follow the instructions on the grout container. There are two types of grout..."sanded" and "unsanded". Unsanded is for very narrow joints (1/16+); the sanded (probably what you will need) is for wider joints and the sand has been added for strength.
4. Wait a day or two and seal. Personally, I like silicon sealer. Follow instructions on container. ______________

Not quite. First ply, then the cement board is *securely* screwed/nailed flat to the ply. Best to use a layer of thinset between the two so that surface irregularities in the ply are filled. Goal is to have a stable, *FLAT* surface. Repeat, FLAT!

To lay the tiles, use thinset mortar. It should be jmixed ust stiff enough to form ridges. Just flop out enough for a few tiles then "comb" with a notched trowel. The combing assures that you have the same (and sufficient) mortar under each tile. When you lay/beat the tiles, the ridges left in the mortar by the combing will spread out so that the tile is fully supported. The notch size in combing trowels varies...you need to have one appropriate for your tile (probably 1/4 x 1/4 notches) - install instructions for the tile should tell you.

-- dadiOH ____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06... ....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that. Get it at

[kzinNOSPAM99]

having gone through all of the above (ok, haven't grouted yet) I can offer a few tips for the newcomer at this you won't find in books or on the back of packages.

1) If you rent a wet saw, which I'd advise for tiles > 4 inches or so, make sure it's square at the rental place. Bring a rafter square. I had the misfortune of cutting most of my tiles with one out of square and then last night had the pleasure of cutting a few tiles that had to be resized with a square one. Night and day. A newish blade is really nice too. 2) Don't mix all the thinset at once. I wouldn't mix anymore than 25 lbs at a time. According to the instructions on the bag a batch will last about 4 hrs in the bucket. That's probably a bit on the conservative side but not by much. Covering the bucket with a moist towel helps it last. Obviously keep it out of direct sunlight. They say not to add water to it after mixed. This is basically correct though I found you could get away with adding just a touch of water to stiff thinset to loosen it up if needed. By a touch I mean lightly get your hand wet and give the bucket one flick of the hands worth. We're talking like 1/2 teaspoon or so. I didn't need to do this until after about 4 hrs or so. Generally you can just stir it to get it fluffy again. 3) Unless you're from krypton DO NOT try to mix thinset by hand. Aside from being a gargantuan task you won't get it as well mixed as it really should be. Get one of those mixing paddles and buy or rent a 1/2 inch chuck hi torque drill. I just bought a cheap B&D for the job and it worked beautifully. 4) If you have any obstacles to tile under spend the couple extra bucks and get margin notched and grout trowels. 5) I'm not sure of the best way to spread thinset yet. I used a small pointing trowel to spread it evenly over the current working area and then used the notched trowel to notch it. That seemed to work. Trying to spread the thinset with the flat side of the notched trowel wasn't quite as easy as using the smaller one. 6) If you can, try and leave a 1/4 inch or so from surrounding tiles clear of thinset. This makes it much easier to clean the grout lines of thinset. Don't leave too much of a gap. You don't want the edge of the tile hanging in space, grout can only do so much to stablize. Use a small screwdriver to clean the grout lines of thinset immediately after you get the tile in place. 7) You can never have too many clean rags, I used the heavy duty paper towel like rags. You'll need a slop bucket too. When you clean thinset from the grout lines, or clean up blobs of thinset that fall off the trowel (and they will) use a fresh one. Trying to use dirty rags just spreads more thinset where you don't want it. Get the rag wet first too if you are wiping the tile. Otherwise just wipe the screwdriver off in a dry one. Once the rag starts to get filled with thinset just throw it into the slop bucket and get a clean one. Don't skimp yourself on clean rags. 8) Plan ahead how you will lay the tiles keeping in consideration a) remember you can't kneel or step on freshly thinsetted tiles. not ever. b) you have to be able to "escape" from the work area. don't tile yourself into a corner. c) you need room for the bucket of thinset, your slop bucket, your bucket of clean water, your box of rags, and you. You can get away with putting the box of rags and maybe the slop bucket onto freshly set tile. I wouldn't try it with the bucket of water and definitely don't put the bucket of thinset down on them. 9) All in all I found it wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it was going to be, even after having made some of the stupid mistakes that can be inferred from my advice above. Thinset seems pretty forgiving, and the tiles are easily set into place on top of it. Just take your time and keep your lines straight and it will turn out great.

ml

[kzinNOSPAM99]

sorry, this assumed 1/8 inch grout lines. The 1/4 inch comes from 1/8 inch of grout line plus 1/8 inch of smush. If you have wider grout lines adjust the gap accordingly. ml

[G Henslee]

Yeah, I've seen your "ENLARGE YOUR PENIS" posts.

[Ignoramus28572]

A sequel to the story.

Several contractor TURDS who promised to show up and look did not show up at all.

One gentleman showed up and quoted $2,800 for redoing 70 feet of tile. That works out to approximately $44 per tile. Holy shit! The gentleman was told to forget about it.

We then called a bulgarian gentleman who quoted us a sensible price of $450. After me suggesting a few extra things to do, the price rose to $540.

He showed up on time and did a job that rates a solid A.

He also has a great 4 year old son who enjoyed our water slide

i

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Sounds reasonable. Glad it had a happy ending.

[Ignoramus28572]

Thanks. I am most glad that I did not have to do it myself.

i

[Edwin Pawlowski]

It is one of those jobs that I know how to do, but just can't get the same results as a pro. Sometimes it is best to pay for good workmanship.

[Ignoramus28572]

Absolutely. I could say the same thing.

i