We are having ceramic tile installed on one of our bathroom floors and have run into a problem. The tile is porcelain 12x12 set on diagonal inside a 3² ³brick pattern² mosaic made from 1x2 darker tiles of same type with a paper mesh backing. I did all the prep (removed old floor to sub floor, 5/8 T&G &
1/4 Hardibacker), but decided to hire someone to lay the tile. The inside tiles are done and look great, but everything has come to a grinding halt with the mosaic border. The guy I hired looked over the material and job before taking it and said there would be no problems with the materials or design, but working with the mosaic border has proven to be a problem. I don¹t think he has any/much experience with this material and claims as soon as the backing on the mosaic gets wet either by cutting or when laying the tile the mosaic separates from the paper backing and becomes a bunch of loose 1x2 tiles. He is blaming the material, but looking around I see that this is a common way for mosaic to be made so there must be a way to work with it. I am sure there has to be some special technique for handling this type of trim, but I cannot find any information. My tile guy took the material with him yesterday and said he would return with a solution, but I am hoping that one of the resident tile experts here might be able to offer some advice. How do you cut this stuff? What type of adhesive is best to use so that the paper does not fall apart as soon as it is applied? What type of special technique is required to work with this material?I wish I did not have to worry about this as that is why I hired someone else to do it, but I now find myself in the position of trying to find a solution or at least become educated a bit in this regard. The guy did a great job on the inside tiles and I am hoping he comes through with the proper solution to the problem but thought I would post here...
Thanks in advance for any advice or information.