asthetic Tiling call

[Jimi]

Hi folks! Thanks for reading this and any constructive replies are welcome...

I am tiling (15 inch sq tiles) a 4 level split home (my own) with grout in between roughly 1/8 inch gaps . I am doing two stairwells and a landing .... To make a long story short I have tiled one stairwell and landing. To start my next stairwell off the landing I need to offset my tiles so the lines match to the landing....however, if I go dead center down the stairs with the tiles it will be less waste but the grout lines will be three inches off the existing landing...should I say to hell with it or cut tiles according to the "cards that I have been given to play" from where I started? Thanks.... Jim

[dadiOH]

The grout lines on the first stair and landing line up? Then line them up on the second stair too.

That assumes that doing so won't result in wierd cuts on the second stair...like 1" of tile on one side, nine inches on the other.

Too late now but an alternative would have been to treat each stair and the landing as an individiual area; e.g., do stair one to minimize cuts, do landing in diamond, do stair two to minimize cuts.

[Jimi]

[John Grabowski]

Does the second set of stairs go in a different direction? If so then I think it would be okay to start over and not worry about matching the grout lines. If not then put some tiles down loose and see what they will look like. From the very bottom you probably won't see the second steps until part way up.

[charlie]

be very careful lining up the grout lines off a step. if you do a really good job, someone may not see that first step very well. i had a landing inside my front door that had a 4" drop to the rest of the living room floor. i not only lined up the grout lines, but beveled the edge of the step. i can't tell you how many people i had to warn that there was a step there. i finally ripped the edge out and put in a contrasting stripe so people wouldn't step off into midair.

regards, charlie cave creek, az

[dadiOH]

Bummer. The proverbial rock and hard place.

Hard to say what to do without seeing it but if it were me I'd probably rip up the perimeter tiles on the landing, cut up new tiles into smaller ones and lay them as a border on the landing. Then do stair #2 so you have even cuts on the sides.

Actually, one wouldn't need to take up full tiles on the landing, just stick a masonry blade on a circular saw, set the depth to cut thru and do it to it. The idea is to wind up with a border that has enough grout lines so that the mismatch in them between the two stairs isn't noticeable.

I have all 12 x 12 Saltillo tile in my house; each room was layed to minimize cut tiles. In the area between rooms - whether there is a door or not - I layed a series of tiles cut to wall thickness in length and about 2

1/2" wide. Worked great, I never notice the disparity in grout lines room to room.

[chibiabos]

So, what do you have against atheistic tiling?

-chib

[Clot]

Made me smile :)