tiling kitchen counter tops

Of course you are. Just please make sure to give your family lots of lysine supplements, since lysine is something human beings need, yet can only get from animals. Probably why vegetarians are generally so unhealthy and sick all the time.

Keep well, and enjoy your germ-collecting countertops.

Tile is about the easiest thing *to* clean...smooth, totally non-absorbent, won't stain. Yes, grout can absorb if it isn't properly sealed. If sealed, it is simple to clean - just wipe off.

Tile has another advantage that might be of interest to you...it is fireproof. That means you could blast the freakin' counter with a blow torch. Let's see the nasty little microbes survive *that*. ________________

Don't go abroad then, lots of restaurant kitchens have tile counters.

So will any exterior ply. Main advantage (slight) of marine is that there are no voids in the internal plies. _____________

Unless it has been stored out in the rain, it won't be wet. By the time the veneer is cut and dried and then made into ply the whole thing is bone dry. Even if it weren't ply expands/contracts very little which is one reason it is used so much.

As far as ply getting wet at the sink area and rotting, I have had kitchens with tile on ply counters for close to 30 years. Current one for 12. I have never ever had a problem with water infiltration to the ply. Sinks have always been drop in bedded in plumber's putty.

Speaking as someone who purchased a home with a tile countertop, I'd have to disagree. Cleaning that thing was a royal pain. So much so that the tile is gone; replaced with granite slab.

Having said that... the grout lines were relatively broad at about one eigth of an inch.

So, for anyone considering tile, I would certainly recommend using the minimum recommended thickness (for that tile) of grout line. Also, use sandless (smooth) grout and, of course, seal it properly.

Yes, tile has some strong points. Grout lines are not one of them ;-)

Yes 2' wide, 3/4" thick with 1.5" thick bullnose. I see them in the Bay Area, various granite shops.

HD Repair & Remodel has it too, a little more money though.

I'd ripped my original counter top off a couple of years ago on a 1981 house. Particleboard, thin wax paper, chicken wire with a bed of mortar then the tile on top. The 24 year old particleboard was in perfect condition without any signs of water damage anywhere including the sink area. They did it cheaply but they knew what they doing. BTY the tile was in pretty good condition too, though it needed regrouting.

Most recommendations I've seen these days suggest using a layer of backerboard under the tile. Personally, for kitchen counters, I'd use thinset and Roofing nails to attach backerboard to the ply. I'd then coat the backerboard with redguard to waterproof it. Then thinset the tile to that. I did use epoxy grout to attach tiles to the bottom of a hottub once, which seemed to work fine, but it would be huge overkill for a kitchen counter. Thinset should last forever.

The backerboard is a cheap, easy way to form a really good base for the tire. The expansion of backerboard will be much closer to that of tile, eliminating potential problems.

Redguard on plywood could be a possible compromise if you really don't want to add the backerboard. It would help prevent expansion from moisture which does goes through tile grout.

Bob

If you are what meat eating produces, I may have to give it up.

Bob

And don't use particle board.

Bob

Oops - that's Redgard, not redguard.

Bob

Well it depends whether your substrate ever gets wet or not. If not..then Marine ply will be fine. However, wet marine ply will eventually promote mold..so if theres a chance it will get wet (there very well could be..depends on how much water/spillage the user puts on the countertop and how well ther groutlines are sealed) I d suggest you go with cement board and if you re doing that, then you dont NEED "marine" ply but if it makes you feel better, go for it.

Forget the epoxy, go with the material intended for the job..thinset