Laying Travertine Tiles

[paul]

I've got a project to lay approx 20m2 of travertine tiles in a bathroom (both walls and floors). The floors are 18mm WBP ply screwed down onto joists (suspended floor). The walls are a mixture of freshly plastered block walls and plywood for partition areas. I will be using an electric tile cutter as the tiles are 12mm thick. There are quite a few corners, both internal and external. I`m not keen on using those corner strips (plastic or metal), preferring a more natural straight edge finish. Only problem is the travertine is quite rough on the edges (the main surface is honed & filled but the edges aren't). What can I do on the edges? I suppose if I don`t use some kind of corner strip, the cut edges will be quite sharp? Does anyone have any tips for laying travertine tiles or preparation on ply/fresh plaster ? I`ve laid normal tiles before but not these beasts. Also to complicate matters I`m creating a wet room area where the shower is using Wedi Fundo products, any tips from past experiences here?

TIA Paul

[Steve Firth]

Tilt the bed of the saw and cut a mitre at 45 degrees. And similarly for the tile on the other side of the corner - I hope this helps to explain what I mean:

----------------- / | -------------- | WALL | | W | | A | | L | | L | | | |

This will give you a neat join on an outside edge. Because it's travertine it will be a little on the knobbly side but that will fit with the appearance of the tiles.

[Andy Hall]

I've seen this done in a hotel bathroom and it looked exactly right.

Somehow the tiler had rounded the sharp corner, but it wasn't clear how. IIRC, travertine is relatively soft, so possibly some kind of corner profiler?

.andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Steve Firth]

You can get a neat little diamond file from Screwfix and/or Machine mart which can be used ofr rounding off the corner but to my eye it leaves it looking dull. If you want it rounding off an polishing then a mason will do it for you but it will cost "quite a bit".

I had a slab of marble cut and polished for use as a shelf to attach the bath taps to. It was an arm and a leg for the polishing.