I’ve generally relished setting up household tile. You can find a thing about thinking creatively and producing an artistic assertion that appeals to me While using the obstacle. To precise a buyer’s style and design eyesight calls for good conversation capabilities and a minimum of some instinct. Earning a purchaser happy and emotion relaxed inside their property ecosystem helps make me satisfied, much too. Very little can Review for the satisfaction of figuring out a job continues to be well done, in looking at an attractive and adequately mounted tile occupation. And, without a doubt, a glass mosaic tile set up can look superb. This glass mosaic set up absolutely sure was a obstacle in It can be complexity.
A brief while back Debbie and Wealthy questioned me to finish a bathroom that would come with tiling a steamer/shower encompass with glass mosaic tile, for shower pan, walls, and ceiling. They selected a clear glass mosaic referred to as Tesserra red #777, non-iridescent, by Oceanside Glasstile of Extended Beach, Calif. I think they wanted to see and also come to feel the crimson scorching warmth of a steam tub. The glass mosaic tiles had been of precisely the same crimson hue, but randomly varied in saturation: some glass tiles had been darker or lighter than Other individuals.
Every one inch sq. handmade mosaic glass tile was a quarter inch thick by using a concluded encounter floor that was seemingly chipped, crazed, or irregular, not sleek. The tiles came in sheets twelve inches sq., face glued to brown backing paper with a drinking water soluble adhesive similar to that employed for wallpaper. The tiles reminded me of chipped ice cubes, with sides tapered away from the deal with plus a flat again somewhat textured from molds. Most tiles were being relatively square, some were a little trapezoidal in shape, given that the molten glass poured in to the molds overflowed a sixteenth inch to form a sheet that was broken aside right after cooling.
The bathroom had been framed in and sheetrocked walls and ceiling prior to my involvement, with green board positioned in the steamer/shower encompass region. I wished to jump appropriate in, assuming I could implement a builder’s felt paper dampness barrier over the greenboard, then put in cementitious backerboard and parge it having a waterproofing membrane to have steam. But, being a relative novice to any mosaic tile installations, it was a good issue that I experienced some uncertainty, so I chose to discuss first to Oceanside’s technical guidance experts.
Specialized support insisted which i remove the greenboard within the steamer/shower surround. Originally formulated as a substrate for immediately applying tile, greenboard has now turn out to be unacceptable for virtually any bathroom use In accordance with building code. Also, there was an opportunity, on the other hand slight, that steam humidity could permeate the waterproofing membrane and eventually dampen any sheetrock or greenboard, causing deterioration and mold buildup where by it could by no means dry out. A lot more not too long ago produced cementitious backerboard, code approved, performs much greater for tile, especially in a soaked environment.
Then, a essential point to this entire set up, specialized guidance strongly encouraged me not to apply a waterproofing membrane instantly behind any clear tile. H2o would definitely settle powering the tile, Specifically wherever steam would force it, resulting in a splotchy glimpse wherever some tile would areas seem darker than other locations. Untreated backerboard would make it possible for water to diffuse away.
Finally, expansion joints are essential for glass tile installations, along with most other tiles, particularly in a steamer surroundings wherever temperature swings are most pronounced. Normally, glass tiles, currently being brittle, could crack or pop off below shear tension. I had been recommended to put in enlargement joints at the inside corners of walls and ceiling, as this steamer/shower surround calculated 4’6″ vast, 7’6″ superior, and 3’six” deep. Naturally, the steamer/shower surround region 2×4 partitions and ceiling were being insulated with R-13 fiberglass batts.
With any steamer/shower, it can be advisable to slope the tiled ceiling for drinking water runoff to decrease the chance of steam condensation producing dripping. I reframed the flat ceiling to deliver a slope of 1 inch for every foot, this becoming a judgment connect with on my component, whilst the Tile Council of North The united states endorses a slope of two inches for each foot (SR614-05).
After taking away greenboard within the steamer/shower encompass location partitions and ceiling, I put in builder’s felt paper in excess of wall studs and ceiling joists, and lapped it around the shower pan vinyl membrane to be a closing barrier to drinking water penetration. I then set up 1/two” cdx plywood, which does have some exterior h2o exposure score, contrary tile installer to greenboard. The plywood experienced the added benefit of stiffening surround partitions and ceiling, creating a steady foundation with the glass mosaic tile. I ended the plywood for the developed-in seat degree 16″ higher than the shower pan, because I was worried about h2o otherwise wicking up through the plywood with the shower pan mortarbed. Down below seat level I set up 1/four” backerboard around the shower pan vinyl membrane and then applied hydraulic cement parging to straighten backerboard bulges because of vinyl membrane folds also to bring the backerboard into plane Using the one/2″ plywood.
I taped and mudded all plywood and backerboard joints with white alkaline resistant fiberglass mesh tape and thinset. Thinset will not be impervious to drinking water, certainly. Then I utilized two slender coats of Mapei’s trowel-on waterproofing membrane technique consisting of Mapelastic #315 powder mixed with undiluted Mapelastic #315 liquid. The powder is strengthened with fiberglass fibers and the liquid can be an acrylic latex admixture. Be sure to don old clothing when utilizing this product, simply because in the regularity of slim pancake batter, the combination may get throughout you, specially when Doing work overhead. When established, the waterproofing membrane stays remarkably flexible and adheres pretty strongly to anything at all. All inside of plywood corners were being taped, mudded, and waterproofed.
Around the waterproofed plywood and backerboard, I mounted one/two” backerboard, and I once more taped and mudded all joints, staying very careful to stay clear of within corners. During the backerboard corner expansion joints, I set up 1/4″ closed cell polyurethane backer rod, that’s water resistant. I caulked above the backer rod with gray Latisil NS polyurethane versatile joint filler/sealant.