Natural stone border tiles - advice needed

[MattW]

Hi All,
I'm about to start a (free - the joys of working for family!) bathroom job for my sister in law.

It's going to be 8mm gloss white ceramics and she's got some natural stone border tiles - these:



I've never worked with this type of border tile before and I could use some advice...

As they're little stone slips on a mesh, they have a bit of variation in size and look like they'll be a right pain to fix. She wants a full tile above the bath, followed by a border, another full tile and and then another border. When I've done this type of thing before, I've started with a batten slightly less than a tile above the bath (allowing for a cut down to the bath) and would then fix the border onto the batten and work up from there.

With these borders being a bit inconsistent in size, I'm not so sure - would I be better starting with the tile above the border and then work down to the bath with the border and tile?

Another concern is grouting. The borders are a mixture of stone, some with a rough textured surface and are labelled as being sealed. Is there any special technique for grouting this type of tile and cleaning up the textured surface?

I'm intending to use Mapei Keraflex with an 8mm trowel (2mm spacers) and a Mapei white grout (not chosen yet) - I'm not the fastest so need something with a decent pot life

Any advice about workflow and grouting would be very much appreciated.

thanks
Matt

 

[Topshop]

I would layout the pattern on the wall or floor, set the field tiles and then set the inconsistant border to center by eye. That way at least your field tiles are straight.

 

[Dan]

I would batten below the tile that is above the first border. So then you're working from the bath afterwards with the field tile, then the other border. It might even be worth using a batten above both borders and tiling the field tiles first leaving just the borders to do and the tile above the bath.

Make sure that you consider the thickness differences too. Those borders look chunky and you wouldn't want them standing proud compared to the normal tiles.

Grouting should be normal though test a small area first before doing too much. You wouldn't want the grout to start setting on the face of the border tiles only to find you're scratching them or something when scrubbing to try and get the grout off.

Might even be worth sealing them again to be sure before you grout. Though let the professionals help with that one I'm not the best for natural stone.

 

[MattW]

Thanks top shop and Dan.

I did actually wonder about battening above the borders and leaving them till last - good to know I'm thinking along the right lines. At least the field tiles would be right and I could set the borders by eye. Good point about the thickness of the borders - they are a touch thicker than the field tiles.

Just finished tanking above the bath with the mapei waterproofing kit. Priming the other walls and starting fixing tomorrow.

Cheers
Matt

 

[Tony73]

Hi, do you know name of the stone? can't realy zoom in :lol:

 

[DHTiling]

You could use tile off cuts to wedge up the top row above the border..

Have you also checked field tile thickness compared to the border thickness ?.

 

[MattW]

Thanks Dave - the border tiles are about 1mm thicker than the field tiles.

 

[DHTiling]

Ok, so you can slightly pack out to suit.. ..

Seal the borders first but do not flood them with sealer as it will soften the backing to the border if the sealer is solvent based.


I tend to tile the walls first and leave the space out for the borders , using tile off cuts to keep the tiles above in situ till dry..saves having to try and drill a batten in place.

 

[MattW]

Ok, so you can slightly pack out to suit.. ..

Seal the borders first but do not flood them with sealer as it will soften the backing to the border if the sealer is solvent based.


I tend to tile the walls first and leave the space out for the borders , using tile off cuts to keep the tiles above in situ till dry..saves having to try and drill a batten in place.

Thanks Dave - I'll give it a go

 

[White Room]

Like this for the border with the off cuts