Natural Stone tiling information

[Gracer]

looks good gracer...just a pity about the towels ...dont blend with toilet...lmao

lol....it was a bit of a lazy shot....

 

[lindarogers]

Thanks so far everyone, much appreciated

 

[wetdec]

Working With Stone

As stone has become more popular and specialist stone fixers are few and far between tilers take on a proportion of their work.

Most stone work such as sealing and maintenance can be researched but on the odd occasion tilers come up against practices they are not trained for. One of these practices is the finishing of external corners and edges.

In general corners and edges that tilers come across in the work place can be finished with a metal or plastic profile, on stone this isn’t always the best finish. Natural stone does not combine well with manmade materials and profiles are not made to accommodate stone tile thickness are just a couple of reasons why edges and corners may need some extra skills.

Traditionally where stone tiles meet at an external corner the edges are polished and fixed to produce a quirk , butt-up or masons mitre. Shaping after fixing to a half bull nose, or eased mitre are more recent options. In today’s workplace a half bull nose or eased mitre would be applied to travertine as this stone is soft and easy to shape, with marble or granite a quirk mitre, eased mitre or butt-up would be used. During the cutting of stone chipping of the edges often occurs, combine this with the dangers of
sharp edges and you see why full mitres are to be avoided.


Tile edge polishing

The word "marble" is colloquially used to refer to many stones that are capable of taking a high polish. When you polish something you are replacing scratches with finer scratches to the point where they are no longer visible.A polished or honed stone tile will often have a dull non descript edge which needs to be worked before a quirk mitre can be used.

To polish an edge the following tools would be required:

ØElectric hand grinder up to 2700 rpm
ØAbrasive disc backing pad
ØAbrasive discs at 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000 grits
ØBuffing compound
ØFelt wheel

Using a work mate (a piece of inner tube one either side)clamp the tile so you are looking down on the edge to be polished and have a practice with your grits. Only you will see the results of each grit and be able to judge which ones you will or won’t need. Each stone is different so go easy until you have a process giving the finish you require then final polish using the buffing compound and felt disk. Polishing stone is like riding a bike a course can show you but you must educate yourself………..you have to feel it
and work with it………………….then you never forget.


The Quirk Mitre

The cutter is set to mitre the tile at 90 degrees. Lay the tile face down on your wet cutter using a pad to prevent scratching.

Draw the cutter towards you until it touches the tile and will cut to the corner. You are not cutting a full mitre so ease the tile away from the blade until it is cutting to 3 or 4mm from the corner, lock the guide.

The tiles are fitted together using a grout or resin filler to match the tiles.

The Masons Mitre

The masons mitre is created by notching one tile as per the diagram this joint is slightly more difficult as it requires cutting in 2 directions.
The result of the masons mitre will be visually the same as the quirk mitre but is a stronger joint


Butt Up Joint

The butt up joint is a simple joint leaving one polished edge visible. The visible edge should be made away from line of sight or internal as it is framed with grout. Resin or grout filler matching the stone can make this a nice clean joint.

The one failing of the butt-up joint is its sharp and sometimes dangerous edge. To avoid this edge the joint can be eased as below.


Eased Corner Joints

By easing a joint you are taking the edge back up to 2.5mm creating a blunt flat edge.

The ease is easiest to work on travertine because of its structure it can’t be polished without filling. Take off the sharp edge with a medium grit before grouting the new edge. When dry sand with a fine grit until smooth. A little colour intensifier will finish the ease nicely.


Half Bullnose

Seen here the half bullnose (isn’t quite) is the rounding off of the external edge letting the stone flow nicely.

This finish works an absolute treat on tumbled marble as you are not working with a polished surface. Rounding corners at window reveals in kitchens is straightforward and adds a touch of class and reflects well on the tiler.


All in all joints and edges in stone are not difficult but do take time to learn. Once you have your grits right then it becomes easy and you add a new skill to your trade. Don’t be put off by silly prices being charged for polishers it’s not about the tool there are low priced hand grinder s to be had and given the little use they get a heavy spend is not required.

 

[DHTiling]

Excellent post tony.....





p.s. have copied it to a seperate thread..

 

[Leatherface]

Saving up for a Flex Polisher, these are able to run slower than most variable speed angle grinders, you then have the advantage of being able to use the proper diamond polishing pads. Either without water, or with if you have a water fed machine. Great for polishing edges of porcelain and granite. Have tried proper diamond pads with my Makita Vari speed for porcelain, but resulted in burning of tiles and excessive wear on pads due to speed being to high
Flex L 3403 VRG Polisher
Price: £265.28 ex VAT
Options
Prices exclude VAT
the light-weight FLEX polishing machine with accelerator trigger switch for sanding and polishing
Slim stick handles; high torque motor, lightweight, and a practical bail handle. That is how to polish easily and effortlessly in every job. The accelerator trigger switch and speed selection allow for a controlled acceleration to the optimal mixing speed.
Technical attributes
Max. Polishing disc diameter 160 mm
Max. Supporting disc diameter 160 mm
Speed without load 1100-3700 /min
Power input 1300 Watt
Power output 880 Watt
Tool fixture M 14
Weight 1,90 kg
Standard equipment
1 x Bail Handle
1 x FLEXgrip Handle
Advantages at a glance
FLEX seven-fold microprocessor electronics: with consistent speed control by tachometer generator, soft start, accelerator trigger switch, restart protection after power interruption, overload protection, temperature monitoring, and speed selection
High-powered motor: can handle extreme loads
Spindle lock: for easy disc changes
Quality shut-off carbon brushes: protects the motor against any damage
Bail handle
4 m mains cord
*Note - Not Supplied with cutting disks or polishing pads, to be purchased separately

 

[wetdec]

Got 3 of them they are top gear but as I say it can be done well with general machines....................

 

[lindarogers]

Thank you again, this is really a great help, if you would like us to let you know how we get on I will post photo's in due course, might take some time! 1 more question - the travertine shower tray is not honed and filled as per the tiles, any hints, tips or faux pas's we should be aware of?

 

[lindarogers]

:hurray:

 

[DHTiling]

pics would be good...:smilewinkgrin:

 

[bigandy]

just an idea if you dont want to buy the expensive version i am sure you could probably buy the fittings for this found on ebay
TRADE POLISHER / SANDER.'SOFT START', 6 SPEED.BODY SHOP
sorry cant put actual links on here am a bit of a techniphobe.
yes i realise its not exactly the same spec but for a diyer it should work(i think and stand to be corrected)you would have to purchase the grinding disks but at £40 worth a look

 

[lindarogers]

Thank you to everybody who helped out, it has been a long wait but it was worth it. As promised some photos of the finished job. Thanks again!:hurray:

 

[DHTiling]

Thank you to everybody who helped out, it has been a long wait but it was worth it. As promised some photos of the finished job. Thanks again!:hurray:

where..??????

 

[lindarogers]

Apols - attaching the pic's obviously helps, they were too big so have re-sized. Still need a stone slab for under the basins but otherwise we are done.

 

[DHTiling]

Looks very nice linda...

 

[Colour Republic]

Nice is that a natural stone shower tray or a resin stone effect one?