Newbie after some travertine tips.

[martynheywood]

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to this sight, been reading some of the forums on and off as an anonymous viewer, just about finished the remodelling of the bathroom and nearly ready for tiling so thought it would be a good time to sign up and join in!

I have a relatively small bathroom, which i have just installed new bath, sink, compact loo and 900X900 curved glass shower (well the tray and shower valve and plumbing are in anyway). I've tiled a few bathrooms and kitchens in my time, and i do quite a bit of tiling hearths in quarry tiles for my job.

For this bathroom i've decided to use travertine (which from what i've beed reading might not have been the wisest choice but i've bought it now and i really love the examples i've seen). I was just looking for any advice you can give regarding the installation of this lovely material. I have some travertine mosaic borders i'm wanting to incorporate, and i was planning a diamond pattern on the floor and stacked on the walls.

Been having problems trying to get my head around the best way to do the xternal corners on the window reveals and the boxing i've built to hide some of the plumbing.

What would you reccomend? Edge trims or Butting the tiles up?

If i butt the tiles up it will leave an edge exposed, is there anything i can do with the edge to clean it up?

What would you reccomend for cutting?

I was planning on using some bal waterproof flexible adhesive, any other reccomendations?

I've also already bought residue remover and matt finish sealant, am i right in thinking that two coats before grouting and one after will be sufficient?

The tiles i have are 400X400mm honed and filled. They are 12mm in thickness. I have a contemporary styled white suite and and a curved glass shower enclosure with chrome frame.

Any advice / input on any of the above points would be greatly appreciated and i've been taking pictures of the whole process from day one when the room was completley cleared and stripped back to the studwork so hopefully i'll be able to post the whole process online when it's finally finished!:wink_smile:

 

[enduro]

I would tank the shower area, as travertine is pourus, use white adhesive not grey, seal everything once before you start to fix any, and then a couple more coats when you have grouted, you will need to use a wet cut to cut this and you could mitre the edges, be careful when you put the boarder tile round, check if it sits proud of the other tiles as when you go put shower screen could cause you some problems

 

[DHTiling]

Hi guys,

I'm fairly new to this sight, been reading some of the forums on and off as an anonymous viewer, just about finished the remodelling of the bathroom and nearly ready for tiling so thought it would be a good time to sign up and join in!

I have a relatively small bathroom, which i have just installed new bath, sink, compact loo and 900X900 curved glass shower (well the tray and shower valve and plumbing are in anyway). I've tiled a few bathrooms and kitchens in my time, and i do quite a bit of tiling hearths in quarry tiles for my job.

For this bathroom i've decided to use travertine (which from what i've beed reading might not have been the wisest choice but i've bought it now and i really love the examples i've seen). I was just looking for any advice you can give regarding the installation of this lovely material. I have some travertine mosaic borders i'm wanting to incorporate, and i was planning a diamond pattern on the floor and stacked on the walls.

Been having problems trying to get my head around the best way to do the xternal corners on the window reveals and the boxing i've built to hide some of the plumbing.

What would you reccomend? Edge trims or Butting the tiles up?

If i butt the tiles up it will leave an edge exposed, is there anything i can do with the edge to clean it up?

What would you reccomend for cutting?

I was planning on using some bal waterproof flexible adhesive, any other reccomendations?

I've also already bought residue remover and matt finish sealant, am i right in thinking that two coats before grouting and one after will be sufficient?

The tiles i have are 400X400mm honed and filled. They are 12mm in thickness. I have a contemporary styled white suite and and a curved glass shower enclosure with chrome frame.

Any advice / input on any of the above points would be greatly appreciated and i've been taking pictures of the whole process from day one when the room was completley cleared and stripped back to the studwork so hopefully i'll be able to post the whole process online when it's finally finished!:wink_smile:

welcome to forums martyn.
you will find it easier if remove your sink and toilet first for your project.
prime wall and floor areas and tank shower area, use a single part flexible ( white just to be on the safe side ) to tile walls and a rapid set flexible adhesive for the floor ( again white ). use modified grouts for walls and floor.
i normally dont use trims with natural stones as these spoil the overall look, just file any sharp edges with a tile file . as for tiling the floor in diamond pattern ,will look good but i tend to put a half tile border around the rooms perimiter and then cut the diamond pattern to this much neater and better looking finish, unless you have the room to seal first just seal tiles once on the walls and floor but wash any adhesive off the face of tiles , i usaully use lithofin stain stop but many products out there just as good. ( seal before and twice after grouting )
as for cutting these tiles wet cutter only.
Silicon around bath and shower tray before and after tiling as well as all corners for expansion purposes.
GOOD LUCK mate luck forward to seeing pics... dave...

 

[martynheywood]

Thanks guys,

I have boarded out the shower enclosure in hardibaker board which i'm told acts as a water proof membrane. Is this the same as tanking the enclosure?

Had a bit of a play with a couple of cracked tiles at trying to mitre an edge but really struggled to get it anything near neat. My wet cutter kept chipping the edges? I tried changing the disc and that didn't seem to have any effect so i've ordered a new one that is a bit more substantial as my old one was only a cheap one.

Any tips / reccomendations for creating a mitred edge. Done loads of research looking at finished projects and i agree that it looks loads better without the trims. Just don't want to spend all this money and then do a crap job of finishing the corners and ruin the whole look of the bathroom.

Thanks again.

Martyn.
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Yeah, was thiking about that, the border tiles are slightly thinner than the travertine, (approx 1mm). Was just planning on making this up in the adhesive unless you think thats a bad idea?

Martyn

 

[DHTiling]

hi martyn, when mitring dont cut right to the face of the tile leave about 2mm short this will leave a better finish, and dooes your wet cutter have a drop down table or is it one of those that lifts up, if its the latter type this makes it even harder as you cant see to get it accurate enough. i have a rubi D200 half the cutting bed folds down spot on for this type of work. as for your hardibacker that will suffice for shower area. dave...

 

[IvegotsTILE]

Have you thought of using a metal trim mate,they can look spot on with natural stone(wouldn't use any of the plastic ones on NS)Unless you have a wet cutter like mentioned above you might find it difficult to get a neat mitre,don't want to be making too many mistakes with expensive tiles.
Welcome to the forums:thumbs_up:

 

[martynheywood]

hi martyn, when mitring dont cut right to the face of the tile leave about 2mm short this will leave a better finish, and dooes your wet cutter have a drop down table or is it one of those that lifts up, if its the latter type this makes it even harder as you cant see to get it accurate enough. i have a rubi D200 half the cutting bed folds down spot on for this type of work. as for your hardibacker that will suffice for shower area. dave...

Hi Dave, thanks for the tip. I'm afraid it's the latter which lifts up. I'l give it another go tonight though and see what happens.
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Have you thought of using a metal trim mate,they can look spot on with natural stone(wouldn't use any of the plastic ones on NS)Unless you have a wet cutter like mentioned above you might find it difficult to get a neat mitre,don't want to be making too many mistakes with expensive tiles.
Welcome to the forums:thumbs_up:

Thanks mate. Hadn't seen or considered metal trims. I'l give the mitres another go tonight and if i'm not having any joy might be the only option. Also depending on the finish it might tie in with the chrome frame on the shower. Do you know of any websites where i can look at them?

Martyn

 

[Varley]

This site shows you some variations in trims mate, hope all goes well.

TileRite: Tiling Made Simple - Tile Trims - Tile Edging & Bath Trims
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[DLMURL="http://www.trims4tiles.com/store/cart.php?m=product_list&c=23"]Edge And Transition Profiles : Tile Corner Edging[/DLMURL]

View attachment 79800

 

[len]

Cant say why you are getting chipped edges but I know how frustrating it can be. chipped edges can be cleaned up with fine carborundom rubbing block. If your wet cutter doesnt do mitre cuts you can use a diamond disc on your dry angle grinder. IT CREATES A LOT OF DUST. Have done lots of mitres with angle grinder,just make sure that, like dh said , you keep a couple of millimetres from the edge. As for buffing up tile edges,hows about using finer grades of wet or dry or a grinding paste ?

 

[Perry]

I have found the best way to a good looking finish is to use a orbital sander before you fix them pick out the best edges keep it as flat as you can reducing the pressure as you go will give you a honed finish put a little arias as well Regards Pete