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Posted by Flank on August 6, 2006, 9:39 am
Great advice. I will use it. Thanks dadiOH.
dadiOH wrote:
> Flank wrote:
> > Hello,
> > I am about to lay a bunch of those saltillo tiles down on a
> > concrete floor. My tile skills are limited. I have put tile down
> > on wonderboard, and on hardiboard, but never on concrete. Is it
> > the same?
>
> Yeah
>
> You need to divide the room into quarters...just draw lines on the
> concrete with a felt tip marker so that they are perpendicular to each
> other and cross in the exact center of the room. Once you have your
> lines, you need to dry lay two perpendicular courses so that you can
> tell how to start laying the tile to wind up with the widest possible
> cut tiles on the room sides. There are two possibilities for each of
> the two lines...center of tile on the line or center of what will be a
> joint on the line.
>
> _______________
>
> > Any advice will be appreciated.
>
> Handmade Saltillo is irregular in both thickness and length/width.
> Therefore...
>
> 1. Use plenty of thinset and a 1/2" x 1/2" notch comb. If the tile is
> concave, convex or has a bump on the bottom to the point that the
> thinset wouldn't contact the entire tile surface, even it up by
> buttering the tile.
>
> 2. Because of the size irregularity, you can't lay Saltillo with nice
> neat, even joints. About the best you can do is to lay a course with
> the edges on one side even (an aluminum yardstick is handy to line
> them up); on the next, parallel course, lay with the same edge lined
> up. That is, if the right edges of course #1 are aligned, align the
> right edges of course #2....that means that the left edges of course
> #2 will be ragged. Can't be helped.
>
> 3. Don't try to make small joints...I like 1/2 to 1" joints. If you
> try to make them too small you may well run out of joint room because
> of the irregularity in the tiles and/or laying errors. If that
> happens, correct as much as you can and - after the tile is dry - you
> can fix it by using a circular saw with a masonry blade set to a
> shallow cut (3/16 to 5/16 for example) to even up and widen the grout
> joint as desired.
> ____________
>
> Some more random thoughts...
>
> 1. Saltillo is very porous. I mix thinset so it is pretty thin...thin
> enough so combed mortar will just barely stand up. It is also
> dusty...I dip each tile in a bucket of water before laying. That not
> only removes the dust but it keeps the tile from grabbing the mortar
> too quickly...it would do so almost immediately if the tile wasn't
> dampened and once it grabs, you can't adjust it.
>
> 2. After the tiles grab, rap them with your knuckles. If you get a
> hollow sound, you aren't using enough mortar. They would probably be
> OK but they aren't hard to take up, scrape off the mortar and re-lay.
>
> 3. Expect a lot of breakage in the boxes - if you can use the broken
> ones for the cut tiles, fine; if not, set them aside until you get a
> box full and take them back for good ones.
>
> 4. Even many of the unbroken ones will have minor chips/dings on the
> edge...the appearance will be improved if you smooth out the sharp
> edges of the chips/dings with a piece of sand paper (#120 is good).
>
> 5. Keep a bucket of clean water and a good sponge handy and wipe up
> any mortar that gets on the tops of the tiles...wait too long and it
> will stain.
>
>
> --
>
> dadiOH
> ____________________________
>
> dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
> ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
> LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
> Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico
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