I have been asked a couple of times about some of the photos on other pages of my site and the type of tile, application, project, etc. I was, at first, a bit apprehensive about placing them on my blog for a couple of reasons. The biggest of which is before I recreated my website and placed a blog on it, I took a limited number of photos of my installations and usually only of the end result. However, due to many people requesting more information about certain photos I will place them here with as much detail as I can remember and as many photos as I have of the particular project.

This one was taken in a walk-in shower and bathroom I installed in Windsor, Colorado. The tile is porcelain with 2 x 2 inch mosaics on the shower floor and used as a decorative strip around the entire shower. The bathroom also has a soaking tub deck and face which was tiled with the same. I installed three tiles on the face of the tub deck on-point (diagonally) to break up the uniformity of the bathroom somewhat.

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I recently completed a large format subway-style shower with a granite bench seat.  Denshield board was installed on the walls of the shower and I used Kerdi-band to waterproof the seams and the edges of the shower bench.

Schluter Kerdi-band is a strip of waterproofing Kerdi material that is thinner than regular Kerdi. It can be used in this application to waterproof any seams or edges. The fact that it is thinner than regular Kerdi membrane helps eliminate build-up and assists in keeping a flatter plane. This helps keep the tile flat.

The tile is a rust-colored porcelain that measures 12 by 6 inches. It was installed in a running bond, or subway, pattern and the bench was capped with a granite slab.

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I just finished an onyx backsplash in a kitchen with backlit slab onyx countertops. The countertops are solid honey onyx slabs with built-in LED lighting beneath them. The backsplash is 12 x 12 honey onyx tile installed on-point (diagonally).

Although onyx looks great when installed it is a very difficult stone to work with.  Onyx is made up of bands of silicon dioxide, commonly known as quartz crystals, which fuse together into layers of translucent stone. This leads to varying striations of color and transparency throughout the stone. While cutting or fabricating bullnose (rounded) edges the stone is fairly brittle and has a tendency to literally shatter like glass.  The most important tool to own while working with onyx is patience. [continue reading…]

I recently finished a total bathroom remodel in Fort Collins. The entire floor and shower surround were removed and replaced with all new substrates and tiled with porcelain. White walls and dark blue floor and accents give this bath a real clean European look and feel.

The floor substrate is two layers of plywood beneath Schluter Ditra and the shower surround was Denshield backer board with the niches cut out, framed, and wrapped with Schluter Kerdi for waterproofing. The bottom accent stripe continues through the wainscot around the entire bathroom. The top stripe contains accent diamonds of contrasting color and wraps around the entire shower. [continue reading…]

I just finished a small bathroom with porcelain tile. The shower has tile to the ceiling and a travertine listello band. The floor has matching porcelain tile.

The floor was installed over  Hardibacker underlayment. The shower was installed with Schluter Kerdi waterproofing membrane over the top of the drywall. Another example of how Kerdi can be used in various applications.

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Here are some photos of a countertop and bar that I tiled with 12 x 12 granite tiles. I cut 3 inch strips of the granite tiles to bullnose (round over) for the front edge of the counter and 2″ strips for the face.

The biggest problem you will run into with using granite tile on counters is that most kitchen countertops are 25″ from front to back. Since most granite tiles are 12″ square (unless specially ordered) you end up with a small strip in the back that is less than one inch wide – it doesn’t look right. To prevent this I will either tile them like this with the 3″ bullnose on the front or place the tiles diagonally (on point).

Using granite tiles rather than a full slab for your countertops are considerably cheaper – less than half. When ordering granite tile for your counter you want to order 2.5 square feet for each lineal foot of counter space. For instance: if your counter is 10 feet long you want to order 25 square feet of tile. This will be enough to cover the countertop, bullnose, and the self-edge which is the piece on the face below the bullnose.

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Tile, more than any other flooring, has the ability to literally last as long as the structure in which it is installed – or longer.

For instance, the photo to the right is part of a Roman mosaic known as the “Great Pavement” at Woodchester, Gloucestershire, England. It measures 48 feet by 48 feet and was once the hall of a Roman villa. It contains about 1.5 million pieces of stone each 1/2″ square. It was laid around 325 A.D.!

There is no doubt that tile and stone are very durable materials. So why do tile installations fail? Quite simply – improper installation. Improperly constructed tile or stone installations will usually fail within the first two years (which is why I extend at least a two year warranty on all my work :))

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I recently finished a shower with 3 x 6 inch ceramic subway tiles. I have done several subway-style showers but this is the only one I documented with photos from start to finish.

You can also do a subway shower with travertine tile, which looks really good. I have also done them with marble and granite tile cut from 12 x 12 floor tile.

This particular shower is installed in a space where the contractor removed a regular five foot bathtub and replaced it with a fiberglass shower pan. Cement backerboard was then installed over a moisture barrier.

I installed a better-bench in one corner, a large corner shelf in the other, and used the Schluter Kerdi membrane to waterproof a built-in shower niche. Just one example of how Kerdi can be utilized for individual aspects of any shower.  This particular shower also has a framed listello installed around the wall directly above the niche.

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Green properties

This will be the first in what will probably be a large series of posts detailing why tile actually is a “green”, environmentally friendly, and sustainable material.

For some odd reason most of the major tile manufacturers have not put forth a great amount of effort to inform consumers about the sustainable and environmental properties of ceramic tile.

While there is quite a bit of information on the internet concerning this particular subject you really have to search for it. Although both the carpet and wood flooring industries have made it a point to tout the green characteristics of their products, unfortunately the tile industry has not (yet) followed suit.

These products (carpet and wood) do indeed have certain sustainable aspects. The problem with most products described as “green”, however, is that they have one or two properties that are actually green without the entire consumption of materials, manufacturing process, or lifespan of any given product all working together to create an entire rounded sustainable property.

I believe that ceramic tile fits this bill better than either carpet or wood. While each bit of the process would involve fairly in-depth description I will only stick with one or two for each article in order to keep my posts short enough to be readable.

For this post I will discuss the life-span of a ceramic tile or natural stone installation compared to carpet or hardwood. If installed properly (a key factor in any type of installation) a tile or stone installation can last as long as the building in which it is installed. The same can not be said for the other two. I am by no means attempting to talk down the advantages of wood flooring or carpet although I do believe tile to be a better choice for many applications. [continue reading…]