Questions tagged [tile]
For questions generally relating to stone or ceramic tile, including selection, preparation, installation, maintenance, cleaning, and removal.
1,145
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What spacing difference is acceptable with a contracted tile job? [closed]
What is a reasonable difference in gaps between tiles? We just had our bathroom floor done by Lowe’s (first mistake), and I’m not happy with the outcome, AT ALL. Is this just me being picky, or should ...
- 291
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votes
4
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Should the backer board be in front of or behind the tub flange?
I'm installing a new bath tub and shower. I've removed the old tile down to the studs.
Should the backer board be in front of or behind the tub flange? I put it on the rear tub wall from floor to ...
- 201
19
votes
4
answers
188k
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Must I remove all mortar between tiles before grouting?
I'm just getting ready to lay down the grout after successfully tiling our master bathroom. I've been told in no uncertain terms that I must remove the spacers between tiles (or else grouting over ...
- 365
18
votes
5
answers
40k
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How can I cut off 1/8 inch from ceramic tile?
I have a couple of 4"x4" ceramic tiles that are cut just slightly too wide. I need to take off about an eighth of an inch. I expect that's too little for the standard score-and-snap approach. What'...
- 1,322
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5
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Should my toilet flange sit on top of the backer board or the tile of the floor?
The bathroom model saga continues. The old toilet flange was rusting, and the subfloor was rotting, so I pulled up the subfloor around the toilet, and replaced the drain pipe with ABS, and an elbow. ...
- 5,075
16
votes
4
answers
5k
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Moisture leaking out of chip in floor tile
I dropped something heavy and mildly pointed onto the bathroom floor.
The Bathroom is tiled with ~30cm square black "slate like" tiles, but where I dropped this thing, the surface has been badly (2-3 ...
- 533
16
votes
1
answer
2k
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Orange material in grout lines - need help to identify
Having recently moved into a new (resale) house, I looked closely at the grout lines on one of the tiled shower floors and noticed many small gaps in the grout lines with an unidentified orange ...
- 161
15
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3
answers
11k
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A guest pushed in my shower wall tile. How can I fix it?
Some guests stayed over at our house a couple days ago and one accidentally leaned a little on the shower wall. Leaving behind a gap between what seems to be the drywall or backing and the actual tile!...
- 151
15
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5
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How do I install transition molding between my new hardwood and existing tile floors?
I have ripped out some old carpet and am preparing to install a new solid hardwood floor myself. In several places, the floor transitions to an existing tile floor. The hardwood floor guys told me ...
- 6,221
14
votes
4
answers
17k
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How can I speed up the removal of stubborn tile?
I am trying to remove tile from the bathroom floor. It was installed in the 70s, and the pieces are tiny, 1 in x 1 in. I've been hammering away but they're not coming up very easily. Is there a ...
- 141
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9
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What can I do about a toilet flange that is 1/4" below the finished floor?
I used two wax seals to set my toilet since the flange is 1/4" below the new tile. At first it seemed to be water tight but after a few flushes I noticed water seeping and pulled it out. As can be ...
- 1,393
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1
answer
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How do I correctly install ceramic floor tile?
How do I correctly install ceramic floor tile? There's lots of talk about using backerboard and waterproofing membranes, what an acceptable floor deflection is, different grout and thinset additives, ...
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20
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19k
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Expedient repair for water damaged drywall behind tile
I set out to repair cracked grout at the top of a course of tiles on the wall immediately above my bathtub. After scraping out all the damaged grout I discovered that the only other thing holding the ...
- 264
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2
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Can I build a concrete block wall over floor tile?
I am enclosing a tiled porch on concrete slab with a 3' short wall of concrete block, with windows above. Should concrete blocks be laid over a tile floor?
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1
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Should cement board be glued and screwed to the studs?
I've seen some people recommend that cement board be glued and screwed to the stud framing for wall and ceiling application.
I haven't seen this recommendation on any of the manufacturers install ...
- 9,307
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2
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Stains in grout
For a tiling job, I used this charcoal grout:
After a few days, as indicated by the instructions, I applied this sealer:
A few minutes after applying the sealant, these white stains appeared ...
- 483
12
votes
1
answer
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Where should the floor transition from tile to carpet go?
I have 2 rooms planned, one will be tiled and the other will be carpeted with a door opening between them. Where should the tile stop and the carpet begin? In the figure below I have 3 different ...
- 3,506
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2
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How do I do a minor grout repair properly?
I've got grout between some floor tiles that is cracking and coming out in small chips, over time. The tiles and remaining grout are otherwise in great shape. I suspect this is just a problem high-...
- 1,475
11
votes
3
answers
9k
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How do I remove baseboard that has been tiled over?
The previous owner installed tile without re-installing the original baseboard. We are trying to remove the baseboard in preparation for installing laminate flooring. Afterwards our plan is to ...
- 113
11
votes
1
answer
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What types of tile require a wet tile saw?
I have tiled with all kind of tile in the past. When redoing my kitchen I custom ordered hand painted tiles to match the odd color of the granite. So I only had enough tiles for the project without ...
- 2,044
10
votes
4
answers
3k
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How can I remove a single cracked floor tile?
How can I remove a single damaged floor tile without damaging the surrounding tiles? Is there anything that will help the replacement tile from cracking in the same way?
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2
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8k
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What is the practical difference between cement board and greenboard?
When installing tubs I've mostly used cementboard. I find it a bear to work with though.
A guy I know uses the water resistant greenboard; he claims that for home applications it is entirely ...
- 2,652
9
votes
4
answers
2k
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Is mosaic tile a poor choice for a bathroom floor?
I selected 2x2-inch mosaic tile (Daltile octagon/dot) for the bathroom floor in a small bathroom. The installer pushed back. He said that no floor is level, and that larger format tiles will feel ...
- 91
9
votes
3
answers
11k
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What is the best way to bridge a huge gap between hardwood and tile?
I removed a load bearing wall between a small kitchen and tiny dining room. My problem is that I have a giant gap to fill in where the old wall was. The house was built in 1950 and sits above a crawl ...
9
votes
5
answers
1k
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Drilling through tiles fastened to concrete
There are some glazed tiles in my kitchen, which I assume are fastened directly onto the concrete wall behind them. At any rate measuring the distance from the window to the wall outside is roughly ...
- 271
9
votes
2
answers
814
views
Floor tile layout process?
I am working on tiling a small bathroom with vinyl floor tiles. As I was measuring to ensure there are no unusual pieces in the corners and thresholds, I decided to check for an application to help ...
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9
votes
3
answers
28k
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What should I use to transition from tiles to hard wood floor?
There's currently some kind of solid filling between the tiles in my kitchen and the hard wood in my living room. During the summer when it gets hot and humid, the hard wood expand and cracks the ...
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9
votes
4
answers
86k
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What mortar should I use for 8x10 and mosaic wall tile?
I will be tiling a tub/shower area using 8x10 ceramic tile with glass mosaic tile accent rows.
I see about half a dozen varieties of thin-set on the market:
Weights:
- 25lb
- 50lb
Types:
- ...
- 25.8k
9
votes
3
answers
13k
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What's the best way to lay tile in a straight line
I'm about to lay porcelain tile over backerboard in my kitchen. There are several entrances in the kitchen, and several points of visual reference that will cause even a slightly skewed line to be ...
- 658
9
votes
1
answer
20k
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When tiling a shower surround, how do you transition from backer board to greenrock?
I am remodeling a bathroom and have done demo down to bare studs. I am going to tile the bath tub (with shower) up to about 6 ft, and one wall will have tile up the wall 4 ft high. I am planning on ...
- 194
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votes
2
answers
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Where should I start tiling my bathroom wall?
The bathroom I'm about to tile has a complex layout, and I've never put tile on a wall before. Let me see if I can paint a verbal picture...
The room is approx. 6'("short side") by 10'("long side"). ...
- 193
8
votes
8
answers
74k
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Any ideas on how to keep a refrigerator from moving without wheel locks?
I've got a frig on a tile floor without any wheel locks, and it likes to slide forward every time I open a refrigerator door quickly. So far I have tried:
toilet shims shoved under the wheels. ...
- 279
8
votes
4
answers
8k
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Can I install tiles directly over a concrete floor in my basement?
We are redoing our basement. In some areas (bathroom and laundry room) I plan on putting tile down. The basement is dry and level. Can I attach the tile directly to the basement floor?
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2
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Why can't I lay tiles on an uneven floor?
My buddy and I have gotten into a bit of a dispute on facebook, here's what he asks:
I keep hearing tiling an unlevel floor will result in tiles coming up. This reason makes no sense to me. The only ...
- 309
8
votes
7
answers
41k
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What are reasonable expectations about grout width accuracy in a professional tile installation?
We are currently redoing our master bathroom and our contractor just got half way through laying the tile on the floor. The grout was supposed to be 1/8" wide, but there are quite a few places (mid-...
- 375
8
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4
answers
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How can I seal the grout on kitchen wall tiles to give lasting stain and mold protection?
I have 1.5mm of white grout between rectified white tiles on my kitchen walls as a splashback (or backsplash in North America*) behind the sink and cooktop and I'm concerned about stains from food and ...
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3
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12k
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What kind of backing should I use for a glass mosaic backsplash?
I want to install a glass mosaic backsplash. These are a bunch of small square tiles of different colors on a mesh. Each meash measures 13 x 13. They are so thin, that I want to put some plywood or 1/...
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1
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How do I put up a travertine tile backsplash?
I'm trying to put up a tile backsplash in the kitchen (approx 25 sq ft) and I'm having trouble deciding between mastic and thinset for putting it on the drywall. For that matter, is it OK to put the ...
- 6,351
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1
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Which is least likely to crack due to high traffic, large or small tile?
Consider a kitchen on pier-beam flooring with two doors allowing traffic to flow through it.
The floor is 10x10 feet. I plan to tile and would like to minimize risk of cracking. Which size tile would ...
- 1,037
8
votes
3
answers
287
views
How do you remove a lot of wall tiles?
How do I quickly remove a lot of wall tiles without damaging the wall?
- 6,129
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votes
1
answer
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Water seeping from grout in tile shower
I have water seeping from the grout where the wall of my shower meets the floor. (The tile is travertine, in case that's relevant). In the picture below, the shower hasn't been used in over 24 hours, ...
- 205
7
votes
7
answers
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How should I tile under kitchen cabinets?
I currently have tile on the floor of the kitchen that just butts up to my cabinets. I plan to change the floors and also change the cabinets. Is is best to rip out all the cabinets and tile, and ...
- 1,041
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votes
4
answers
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Has anyone seen kickback occur on a wet table saw for tile?
Most people are familiar with how table saws can kickback when pushing wood through it. I'm talking about a wet table saw with the blade that is housed below the table and protrudes up (as opposed to ...
- 666
7
votes
3
answers
357
views
Should tiles of "stones" be removed from the backing?
We had a stone floor installed in our shower. The stones came on 1' x 1' "sheets". The installer kept the stones on the backing, and now you can clearly see lines in both directions where each 1' ...
- 173
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3
answers
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Can I do ceramic tile directly on concrete?
In our basement bathroom, I'm going to be laying 12x24" ceramic tile. Am I ok to lay the tile directly on the floor with the appropriate thinset or do I need some kind of underlayment/vapor ...
- 375
7
votes
6
answers
104k
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When tiling a floor must I start in the middle of the room?
I am tiling a small bathroom ~45sq ft. The book I am referencing suggested starting the tile in the center of the room to prevent laying any tiny fractions of tile near one side of the room. I'm ...
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11
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130k
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How can I drill through very hard porcelain tile?
I've read multiple instructions on mounting a shower rod in bathroom tile, however I've spent much longer than the internet suggests it should take to drill through my tile. I drilled for about 50 ...
- 409
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votes
3
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9k
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Is it a problem that my toilet flange is 3/8" below the surrounding tile?
My tile setter had to elevate the tiles around the toilet hole in order to make up for some unevennesses. As a result, the toilet flange is approx. 3/8" below the surrounding tile. Can that be ...
- 7,207
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votes
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grouting or caulking? bottom of tiled wall at tub rim
At the tiled wall surrounding the tub, at the bottom of the tiles where the tiles end and intersect the tub rim, should it be grouted ( epoxy grout)? or leave it open and caulk with silicone caulking? ...
- 123
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What is the easiest way to remove the old grout?
I am going to regrout the tile in the bath/shower area. What is the easiest way to remove the old grout?
- 71