stalling bath tile

[Just Don]

Anybody do their own tile? Now or previously? How do you speed this project into high gear?I admit I am slow,,,being a newbie.

I stood there a solid 11 hours today and got a measly 2 and a half cases of 4 1/4bye 4 1/4 tile laid over the tub for shower. Each case is 100. That is only 'half' the shower surround alone,,,then doing the walls in 6 bye 6 and the floor in 12 bye 12 all in the only bath.

Then probably do kitchen floor in 12 bye 12 also.

Going to use that grout mixing agent that you use instead of water,,,never have to seal grout, ever. Any body have any experience with this stuff> good or bad?

And how to speed up process a bit???(I didnt take any breaks except to whiz twice.).

[Michael Seeker]

Anthony G - Your approach of butting the tiles up might be time saving, but it isn't a good idea, especially for a shower. If the tiles are butted up to one another, you either won't be able to grout at all, or there will be very little grout. In either case, it won't be long before you get water seeping between tiles and causing all kinds of trouble!

Just Don - What Anthony recommended about cutting is a good point. You can either pre-cut the tiles you need OR what I have found to work well is to just lay all of your full tiles, scrape off any excess mortar. When you're done with this, you can go back and measure all of the tiles you need to cut based on the exact space they will go in. I usually number the back of the tile and the spot on the wall/floor that it is going. Then you cut all of the tiles at once. If you try cutting and laying at the same time, you're going to waste a ton of time running back and forth between the saw and the bathroom.

With some practice, you should get the hang of slapping the mortar down, combing it, then laying the tiles. I usually mortar for anywhere from 2 to 5 or 6 tiles at a time, depending on the size of the tiles and the area. If you are only putting down the mortar for one tile at a time, the process will be much much slower! Also, the first time I tiled probably took 10x as long as if I were to do it now (I'm probably about 5 or 6 jobs deep), so the more you practice, the better you'll be.

I've used a mortar mixing agent to get a stronger bond and reduce flexibilty, but I've not seen/used a grout agent. I would still seal the grout in the shower and definitely caulk all of the corners for easier clean up and better longevity.

Hope this helps!