okay, so today we’re going to be talkingabout some random tiling tips and techniques. so why do you want to watch this video? youwant to watch your video if you’re going to be redoing your bathroom and putting tileon the shower surround or you’re going to be putting tile on the floor, even in thekitchen. if you’re going to be tiling the kitchen, we’re going to give you tips onthe type of tile to use on walls and floors, what kind of thinset to use for large formattiles so they don’t slide down the wall, what kind of tools will help you out, andso much more. so it this a comprehensive video? it is not. is it a video that’ll make yousmarter when it comes to tiling? i sure hope so. because these are tips that i’ve learnedover the last twelve years remodeling my own
rental properties here in pittsburgh and tipsthat i’ve learned from my buddy, steve white, who is a professional master bathroom remodeler.so hang on. we’re going to give you some awesome ideas here. let’s jump into thevideo right now. the first tip that i wanted to give you hasto do with the tubs and showers. now my personal preference is to have large format tile. sothese tiles right here are 12†x 36â€. they’re pretty large. and by the way, anythingthat has it longer than an 18†edge to it is considered a large format tile and needsspecial thinset such that it won’t slide down the wall whenever you go to adhere it.why do i like large format tiles? they’re way easier to clean, especially if you getlarge format tiles that have a glossy surface
to them. you just squeegee them down, you’regood to go. you may disagree with me on this, and i totally get it, that it’s an aestheticthing, and maybe you like subway tiles, so go for it. if you like subway tiles, go forit. but in my experience, if you hate cleaning up the bathroom, large format tiles are theway to go. what about floors? what’s a good tile forthe floor? especially in the bathroom? my personally preference for floor tiles in bathroomsare tiles that have a little bit of grip to them. that way, when you step out of the showeror the bathtub, you’re not going to slip and fall on your rear end. and that’s whatthese tiles have. there’s some certain grip to it. and i totally get you may not likethis because you could make the argument that
you’d have to clean them a little bit more,and that’s totally true. but i think it’s not a bad idea to have grippiness to the tilesso you don’t slip and fall. after all, the bathroom is going to be wet. same thing goesfor the kitchen or mudroom. so just keep that in mind when you’re choosing your tile.another nice, solid tip is whenever you’re tiling in the bathub or the shower, make sureyou tile all the way up to the ceiling. now why do you want to do that? you want to dothat because it actually—again, this is just my opinion—is more work to leave thatsection of drywall going around the top of the tub or the shower. plus, drywall isn’twaterproof. even if you put a latex layer of paint over top of it, it will still bubbleup over time especially if you’re taller
and all the water splashes off of you andgoes onto the drywall. so spend the extra $50, $100, $150 to buy the tile for the tophere for the top section of your tub or your shower.now i’m going to give you a way to save some money on your tile. hold on one secondhere, i want to show you something. so this tile here has a metal profile that looks justlike this before you put it behind the tile, and this is made by schluter. schluter makesa ton of profiles like this one in many different colors, and it’s way more cost effectiveto use this than pencil-trimmed tile or bull nose tile. so keep this in mind when you wantto do a tile on your shower or your bathtub. now i want to give you some accent tile tips.it’s always good to choose an accent tile
that is the exact same thickness as the surroundingtile. so by that i mean this tile, as you can see here, is about â¼â€ thick. this tileis â¼â€ thick. when you go to put both tiles on your waterproofing membrane or waterproofingboard, that way they’ll be exactly the same thickness. it’ll be nice and flush. thiswon’t be sticking out. now if this tile is thinner than the surrounding tile, whatyou do is put a piece of schluter ditra behind it because the ditra is only about 1/8â€thick. so you put this behind the accent tile, and that will pull the accent tile out tomake it flush with the surrounding tiles. so now i’m going to give you three tipsthat’ll give you great looking grout joints. tip # 1 is to use a high quality thinset mortarfor vertical tile, especially if your vertical
tile is a large format tile. which thinsetsdo we like? we like ardex x 77 especially for large format tiles because it preventsyour large tiles from sliding down the wall, squooshing your tile mosaic. we also likemapei’s kerabond because it’s a great thinset for your tile floor. and these thinsetscombined with horseshoe shims and the tuscan seamclips will help you get amazing lookinggrout joints. you want to use horseshoe shims in between your tile mosaics. positioningthem in between the tile mosaic grout joints to prevent those tiny little grout jointsfrom being smooshed. you can also use these in between tiles. the tuscan seamclips areused to prevent tile lippage. this is really important both on vertical surfaces and onhorizontal surfaces. so check them out for
yourself. these are 1/16†horseshoe shims.you can combine two of them to give yourself an 1/8†grout joint, which is the size ofgrout joint i like because it’s small enough that it’s not too noticeable, but not toobig that it looks weird and it’ll accumulate grim and dirt and all that jazz. so the smallerthe grout joint, in my opinion, the better off you are. tuscan seamclips, make sure youchoose these based upon the thickness of your tile. i’ll put a link down in the descriptionso you can check it out for yourself. or you can take a look at this video right here,which i made on the tuscan seamclips and the tuscan system in general.i almost forget, you can use the tuscan seamclips both on vertical tile surfaces and horizontalsurfaces, like floors. do the exact same thing
with the horseshoe shims.this next tip is about the layout of large format tiles, specifically elongated tiles.these 12†x 36†tiles, we staggered them in thirds and the reason why, if you don’tdo that you’ll get tile lippage, and that’s not good. you want to do the exact same thingwhen it comes to 12†x 24†tiles or tiles that are elongated on the floor. you wantto stagger them by thirds so that, again, you don’t get tile lippage and stub yourtoe on the tile. so what about grouts? what are some of thegrouts that could make your life a lot easier? well one of them is called quartzlock. thisis by bostik. and what’s great about it is it’s a urethane-based grout. it’s alreadypre-mixed, so you don’t have to mix it.
it’s got wonderful color consistency. andit’s going to last for a year or two in your garage. so if you ever have a problem,you can always just fill it in with this. that’s the other nice thing. when you usebostik’s quartzlock, if you miss a spot, you can just take some and fill it in andwipe it off. now you have to work quickly with a urethane-based grout. but not onlyis the color consistency there, it is stain-resistant. you don’t have to seal it. and you don’thave to mix it up. so that’s pretty awesome. another type of grout that you should checkout is by ardex. ardex, spelled a-r-d-e-x, they make great sanded and non-sanded grouts.so check out the ardex line of grouts. this is what some professionals like to use. butagain, you check out ardex. you can check
out bostik’s, spelled b-o-s-t-i-k, groutline and see which one will fit your needs. you always want to use silicone sealant ifyou can in the corners of your shower or bathtub. the reason why is this corner is subjectedto expansion and contraction. so if you’re not using silicone and you use grout, thegrout will eventually pop and crack over time, which isn’t good. so in the corners, usesilicone. and also, when it comes to bathtubs, it’sgood to put 100% silicone between the tub and the bottom of the first tile.all right, so those are the tips and techniques on tiling for today. i totally get that thisis not comprehensive. it’s more basic to get your brain kind of churning and get yousome ideas that will help you out with your
own tiling project. if you’re planning yourown diy bathroom remodel, you should check out bathroomrepairtutor.com, especially ifyou’re looking to tile a floor, a shower surround, put in the tub and do the plumbing,and so much more, we’ll help you out with that. just visit bathroomrepairtutor.com.that is it for today. i’ll see you down in the comments. id’ be happy to answerany questions you have. take care. we’ll talk to you soon.man, we don’t get too many days like this in pittsburgh. it is phenomenal. i figuredi’d show you what it’s like. it’s march. it’s almost 70Ⱐoutside. topnotch!