Q:I have granite tiles I want to put on a kitchen countertop. I removed the laminate and underneath is about 1.5 thick of a particle board of some sort. The countertop is very sturdy and the board is in great shape. I know if this stuff get wet, you can have problems, but otherwise it seems to be very sturdy stuff. I know most people will say you need to put down a sheet of hardibacker, but I don‘t see the point. With a top grade thinset, these tiles will definitely adhere to the board extremely well. Grount lines will be extremely tiny and I‘m going to double seal everything with a really good sealer. I don‘t see anyway water is going to penetrate these tiles and thinset and get to the particle board. That‘s really the whole issue, right?

I personally would rather have hardibacker. Flooring people in my house right now repairing the floor and a joist because it was not used. Not even in an area that gets a lot of water exposure. Consider how often the counter gets wet and cleaned. That may change your mind. Also, you will need to reseal this more often than the product recommendations because of the amount of wear that is involved. Granite is also pourous and can vary on the quality. I just asked the tile/granite guys that are doing my work. Said they would not recomment it in tiles - sheeted granite is a different story.

Q:We are trying to sell our house so I‘m not interested in professionalism...just something that works and looks decent. We have a small full bathroom that has some tile coming off one of the walls. Looking at it, it seems the entire wall of tile is ready to come down. I need to fix this economically and I‘m assuming I need to do the entire wall. Any ideas how I should go about this? Are there large sheets of tile I can just stick up there? Do I need tile board (if that‘s even a real thing), etc...? Thanks all!

There is no quick, easy, right way to do tile. Do the buyers a favor and put up a nice shower wall kit with fresh drywall above it. You'll have something that looks okay, and they will have something that is easily removed when they are ready to remodel and do it right. If you want full panels to install, look at cultured marble/granite. It goes up in large pieces and doesn't require tileboard if you install it right. You do have to caulk properly. Mask both sides of your caulk beads and work quickly using GE Silicone caulk to seal all joints.

Q:What is the finish height of tile after grout and tile??? For example if I were to lay tile how much would it bring up the floor?? 1half inch???

It depends where you're starting from... you should put a mesh and scratch coat down first... this could add up to 1/4 depending on how thick you lay the mortar in to level out the imperfections in the floor... then the tile should sit on that with a notched trowel application of the set mortar... so another 1/16 or so... then the thickness of the tile on top of that.... the grout isn't higher so... Hope this helps with the calculation...

Q:I am remodeling my bathroom and will be putting tile up around the tub area. There are three areas (each end of tub and middle part).Here are the dimensions in inches:each end is 30 wide and 81 tall (so 2 of these areas)middle is 58 wide and 81 tallSo how many square feet of tile will I need or is in inches? Thanks in advance!!

You will need 1062 3inch tiles or 65 12 inch tiles to do the surround. Thats not taking into account the the border tiles that are uselly curved so that they meld with the sheet rock that the cement board on top of. Nor the 1/8th or 1/16th of an inch that the grout will take up between the tiles.

Q:I‘m looking to re-tile my kitchen... I would like to get good quality tile, at a good price. Can I trust tile purchased at any particular large hardware chain, or should I seek out a specialty flooring store? Or does it even matter that much - is tile just tile?

I'm not sure how you judge a good tile from the start but I do know that you need to get a good quality tile contractor for doing the installation. It's no use getting a good quality beautiful tile if it's put up and the installation looks horrible.

Q:we had our bathroom redone, it looks great but the guy that did it got some grout on one of the decorative tiles, where it shouldn‘t be. Is there a way to get the grout off ?

Just try to pour vinegar on the tiles to remove grout haze. Vinegar, a mild, non-staining acid, will remove thin layers of grout and grout haze. Let the vinegar set for five minutes. Scrub the surface with a nylon brush. Tile with leftover grout or haze has more friction than tile with a clean surface. Scrub one tile at a time, but complete the entire floor.Then soak up the vinegar from the grout joints with a sponge. Rinse the sponge in a bucket of clean water, then wash the tiles with a clean sponge. If the sponge slides easily over the surface and hits a spot that seems to grip the sponge, scrub that spot with the nylon brush. Allow the surface and the water and vinegar in the grout joints to dry. Polish the tile with a clean, dry rag.

Q:How long are ordinary white strip tiles?

General home decoration long tile size: 30 * 45cm. Hope to help you.

Q:I recently got some ceramic tile for free that the construction company was just going to throw away. How do I tell if they are wall or floor tile? I think it has something to do with the way the back of the tile looks, but I'm not sure.

In the Tile World today people use floor tile as wall tile at times depending on the design of the room. However a Wall Tile is thin in size however it can be thick depending on the type of material it is such as stone, marble, ceramic, etc it comes in all shapes and sizes and generally ranges from 4x4's on up, Floor Tile is always a Thicker more heavier Tile and depending on the design or style it can be 6x6 on up If your not quite sure of the material you have you can take a piece of it to your local home depot or tile shop and ask them. They would be more than happy to answer any and all of your questions

Q:Why the new tiles are double? What material, so good?

Hello there. Now the tiles, the general sub-base material and fabric. The base material and the fabric are generally not the same. At the end of the material commonly known as the blank, the general use of materials, such as kaolin, river sand, according to a certain proportion of compatibility. Fabric in order to pursue different artistic effects, often in the general use of materials into the whole particles, semi-particles and other translucent materials and color materials. Although seemingly two layers, but the two materials are mixed before firing, after firing does not affect the overall quality. "Double effect" one can guarantee the surface of the different artistic effects, two can save production costs. Because the fabric which joined the translucent materials and colorants, the cost is high.

Q:We have a hardwood floor in our bathroom, and because it gets too damp, we want to install vinyl tiles on top of the hardwood floor. But I cannot imagine vinyl sticking to wood - can it be done successfully? Any glue tips??

Vinyl tiles may not stick that well to the hardwood. They may also ruin the hardwood. If you aren't concerned with ruining the hardwood, then you should use some sand paper to rough up the surface to help the tiles stick better. I hope this helps!!