I'm tiling without a clue. God help me.

September 29, 2007 5:12 PM

Tiling emergency: I have no idea how to glue this specialty tile on my shower wall

I am tiling around the shower with basic 4x4 white wall tile. I am placing three decorative tile sections on the back wall. Each consists of four 4x4 tiles that have the corners missing allowing you to place a decorative tile in the center in a diamond shape. My problem is the corner-missing four 4x4's are stuck together on a mat. I thought this mat would come off with the paper backing but no. It's stuck firmly on there and I think it is supposed to stay. The mat is densly woven and pretty covered with glue so I don't think my thinset is going to flow through. How do I get the diamond shaped tile to stick and, furthermore, not stick out of the wall more than the other tile? If I just do a layer of thinset behind and then another on top of the mat, won't it cause the diamond tile to stick out from the wall? Should I cut the mat out in the center?

posted by Foam Pants to Home & Garden (3 answers total)

mrs. rubberfish is a tiling goddess, and she says to cut away the backing where you'll put in the deco center. no problem.
is the backing paper or floss-like? it will work either way, but the thinset would definitely flow through the floss-style backing if you didn't cut it out.
posted by rubberfish at 5:36 PM on September 29, 2007

My husband tiles for a living. He says to put thinset on the wall, and a thin layer on the back of the mesh. Stick the 4 tiles with the clipped corners in onto the wall...some thinset should ooze through the mesh where the insert will go. Put a tiny bit of thinset on the back of the insert, stick it in. If there is too much thinset that has oozed through, make sure you scoop it out so you don't have to clean it out when it's dry. Let me know if you have any more questions and I'll get him to answer. Pictures would help.

Good luck!!
posted by ms.v. at 5:45 PM on September 29, 2007

Response by poster: I cut the mesh out. the glue over the mesh was so dense that I think the thinset would have been trapped underneath. The items meshed together were of a simple enough design that it didn't really matter if they were stuck together. I have laid half a wall of tile and things seem to be going well. However, I have to start cutting tiles tonight. When I get done, I'll include a picture.
posted by Foam Pants at 1:58 PM on October 1, 2007