I know I’m in the wrong place but too cheap (I guess) to join fine homebuilding’s discussion forum. Quick question if anyone knows the answer. Apologize for being off subject.
Tile floor. My ‘how to’ book says to lay tile on a diagonal, find the center of the room and lay out orthogonals from the center.
My question: CAn I just take the line of tile from a room where I’m just laid tile, extend that line into the new room and build my tile from that line?
Potential consequences of doing what I want to do, I think is that the tile will will not necessarily have a grout line at the dead center of the room. I ask “who cares?”
Are there anyother untoward consequences that would make me regret my choice?
thanks again.
Replies
Your “how to” book instructions result in the tiles at the edge of the room being the same size after hey have been cut to fit. You want the scored and cut portion of the tile to be at the wall. However, at an entrance or passageway you do not want to have a small piece of tile therefore I always do a layout plan to achieve the most pleasing arrangement keeping in mind that I want a full tile at all entrances.
In your case, if you are continuing from one room to another you should use a full tile because you cannot properly grout a cut edge. Therefore what you want to do is the correct way. You do not need a grout line in the centre of the room. The border of the room is more important.
Garth
Garth,
Appreciate the speedy reply. The tile is sitting at home waiting for me and so is my wife with her stopwatch...(we've got a timeline to follow)
Any advice on how to accurately extend that line of tile out from the kitchen into the living room and as important, how to accurately determine a line perpendicular to the first?
Many thanks.
al
Visit the forum at johnbridge.com. It's free. Lots of professional tile guys there.
I am trying to visualize the transition between the kitchen and the living room. Are you using the same tiles in the two rooms? Is there a sill between the two rooms? If there is no sill and the grout is to be the same, I always find it impossible to match old grout to the new grout even if it comes out of the same package. To extend the line of tile from the kitchen to the living room I would use a string (a masons’ line) from the far side of the kitchen to the far wall of the living room. Visually line up the string with the grout line in the kitchen. Once you have established the two end points in the living room, you can then lay down a chalk line. Don’t use a chalk line over the existing grout line in the kitchen. To construct a line perpendicular to the original chalk line I use a string, several nails, and a pencil and some basic geometry to bisect a 180° angle in the center of the room. Another method I have used is to lay out a right angled triangle with legs of four and five feet with a hypotenuse of five feet. Put away our stopwatch. Tiling is a job you can’t rush.
Good luck with your project. Garth
same tile in both rooms. just finished the tile in the kitchen.
due to obstructions in the kitchen, impossible to get a long straight line into the dining room.
so what I did was I came off the last tile in the line I want to use in the kitchen (others were obstructed by cabinets) and measured into the dining room a given distance (10 feet) and then went perpendicular to the first measurement by 10 feet and found the point that made in the dining room. From there, I snapped a line from my last tile to the new point made.
i put some tile in place last night (no thinset) and it looks pretty darned good.
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