Bathrooms
Technical Consultations Save You Money
Recently I was called out to a job to inspect a bathroom and write a technical report on my findings. The homeowner had just purchased the house and the tile work in the master shower was installed as a pre-condition of the sale. The real estate agent involved in the transaction hired a contractor/handyperson he…
Read MoreI Can’t Believe It’s Not Travertine!
These ceramic tiles were actually finished with a digitalized printed glaze; they look just like real travertine stone. No two tiles were alike due to the offset printing of the pattern. Real travertine stone is a poor choice in a wet environment. It is soft and porous, allowing water to penetrate and remain trapped in the stone, which causes mildew, stains,…
Read MorePenny Round Tile
Here you can see a beautiful example of penny round tiles trimmed out with stone chair rail at the top.
Read MoreChanging the color of grout
Over the years this ceramic mosaic floor with sanded white grout darkened considerably. After many frustrating attempts to clean it, the homeowner called me and we agreed to apply epoxy-based grout colorant to the joints. The grout colorant we use is dual purpose: it not only changes the appearance of grout to a consistent color…
Read MoreShower installation
This was a new tile installation with 6×8″ field tiles set staggered joint vertically with 3×3″ accent tiles set in dark vertical stripes. The homeowner had a unique home design and wanted the shower layout to be in keeping with the eccentric feel of the rest of the house. At my suggestion we used a…
Read MoreReplacing shampoo trays
A property management company called me and said one of their rental customers had a shower where the shampoo trays fell off and hurt the tenant’s arm. They also wanted both trays replaced with black ones to tie in with the accent. And they did not want circular ones, instead they wanted more triangular shampoo trays. These…
Read MoreCreating my own 2 x 2 mosiac designs
The customer wanted a mosaic pattern for a commercial bathroom floor. We created quite a few mock-ups with 2×2″ tiles for them to choose from. The patterns and colors were chosen to compliment the 1920’s architecture. The finished product:
Read MoreGranite sealing
We recently sealed this Absolute Black granite vanity and the grout between the floor tiles in a master bath. Typically, most installers do not automatically apply sealer to grout or stone; this task is the responsibility of the homeowner to either apply themselves or hire someone to seal the stone or grout. In a new house…
Read MoreCracked slab floor
We received a call from a homeowner about a row of cracked tiles in their bathroom floor. The cracked tiles were due to a slab crack directly under the tiles. When re-setting tile over a crack like this its important to use a flexible setting material. Most membrane or elastic-type setting products will work over slab…
Read MoreGlass accent in tub surround
The homeowners wanted a large band of glass penny round accent tiles at the top of their shower. They choose this unusual layout so that when they installed the glass doors the accent would show above the doors. The homeowners wanted a large band of glass penny round accent tiles at the top of their shower. They choose…
Read More