Which is why I’ve been following you for a long time Sal’ (you are truly my master) I’ve been doing tile over 25 years and I’ve picked up so many tips from you alone. Anything you can do I can do! And I’ve done a lot of great work myself but I don’t like to brag I just like to learn as much as I can while I can still do it physically! Sending much love, great health, prosperity and much wisdom to be gained Teacher!
Great work as always Sal. You’re doing a lot of good for the industry. I’m grateful for all you do to help instruct the new setters and us seasoned people as well.
yo man great vid. if i see another one of those shit levels (other than stabila) in your vids, im gonna be mad. U know your shit, ill say that. more stabila.
Just curious if your videos are monetized? I see an ad at the beginning and maybe end, but it makes me wonder if that is just RU-vid monetizing it and not giving you anythin.
Should a toilet flange be installed on the subfloor and have the tile meet it or should tile be laid up to the lead bend and the toilet flange installed on top of the finished tile?
Great and smart artisan as one can get, but the choice of tiles is just hard to watch . Customer choice you’ll say, but I think the labor skill is so expensive that the customers have to pick the cheapest materials, and no one seems to guide them in their choice. Lack of design is paramount.
Done right it should last forever. I came up old school and I have had people say, oh you don’t have to do that it’s overkill. Well my overkill on prep has made it so I haven’t had to do a repair in many years. The biggest reason I watch Sal is because he’s old school, he does tile right.
Hey Sal - you are The Tiling Guru. One day, when I build my own house, I will use what I've learned from you to create a masterpiece. Big thanks from Scotland.
Sal, I've watched many of your wonderfully helpful videos. However, I have yet to find one that shows the details of how you prepare a wooden curb for tile after you put the pvc pan liner over it, when Durock is the backer board being used. If you take requests, could you make a video on that?
Who doesn't like Sal. This guy is the real deal. Not the flashy-ist, but 100% professional with real info and how to. Love this guy. I wish you were my friend....
Hi Sal, I've seen a couple times in this vid where you were putting pebble mosaic in shower pan, but I've read it requires special grout because of the larger gaps. Can you let us know which grout you use when you place those flat pebble shower pans? Thanks again for great videos
Any sanded cement based grout will usually work, best to stay away for premixed grouts, unless you use spectralock1 but that will also require an extended cure time. Epoxy grouts will also work.
Always enjoy the videos - I keep wondering how you do it (this is so strenuous - I have to rest a day in between each task!) also using as many tricks as I can remember (favorites are the straight board as a guide and cleaning around the tile before laying down). Question - I'm installing 12x24 Marble starting this weekend. I've laid it out several ways to avoid "slivers". The 12 in offset (halves) is easy...I tried 8 in offset (thirds) and it works too but it's more difficult - not sure which is prettier. What is the current trend - most customers or designers prefer which way??? I've seen both in your videos. Purely customer pref? The marketing brochure shows it in thirds. It seems to mix it up more... just not sure... I did watch a video where you were looking at so many angles due to openings - I don't have that issue.
Well - finally decided, going with thirds as it looks awesome...also remembered another trick of yours - use of the tile edging for transition with wood floor since we did another layer of plywood - I was going to use a qtr round but that would have been more work (now to pick out color of edging - this is exhausting!)....Thanks Sal for doing these videos!
The reason that the one third stagger has been adopted has to do more with the natural "Cup" that the firing process introduces into the tile, more than any design reason. The shorter stagger helps prevent lippage. That being said, natural stone tiles are not fired, but cut, so that is a non existent problem with marble and the like. The problem is also greater with cheaper tiles, higher quality tiles seem to be flatter. I will usually do the stagger on a half because I am usually always installing a better quality tile, and a leveling system will pretty much eliminate any lippage during installation. In y opinion, the half stagger looks better than the third, but that is only an opinion, and the only opinion that counts is that of the client when esthetiques is concerned. So I suggest you examine the tile to determine if the half stagger will work, if a lippage system is being used it probably will, and then make a decision. Before I started to use a leveling system with large format tiles, every staggered installation was done on a third. Since I have started using a leveling system, the choice has been based more on the desired look, and the overwhelming majority of installed has been on a half stagger.
@@SalDiBlasi Wonderful - I do have leveling system (used on other marble install no lippage!). Now I'm not sure again but at least either way I'll be OK - I've dry laid most of the tile both ways and as you've said it lays very flat with no lippage - good tile. The half stagger seems to have fuller pieces and cleaner lines - the third stagger seems more artsy and not so clean with the lines. Urghhhh....it's hard to be both client and the installer.. Your candid answer is much appreciated!
I'm calling my dad to get his thoughts as well - he's an architect still working because he loves the craft (79 strong) and he'll probably go with half because he's a clean line guy...we'll see! I used to call him all the time but with youtube channels like yours I don't call as much with questions - he's a great designer...
I have question. Do you think it's correct to install marble on a floor isn't completely flat, in fact I had to put about 1 inch thickness of a thin set? And is this match the TCNA rules? Thank you.
Thinset should not be used to correct floor height variation, thinset is mortar designed to be a binding agent and to be used at very specific thicknesses, exceeding those thicknesses will cause the thinset to shrink and debond. Floors should be corrected and made flat with products designed for the purpose. This is a common error and reason for many failures. So floor flatness tolerance should be meet and all tile should be installed on a flat surface, prepped in the proper way to insure a trouble free installation.
Thank you, so when the thin set goes more than 3/4 inch trowel the should be fix first. But they choose not to and kept going with it, and i had to let this contract go.
