Much respect Sal! I’ve had an 18”X18” fall on my head 20 years ago when thinset was limited to modified on non modified….I’ve had a fear of ceilings since then!
I'm a contractor myself, have been doing this trade my whole life. Now I'm in my 20's but from a very young age I was working for my father and have my own company for 8 years now and I love watching your work and I do learn some things from you. Great videos.
I just did a ceiling over the tub and shower.. I probably wouldn't have done it if I didn't see your video. It really is unbelievable how much they stick up there
Everyone says no it can't be done, but it's what I wanted, thanks for this video Sal. I'm in New Jersey. If I was in Boston, would definitely hire you.
You inspired me men to continue doing my jobs the best I can,I leave in small town of new mexico and we don't have so much product we can get and still doing my jobs strong, beautiful and clean, thnx men.
12”x24” ceiling tile crashed through the new heated floor tile.Found Sals video and finished the ceiling no problem Thanks Sal!I climbed the ladder so I could press the tile with my head,lots of pressure!Thats using my head eh Sal?
Why do the ceiling tiles go up after the wall tiles? I want to tile the ceiling of our shower soon. Thank you for the full video showing the entire step!
Thank you so much! I have been worried about tiling my ceiling. I noticed you tiled the walls before... would it matter if I tiled it first? Thank you again - VERY informative!
I thought you were going to show the vacuum barrier technique which I learned off a forum and used tiling my first shower with 12x24 porcelain tiles including on the ceiling
Im getting ready to do my cieling. Its scaring me bc of how heavy these 12x24 porcelain are. I planed on doing the edges first letting them dry then do the middle and figured the leveling system would held hold them up .
Another awesome video, Sal. When installing marble pattern tiles do you make any attempt to match veins from tile to tile, or simply install them as they come out of the box?
Great job. When I do ceilings I use a template of exact dimensions of the ceiling and pre cut the tiles so they will definitely fit. This way I don't waste time needing to re-cut tiles. For porcelain tiles do you use thinset or mastic? Thanks
Just curious. My tile guy cut the tiles with a small grinder and the edges aren’t smooth so at the corners where the ceiling meets the wall the tile edges show and it’s not appealing. You can see every flaw in the cut. How can the former edge be covered so it looks better.
What backer board should I use on the ceiling with similar heavy 12x24 tiles? I was planning on cement with red guard since I wasn't sure how strong foam is.
Hi Sal, thanks for the great video! I’ve designed a bathroom using 36x18 porcelain tiles on part of the ceiling for a client. Will this method hold up for the larger sized tiles or are there adjustments that need to be made? Thanks!
Sal, I noticed that you are not burning in the thinset on the ceiling before you apply the notched layer. Is this because you are also notching the tile? Does it ever make sense to do the ceiling before the walls?
Burning in the thinset? Huh. It's best to do walls first but leave a space for the ceiling tiles to go "behind" or past the wall tiles. Lots of reasons.
Hi Sal - Do you know if the Barwalt Euro notch provides more coverage than the Yubi YW trowel? I will be installing 15x30 tiles on a ceiling and want to use a Euro notch instead of my 1/2 square notch Marshalltown. Thank you.
@@SalDiBlasi Thank you. I was also looking into the Marshalltown LayFlat 1/2", might order one of those. Want to make sure I have the most coverage on the ceiling.
there are some youtube videos and websites showing install of ceiling tiles by making a circle or bullseye pattern on the back of the tile with notched trowel. people doing this say it creates an instant suction to the ceiling and the tiles won't fall down. could you try this and let us know if this is a bad idea or does this technique have merit? also people doing say you can use normal thinset and not expensive no sag type. The key is the circle pattern which would be bad on the wall but good on ceiling due to suction cup type action it creates.
Big fan of your work sal. So I have a floor I tiled to cement board. The tiles have almost %100 coverage when lifted but they did not bond to the thinset I used. You can see a perfect imprint of the under side of the tile mashed into the thinset but they lift right off the floor. What could cause this?
Several things, kiln release on the back of the tile, thinset not mixed properly, thinset that was allowed to skin over, the wrong type of thinset, and a few other possibilities, If you have a new tile, rub your hand across the back of the tile, if you hand turns white, then it is the kiln release which should have been washed off before setting the tile. That is my number one guess.
Sal, if I’m using drywall on the ceiling with kerdi membrane overtop, will the drywall be strong enough to support 12x24 marble tile? Anything I can to to increase the strength of the drywall to the ceiling joists? Thanks for the great videos!
Hey Sal, love the videos! I saw a couple of your ceiling videos. On one, the Schluter screws weren’t covered with kerdi, the other was covered. Is it required on a ceiling?
Hi Sal, for the ceiling couldn’t you use 1/4 notch trowel on both the tile and the ceiling. That would be the same as using a 1/2 notch trowel just on one surface? Thanks Jon
Hi Sal, Thank you very much for sharing your experience. I am just DIY homeowner from Toronto Canada. I need to tile bathroom ceiling. And options about cement are limited here. What cement could you recommend for tile ceiling, except ardex X77? Would Kerabond T be good enough? Thank you. VicS
Sal, great vid. The one piece at a time shows how truly tedious this process is especially for a small space. How/where did you build in the necessary slip joints?
Hi Mr. DiBlasi , Nice geometry! When tiling a steam room, do we need to consider the exaggerated expansion and contraction in our choice of underlayment, mortars, grouts, and caulking systems?
goodmorning sal gotta? what's your thoughts on Shluter shower system? issac seems to spend alot of time proving this system will fail even following the specs on this product. so when I do this system I'll hydro ban the seams also just for added security after all his videos making me un easy on Shluter now. I'll do my walls with goboard do a mudbed, then put membrane over mudbed, mud and tape ALL seams then hydro paint ALL joint seams👍🤷♂️. please input me. thanks AWESOME videos u do
Isaac is a good guy, he does some excellent work, the thing is he is testing the products beyond what they are designed to do, You often drive your car through the rain, but you wouldn't drive it into a lake and expect it to stay dry. The system in a shower works as designed, I have installed countless Schluter showers for many years, I have yet to hear of a problem, and it is backed by a company that stands behind their products. If you install the product and ignore the directions, then you could forfeit the warranty. I have no doubt that the system works. Attend a Schluter workshop of you haven't ask questions, get answers, put your mind at ease.
Tommy, I’m not at sals level but have done a fair amount of research and showers myself. I think your approach is solid and safe. Some products, maybe Hydro Ban, let you roll the liquid over the mud shower pan and make it waterproof. I just did this on a shower with a mud pan on concrete. But a lot of people aren’t comfortable with that, so something like the Kerdi or laticrete sheet membrane is a safer bet.
kevr. thanks for the feedback. I've been in the the trade 20yrs myself and have done many shower systems, I just like getting feedback from other installers also 👌
Hey Sal! If you’re transitioning from a floor tile laid square, into a wall tile laid in a subway pattern, would you match up the first row of wall tile or offset it? Same dimensions of tile.
Yes and no, Thinset technology has advanced, Schluter makes their own thinsets, AllSet is their modified version which they recommended for all schluter products. However they will not warranty the use of other manufacturer modified thinsets, but the manufacturer of the thinset you do use will pick up the warranty in most cases.
Hi Sal, thanks for this great video. My question is, would this same technique be appropriate for 24x48 tiles of the same thickness? The weight is the same so I imagine yes but something still makes me very nervous about 24x48. What do you think?
Very large tiles like that are hard to embed into the thinset, different methods need to be used to collapse the ridges of the mortar, a vibrating tool or a beater plate should be used. I would also brace tiles that big just to be safe as the morta cures.
Wish I would have gotten into tile when I was a kid. Could have avoided a lot of heartache in the various "armpits of the world". Setting tile is a kick and great "therapy". Are you going to use LED low-profile "cans" in this shower?
Hi Sal, love your videos. I'm currently doing a steam shower myself and I was wondering why you didn't cut the wall tile into the ceiling tile. I was taught to do it that way. And also I do a lot of 12×24 tile on floors and walls and sometimes I have tile that are warped in the middle, kind of banana shaped, what do you do in that case as its pretty difficult to get them level? Thank you.
Normally I would cut the wall tile to the ceiling tile, bu since the ceiling has a slop from the middle to both ends, it was easier this way. As far as warped tiles go, you have to evaluate every job and determine whether or not you can do a half stagger or 1/3, even with a leveling system that will help greatly with that.
If the thin set is cross spread (not same direction on tile and surface) it can 'trap' air and keep tile from being settled into a complete coverage ? ! ?
Another great video! I was actually searching for your videos on Ardex x77. Our tile contractor refuses to use Schluter all-set (or any other thinset) and wants to use Ardex x77 for Ditra (over plywood install + over Ditra, setting tiles) and for the installation of 12x24 wall tiles over goboard. Would you recommend doing that and installing everything with Ardex x77? Would appreciate your reply. Thank you in advance!
You will lose any warranty that schluter gives, but not to worry, ardex will substitute theirs. X77 is a great mortar and will work perfectly fine with that install. Today there are many Modified mortars that will work with this type of install, a few years ago there were some advancements in modified mortar technology that made the whole issue go away. Mapei and laticrete also make mortars that will work. You can get a list from the manufacturer that will tell you which mortars are acceptable.
@@SalDiBlasi Thank you very much, Sal for such a detailed reply! This gives us confidence to move forward with this contractor and educates us on x77 mortar which I've never heard of before.
Sal what do the arrows on the bottom side of some porcelain tiles indicate? There seems to be two trains of thought on the internet. Some say it’s a direction indicator and that all the tiles should be laid with the arrows pointing in the same direction. Others say it’s a mark made during the production of the tile, which indicates which way the mold goes into the kiln.
The arrows are produced by the mold to indicate the direction for the mold to be placed, however depending on the tile, there can be some benefit to orienting the arrows in the same direction when installing tiles with a surface grain, or pattern to help keep these patterns flowing the correct way, however for tiles that have no pattern it really makes no difference which way the tile is placed when it is set.
Hi Mr. DiBlasi, I can't find Ardex X77 in my area. I'm told by local suppliers that I'm good to go with Mapei Ultralite Mortar or Servolight to apply my 12 by 24 tiles to my shower ceiling...I do have Kerdi board on the ceiling. Thanks.
Sal ! Why isn't the ceiling pitch 2 inches per foot away from the seat area so steam droplets run down the wall and not drip on occupants of shower? Every steam shower that I did in the past I pitch the ceiling per TCNA guide lines!
@@SalDiBlasi my bad Sal I watched the video the first time with alot of mouse around me and I never heard your reasoning for how or why the ceiling is the way it is. Sorry
@@SalDiBlasi I have 60x60cm tiles that weigh quite a bit that I want to place on the ceiling above the shower/bath combo on knauf green plasterboard. My wife is scared that the tiles might come loose while she is in the bath or under the shower. Thanks for your video. Hope I will do it the correct way. Greetings from the Netherlands.
@@Chiefelgin just remember to keep the thinset lines all the same direction and open on each end so when they collapse there won't be air bubbles keeping it from making good cohesion.
