Rick's Very Small Bathroom

[rdtompki]

My small bathroom is done thanks to the help from this forum. I've only got to tile the floor in my very small bathroom. Previous floor was vinyl tile over concrete. I've removed the tile and scraped up quite a bit of the mastic. I'm going to try scrubbing with hot water next. Which tiling option is likely best?

1. Ditra - used this in my small bath and really liked it, but would have to use unmodified thinset which might not bond as well with my less-than-ideal substrate
2. Modified thinset directly to concrete - modified ought to adhere best and since I don't have any cracks I might have nothing to loose by skipping the Ditra.

No cracks in the floor, but I'll have to do some skim coating in a few small areas. Tiles are about 12x12.

Rick

[Brian in San Diego]

Rick,

I know it's not approved but Versabond works fine for putting Ditra down on concrete with cutback. That's what I used.

Brian

[rdtompki]

Thanks, Brian

I got quite a bit of the mastic up with the scrub brush and hot water. I do have Versabond left over from my Kerdi shower. Think I will use that. The floor is so small that no point on the floor is more than 2' from an edge. This is the stuff that doesn't show up on the original schedule.

Rick

[rdtompki]

I've got the floor down without problem. Darn good thing I'm not making a living installing tile! These tiny rooms have so many cuts.

My small bathroom I grouted and then caulked. Is this the best order? I found it a bit hard to get the grout right up to the joint that would be caulked. Or is this personal preference?

[muskymike]

Hi Rick, I usually do it that way. Grout then caulk.

[rdtompki]

Thanks. I'm being a bit too neat with the grout. I should make sure the grout line is full the then use a tilespike, popsicle stick etc. to clean out the joint I'm going to caulk. I'm way over-thinking all of this. Pretty common with us engineering-type DIY'ers.

Rick

[rdtompki]

In both my bathrooms I've had to cut the toilet flange hole in a 12x12 or 13x13 tile. Bathroom #1 the hole was within an inch of the tile edge and using my grinder and diamond blade I couldn't get around the tile without cracking same from either the heat or my not supporting the tile well enough.

My workaround was to "split" the tile in the long direction of the toilet base so the split is completely covered. I could then use my wet saw to cut out a decent circle - probably not too good for the FTS-150 blade to use it as a grinder. I do have good hole saws for 1", 1-1/4" and 1-1/2", but what's the trick to using an angle grinder?

One recent thread suggested cutting a number of smaller hole and using a grinder to trim out the excess - actually sounds pretty good. Or use nippers, but do these really work on hard porcelain without fracturing the tile?

This is the only problem I've had cutting tile. The Felker worked great for all the straight cuts and I didn't cut out the entire circle for my shower control since only a magician could replace the rough-in through that tiny hole.

Rick

[muskymike]

Hi Rick, cutting holes sometimes might take a few tries. Go slow and take your time.

[rdtompki]

Mike,
I did go through 4 tiles before I bailed out. My diamond blade was old and I would imagine a piece of thin, hard rubber on a very flat surface makes things a lot easier. Next toilet I'm doing 'er right or I'm buying a 7" hole saw?

You can cheat on the toilet because those extra cuts are covered, but no way I'd split a tile on a shower valve.

Rick

[ckl111]

Well, actually the cut for the shower valve is covered by the face plate so there is a little room to cheat there too but definitely don't split the tile.