mosaics on curved wall

[cindy fisher]

hi everyone,

I would like some help on the best way to attach a mosaic to a curved sheetrock wall. The wall in question is a light well, 8' in diameter, which for square foot purposes is a cylinder that is 3' high. My proposal is to put a mosaic band that is a foot wide that goes around the circumference of the space. It would be in a wave-like shape as opposed to a straight band. Would it be possible to use schluter kerdi membrane as my substrate? Another possibility is flexible cement board, but that seems like a lot more work if the membrane might work. THANKS a lot! cf

[WendyHMN]

If this is not a wet area you can tile directly to the drywall. Have you checked to see how the tile looks on the curve? My one concern, visually, is that the vertical grout lines will be compressed by the curve and end up looking narrower than the horizontal ones. You may want to cut the sheets at the vertical lines and set them separately so you can space them wider.

What kind of tile is it? Do you have a picture of the tile and the space?

[cindy fisher]

this is not a wet area, but unlike tile, mosaics are never installed directly onto sheetrock. thus my question about whether just installing on a membrane would be to code. this is for a public art project, in a high school, so that is important! THANKS for replying...

[bbcamp]

Cindy, that doesn't sound right at all. Who's telling you that you can't install mosiacs over drywall?

[ceramictec]

if this is a public area you might want to install cementboard and then set the mosaic on it.

[Houston Remodeler]

As long as the substrate can handle the abuse of the students and climate, then tiling it will work just fine be it drywall or cbu. Of course if its outdoors, then its cbu.

[Levi the Tile Guy]

I agree with Wendy. You will have to cut the mosaics into vertical strips, and possibly miter each piece in order to make the turn and still remain consistent and circular. Is this an inside or outside radius?

[cindy fisher]

thanks, everyone, I appreciate your responding. To clarify, this light well is between a second and first floor, so no one would ever touch it. I am a mosaic artist, so cut many of tiles into smaller bits, use a variety of materials etc etc. ( my website is bigbangmosaics.com ) I was told long ago that because mosaics are so labor intensive, if attached directly to sheetrock and the sheetrock got wet, that is a bigger deal by far than replacing a few tiles, so never do this!

I often do attach mosaics to cement board, my question for you experts was if the schluter membrane could be used instead of having to attach cement board?!?!? Is the membrane NOT a good idea?!?!?!? thank you thank you....

[chuck stevenson]

Hi Cindy,

You have a great website and do some really creative work.
Hopefully one of the Laticrete guys will recommend the best way to install
this.

From Cindy's site



My first thought would be to float the area.

[John Bridge]

Hi Cindy,

For the reason you state, the Kerdi membrane certainly is a good idea. After installing the Kerdi, skim it completely with white thinset to hide the orange color.

I'll move you to the Pro Hangout forum.

[Houston Remodeler]

If you are hanging these you might want to switch from CBU or drywall over to Kerdiboard. Its lighter by far.

We just installed a hanging tile picture with tiled frame, 2'x3' mounted on 3/8" kerdi board. We 'test hung' it for 3 days and it didn't drop to the floor. To connect the support wire (from which it is hung) I took 2 small squares of kerdi board and kerdi fixed them over the ends of the wire.

If you use the thicker (up to 2") kerdi board you can tile the edges and inset a block to hang the art work

[Levi the Tile Guy]

very beautiful work.

I like Paul's idea. This is a prime installation for kerdi board. It is easy to work with, and you will be able to make the radius fairly simple with it.

[John Bridge]

Are you guys forgetting this is a curved wall? I don't see the advantage of a rigid board instead of a flexible membrane.

[mossypath]

If the drywall ever got wet which is not likely in the light well but could happen , the kerdi behind your tiles would not protect the work you have done . Fire sprinklers or a leak in the water pipes could destroy the drywall . I think you would want to have the walls covered in cement board then you could attach your work to the kerdi or everything else you want work with .This is meant to last 30 or 40 years and worth the extra work .
I may be way off track but if it where me I think I would call Henry Rothberg http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/member.php?u=9712 . He has worked with a lot works such as yours and would love to be involved with your project .
Best of luck , love your work . Let us know what you come up with .

[Levi the Tile Guy]

JB I have a hard time getting Kerdi nice and flat on inside radius's. Kerdiboard can be bent pretty darn easy...specially the thinner stuff. Talking inside radius of course.