Any suggestions....

[Kilauea]

Weve been doin some stuff (floors,backsplash) for some folks who are kinda finishing their new const. home while they are living in it/one phase at a time.There is a room,lets call it the "jacuzzi" room.Its about 20'x20' wide and about 12' tall (roughly).There is already a large ''portable'' jacuzzi inside and partioned framing(not goin all the way to the ceiling) for a walk in shower.They have informed me that they would like to not only tile the walls but the ceiling.Yes,the ceiling.Although Ive tiled several walkin ceilings Ive never tiled one of this magnitude.As of this point,no tile has been selected.Im open to any and all suggestions......substrates,adhesives,structural qualities,tile selections,techniques,and similar experiences.....

[custombuilt]

all of the ceiling of the whole bath?

Wow! -- can you say $

durarock it all and then flat trowel thinset, and back butter the tile, then a bead of thinset around the edges. I did a shower once with 45 square feet of six inch on a diagonal-- had my helper butter them and pass em to me

[duneslider]

Need to make sure the ceiling framing is adequate. No two foot centers there. (none of us ever set ceilings on two foot centers right )

[gueuzeman]

Pay an engineer to do a strucrtural analysis, the owner that is. That's heavy.

But nice job.

gueuze

[Kilauea]

No two foot centers there

Youre talking about the space between the studs,right?Adequate would be 16''?Would an area this large would still be considered wet area?What do you guys think of mastic if they use 6x6 or smaller?

[gueuzeman]

LT- really, really, you need to have an engineer sigh off on this. If this ever let go it could kill someone.

No glue, no sheetrock.

gueuze

[muskymike]

Plus I think Durock onna ceiling needs to be closer than 16" on center.

[The Kid]

i agree with gueze, a guy could certinly pull it off, but he darn better know a thing or two about frame structure!

[sdaniels7114]

Interesting problem. The extra 4' or so of height means anything that does fall will have more time to accelerate before it hits whatever its gonna hit.

The only advice I have is to shut your phone off while you're tiling this ceiling. Its just too easy to get distracted by a call and end up with a bit too much thinset skinned over, not that that's ever happened to me

[The Kid]

try to talk them into a mosaic, not that its any easier to do or safer or anyting, I just think a mosiac on a lid looks super trick.

[pooky]

maybe light weight thinny like say pro light

a light weight backer like easyboard? or even 1/4 inch hardi?

cross-brace the framing

glue the joists before securing backerboard -- use an assload of large- head screws on the cross bracing as well

use a glass tile / thin/ lighter weight and use prism lightweight grout

then do a good-juju dance and pray to the tile gods

or . . . hire an engineer as suggested

I have no clue, but I bet what I suggested is well within tolerances

stephen

[Jhereg]

screws with washers. Sounds like a real fun job to me. i would NOT use easyboard, that would tear right out with the weight.

[pooky]

What are the possible light weight boards?

I hardly ever use that stuff so I'm not an expert.

Would be interesting to know what the highest tensile and shear strength
lightweight board is as a side-bar

also -- what is the biggest head fastener . . . I know those super expensive
wonderboard screws have a nice big head

washers would be a drag as they stick up and you'd have to pre-assemble
each one . . . I have done that for a heat shield though using self tappers and washers to secure wonderboard to 1 inch steel tube

ideas?

stephen

[ob1kanobee]

Couldn't you wire lathe it and use Latapoxy 310 Stone Adhesive? All you have to do is spot the back of the tiles (10% coverage), no need for full coverage unless you are actually gonna walk directly on the tile, which I don't see happening. It can be used for tile and I'm telling you that product is the bomb. You can walk away and leave the stone or tile on the ceiling in 3 to 5 minutes depending on the ambient tempurature and how hot you mix the product. If you mix it really fast with a cake spatulla it's gonna set hotter vs. a slow mix. You can't mix it with a drill, to messy and too much heat. You can fly with this product though.

I always had this in my arsenal. Even used it to fix my windshield wiper once that kept coming of the motor that was stripped and my car's bumper after being hit (more of a cosmetic fix on the bumper).

http://www.laticrete.com/Architects/...7/Default.aspx

http://www.laticrete.com/Portals/0/f...tapoxy310.html

[custombuilt]

what is the real difference with doing the whole bath as compared to just the ceiling of a shower? Obviously add blocking, i always do that for any shower lid- 16 inch centers are a given, but i don't see it being a problem. I would talk them into smaller tiles- especially mosaics would look nice (as jeremy said)