talavera tile

[tilevirgin]

I am doing a large master bathroom project, and I want to use some talavera tile. (Talavera is a Mexican handmade, hand-painted clay tile that is glazed and fired. It is very rustic and colorful. If you don't know anything about it, you might want to check out tierrayfuego.com for a primer.)

If anyone here knows anything about, or particularly has worked with, talavera, can you give me some advice? Is it appropriate to do a shower stall in talavera? Can talavera be combined with any other materials, such as granite? If so, how do the transitions work? I think a granite field with a talavera feature might be stunning.

My contractor is very willing to work with talavera, but he has never done a talavera bathroom and so can't say anything about durability. My reading reveals that talavera bathrooms are relatively common in the Southwest U.S. and in Mexico, but I don't know whether the humidity of the Northeast U.S. (I live in Maryland) will make a difference.

Please, if anybody has any knowledge of this material, I hope you will share it. I have to make a decision pretty soon. Many thanks.

[Mike2]

Hi there T.V. Welcome aboard. I just stopped by to say Hi not having any experience with them Talavera tiles. Others around here have worked with them so someone will be by to talk intelligently about their use in a shower setting. Hang in there.

How about a first name?

[Jenn]

For what it's worth, we have a book, Traditional Mexican Interiors, that has lots of pictures of showers done with talavera tiles. We had our fireplace refaced with talavera tile we purchased from Tierra y Fuego -- they have a nice selection and great customer service.

Jen

[tilevirgin]

How about a first name?[/quote]

It's Joyce. Sorry not to have signed my post.

[housefire]

Hi Joyce - I used Talavera tiles in my daughter's bathroom. If you are going to be ordering any, I would recommend getting more that you will need. I found that many of the tiles were cupped, and most of them were not exactly the same size.
Other than that - they were easy to work with!
Here's a picture (I hope).

Lissa

[lisap]

I just finished my kitchen backsplash in bright red Mexican tiles. It is stunning! Be careful not to buy talavera that has not been glazed, such as talavera pavers. They stain and don't resist water well. For bathroom areas, use the ceramic type talavera tiles. When installing, the tiles will soak up the water from your tile saw very quickly, so you will likely need to let them set longer, or let them dry a bit before setting them in place. Also, use a grout that is specifically made for ceramic tiles that can be easily scratched. These aren't the most durable tiles (get a few extra for replacements), but they are beautiful. Use them only if you sort of like the fact that each one is a bit different, adding to the interest of your project. Also! the tiles come in boxes of 100 (4") and must be purchased at one time (from one firing) or you will have different shades. For example, I ran short of tiles and had to wait for my supplier to finally receive tiles that were dark red (as opposed to orangish-red, pinkish red, etc.). This took three months!

[jdm]

Joyce --

If the tiles absorb that much water, it's probably best to at least dampen them before installation. You don't want them to suck all of the water out of the thinset.

Lisa --

Can you post pics of your backsplash? Maybe in a new thread. Sounds beautiful.

[Mike2]

Linking to that fireplace Jenn mentions above. Isn't this a sweetheart?
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She wants to tile the floor now but that's another story, right Jen?

[Jenn]

Aw, thanks Mike.

Yeh, the floor is another story... a sad sob story...

[zbalk]

TileVirgin -

I have installed lots of Talavera and have regretably almost exhausted my one-time, near life-time supply that I trucked away from a tile supply house, relocation sale here in Austin, TX. Was a Great Deal, but that's another story.
Everything everyone said about Talavera tile is accurate, if you didn't know that info. already, but I am not acquainted with ceramic Talavera. The somewhat brittle, highly glazed and variable in dimension variety are the sort with which I have experience. The clay in these is very porous and should definitely be dampened before setting them in thinset. They are certainly often cupped, but Talavera tile does have lots of character. Depending on your application, you can obtain them with a glazed edge where it would be exposed. I don't believe I'd recommend setting this sort of tile in a shower or anywhere that water is likely to stand. Of course, sun dried Saltillo is installed outdoors on walks and patios, but not successfully without being sealed, really really well. And a large cracked or disintegrated Saltillo tile is a lot cheaper and easier to replace than smaller, glazed Talavera tile. Send me your email and I'll send a pic or two of my Talavera tiled kitchen doors and drawer fronts. This software won't allow upload of a file larger than 50 kb.
zbalk@earthlink.net

[Jenn]

Uh oh... I wonder if our fireplace talavera was dampened before setting... I don't remember hubby mentioning that and he was there watching the guy the whole time.

[zbalk]

Jenn -

I don't suspect that I would sorry too much about it. The idea behind dampening the clay is twofold: 1. making certain that moisture is not drawn out of the thinset mortar (if that is the adhesive your tile setter used) and 2. an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

If your tile have hung on up there for a while and you have built a fire or two, everything should be okay. If a tile dislodges, call the installer and insist on a remedy. But again in the interim until something fateful occurs, I wouldn't fret over it. The fireplace front, if I looked at the correct photo, looks really quite nice. I like the style and the material VS. perfectly dimensional materials and sterile-looking, square angle layouts (just a taste matter, of course.) Zbalk

[Jenn]

Thank you, Zbalk.

The fireplace was done in November and we haven't built a fire yet because we need a screen. So, it hasn't been road-tested yet.

Thank you for the nice compliment. We spent a LONG time designing the layout and we are very happy with it. The tile guy worked very slowly, probably too slow, but he did a very nice job. Amazingly he didn't have any spacers with him. He had a hard time getting the tiles around the arch to stay put. Finally he constructed spacers from cardboard pieces he cut from the box of tiles. They worked and you'd never know!

Jen

[Jenn]

And Lissa -- your daughter's bathroom floor is GORGEOUS!!

[Mike2]

It does look nice, very nice.

And having raised three daughters (correction, after helping my wife raise three daughters) I'll have to say I never saw their bathroom look that clean. Fess up Lissa, how much cleaning did you have to do before taking that picture?