Need Help -Marble Tile on Wall Install

[o2manyfish]

Hello, I Need a Little Experienced advice.

This is a tile installation in a bathroom. There are 4 disconnected walls. I am using a 12" Glass Rope Tile as a chair rail.

The lower 1/2 of the wall is marble tile (4x8) mounted on a 45 degree angle, on an offset pattern, with glass tiles inset every 3 cycles of the pattern.

However, I need to start tiling at the chair rail, down to the uneven stone floor.

The walls are backerboard. I tried the Marble/Granite thinset. But while it holds the tiles to the wall. The Marble tiles still slide down.

I am doing 1/16" grout joints.

How do I get the tiles to stay in place ? Short of having to tape each tile?

Thanks for your experienced advice.

Dave B

[cdahl]

Ardex X7G Plus, a modified thinset mortar, will hold any tile on the wall. Mix the product at a 2:1 ratio, powder to water. At that consistency I can hang concrete blocks on the wall.

Craig

[T_Hulse]

Any mortar that says it's non-sag will work. Pro-lite like is advertised on the right of this page will work. My favorite is Tec 3N1.
I would start at the bottom though. I lay out the wall with straight lines where I want the tile to go & stick with it. Tho bottom tiles still get the same same angled cuts, I just do those first & work up.

[Giovanni Lagana]

You might want to try using finish nails in the grout joints if you need a little extra holding power.

[oogabooga]

I second Giovanni's advice on the finishing nails.

Rob.

[bctile601]

a finish nail in the joints may be a big mistake, first you would blow your joint size, and secondly, you will more than likely chip the edges of the marble on removal. The only way i would try that is to leave out the bottom cuts while the top dried resting on the nails. i never like to leave cuts out when working with natural stone of any kind. Seems to me the 3N1 is the best non-sagger i have used, but then again i have only used that and mapei's ultralight.

[tileguytodd]

I need to start tiling at the chair rail, down to the uneven stone floor.

Why??

Do Brick layers start at the chair rail??

There is a differance between YOU NEED TO.......and YOU WANT TO

Billions of s/f of tile was set before the invention of Non Sag Thinsets and they did not start at the Chair rails

Now........if you WANT to...thats another story.............but you do not NEED to

[Giovanni Lagana]

The nails I use are very small and work out to about same as a marble shim (1/16" ) as far as joint size goes . Now depending whether or not the stone has a beveled edge or not, the grout joint may show slightly larger on top. In my opinion I feel is a bad idea to install the stone with anything less than 1/16 " joint for a couple of reasons.

1. You need a little wiggle room for tile size variations and adjustments .
2. The grout will anchor will be much better that just between a bevel if it has one.
3. and last but not least.. When refinishing a beveled edge marble floor that has been installed with a butt joint, it looks terrible. The tiles can appear slammed together in some areas with a thinset line showing up where the grout line is supposed to be.

I also feel that Mixing thinset stiff to the point where its not going to require any shims or nails is asking for trouble .