GerberAugustin568

stone wall cladding - Stone is a defining feature in any room and adds instant solidity, luxury and grandness whether you choose to cover all your walls with marble or just use it for a simple round basin. Although stone is definitely a tough material once installed, the self -builder must always take special care to see the delivery and installation process runs smoothly. Dirt from visitors or a careless knock from a power tool could lead to a costly repair bill. Keep your room clean and tidy, check larger items like a stone bath, can fit by way of a door entrance (you may have to leave off architrave/frames to permit extra room). The weight of stonework does mean that it should be planned in at the home's design stage as load-bearing joists may need to be increased in size or even doubled approximately cope with the weight.

Preparing floors

A new concrete screed is the perfect base for stone ceramic tiles, as long as the concrete is fully cured. New concrete should be at least six weeks old and show no signs and symptoms of remaining moisture. You may want to use a thin screed of self-leveling compound to smooth out any low spots. Again, leave the compound to completely cure before tiling.

If you are working on new flooring grade T&G chipboard panels, double check the edges are fixed at 300mm centers and tile to the surface with a flexible adhesive all the trade adhesive manufacturers have powder mixes meant for timber flooring. For a restoration project, never try and tile directly onto old floorboards. Instead, create a new sub-base with 15mm exterior grade plywood, screwed down at 300mm centers with stainless-steel screws. Stagger the board joints and adjust any uneven floorboards before starting work. Coat it's with thinned PVA to seal the wood.

Old cork and vinyl floor covering should always be pulled up. Look into the floor beneath is dry, flat and strong enough to support the newest stone tiling. If you're confronted with quarry or ceramic tiles, it's possible to tile directly over the surface as long as there isn't any signs of damp, cracking or movement. Prime the existing tile surface to offer the adhesive a key' for bonding and make set out your new tiles so the grout gaps aren't aligned with the existing floor. The exceptions are shower or wet room walls that ought to be lined with a waterproof lining panel to supply the tile base.

Installing real stone tiles

The porous surface of many natural stone products means they are more vulnerable to staining than glazed tiles. Look at the manufacturer's instructions for precise laying instructions and constantly seal the surfaces from the tiles, if recommended, before fixing it's all too easy to spill adhesive on the tile and not notice. Open the tile packs and work from several packs to evenly distribute any color variation between packs.

Tiling the ground

With a little planning and careful setting out, dramatic stone flooring is really as easy as tiling a wall. There's usually less cutting around awkward shapes compared to wall tiles and you're simply not fighting against gravity. Remove skirting boards and door thresholds before starting work. In the starting off stages, it's important to ensure the tiles look directly from the entrance to the room. Often walls are bowed or out of true so check your measurements in a number of places along each wall. It is slightly more but a powder mix rapid-setting adhesive is the greatest option for most floors. It'll reach full strength in as little as 24 hours so the remaining build isn't delayed.

Finally, plan in any movement joints required. They are 6/8mm wide and filled up with flexible filler which allows for movement and prevents tile damage. These joints are usually installed where flooring abuts walling, steps, columns or other hard objects on large floor areas as well as over structural movement joints. Floors under four meters between walls will not normally need movement joints.

STEP-BY-STEP

1 Find the mid-points of the two longest walls and snap a chalk line across the room between these points. Repeat for that shorter walls but adjust the road so that it passes through the center of the first line at right angles. Make an effort to work with as many whole tiles as possible, even if it means adjusting the grout line width slightly.

2 Lay tiles across the two lines to see if they look right from the entranceway. If any gaps in the walls are less than half a tile wide, shift the road across to make more of a gap. Also move the guide lines in order that tiles around a dominant feature (e.g. a fireplace or French windows) are symmetrical and there are whole tiles in the doorway.

3 Spread about one square meter of tile adhesive/grout into one of the right angles produced by the two crossing chalk lines. Scrap the notched side of the trowel across the mix to make ridges of the same thickness.

4 Lay the initial few tiles along the edge of the longest center line. Gently press the tiles into position, making sure they also fall into line with the other center line. Add plastic spacers at each and every corner to keep them a similar distance apart for grouting.

5 Work outwards from your middle of the room in anticipation of having laid all the whole tiles on a single half of the floor. Make use of a spirit level to look for the tiles are at the same level. Now move across towards the other side of the longest center line and add the rest of the whole tiles. Leave to set for 24 hours.

6 Use the tile cutter to trim the advantage tiles to the right shape. Appraise the space at both ends in case the walls are uneven and don't forget to allow for the grouting gap. Always wear goggles and gloves when cutting tiles.

7 Leave the adhesive to set for at least 12 hours, then grout involving the tiles with the adhesive/grout. Force a combination into the gaps having a squeegee, working from side to side or over and down the tiles.

8 For wide joint lines, operate a piece of hosepipe over the grouting surface. Wipe off any grout from your tiles with a damp sponge, before it sets hard.

Wall tiling

Gemstone tiles add a touch of luxury to any room. There's no special trick to locating out how many tiles you will require, just measure the height and width of the area and multiply these together to give the area to be tiled. Divide this figure through the area of a single tile (e.g. a 10x10cm tile comes with an area of 100cm) to give the amount of tiles you need. Add 10 percent for cutting and wastage. Installation is equivalent to for ceramic tiles but you will need an electric tile cutter having a diamond wheel and also the capacity to tackle your selected depth of tile. Most natural stone is easier to cut than ceramic. The extra weight of real stone should also be considered use strong battens, a minimum of 50mm wide and screwed towards the wall, to support the beds base line of tiles.

Use a saw tile to reduce a tile to suit around an awkward shape like a pipe or architrave. If you want to cut a curve, to suit around the side of the basin for example, create a card template the identical size as the tile. Make cuts about 10mm spacing along the curve edge and press web site into position. Trim the 10mm strips to match exactly around the curve and transfer this shape to the tile. Be sure you leave at least 2mm for grouting.

STEP-BY-STEP

1 To prevent lots of cut tiles or even an unbalanced look, make-up a tile gauge (a batten with the tile dimensions and grout spaces marked along the edge) to plan the positions from the tiles so that the tops with the last row of tiles under any window will be exactly flush with all the ledge. You may find you'll have to cut the bottom row of tiles.

2 Screw a batten towards the wall along the line you've got marked. Check with a spirit level that it is horizontal. Fix an additional upright batten along the left side from the area to be tiled. Again, use a spirit level to ensure it's vertical.

3 Spread the adhesive/grout over most a square meter from the wall, starting within the corner made by the two battens. Use the notched side of the spreader to form even ribbons of adhesive. This is especially important for heavy stone tiles. Usually of thumb, 6mm notched spreaders can be used for walls and 10mm versions for floors.

4 Learn to tile, pressing the tiles gently on the wall and sliding into position until you see adhesive squeeze out around the sides. Press spacers into each corner and hold a spirit level throughout the tiles to see if they form a set surface. Continue to tile, taking care of about a square meter at any given time until you've fixed every one of the whole tiles. Clean off adhesive in the tile surface while you work.

5 Next, lay tiles along the sides and front of the window reveal so they cover the edges with the wall tiles. Wipe off any adhesive before it has dried with a damp sponge.

6 Leave the splashback to dry fully before detaching the timber battens. Now cut the tiles to match into any gaps at the bottom of the splashback and at leading and sides with the window reveal. Fix set up.

7 When every one of the tiles are fixed, leave to dry. Force more adhesive/grout to the gaps between the tiles having a squeegee. Wipe off all the excess grout with a damp sponge, rinsed out regularly in water that is clean. When the surface is dry, polish having a dry cloth.

8 To make a flexible waterproof seal new tiles plus a worktop, run a bead of waterproof sealant round the bottom of the tiles.

TIPS

If you are tiling around an acrylic bath, half fill with water to make the rim flex to its maximum extent before filling the gap with a bathroom sealant.

Make screw holes for bathroom accessories using a masonry drill bit. To avoid the bit slipping and damaging the surface, stick some masking tape over the area to be drilled.

Buy every one of the tiles you will need at once if possible to avoid any differences between batches.

If you want to form a pattern, draw a strategy of the room on graph paper to ensure the pattern can look in proportion and symmetrical.

To tile a space that has to be used everyday, tile half of the area at a time so you can still walk over the bare floor while the tile adhesive sets. If you find you are working slowly and the adhesive is beginning to set, only spread around half a square meter at the same time. It's essential the adhesive remains wet when the tiles are increasingly being fixed.

Fireplaces

Stone Fireplaces are a defining feature for a lounge or dining area, making the perfect frame with a wood, coal or gas fire. Needless to say, any chimney linings should be pre-installed in your self-build project as well as the surround really does come at the final stages with the project. Most companies offer a design and install service that's worth the money for such large and dear objects. Otherwise, look at builder is happy to take on the job. It may need extra lifting equipment however the installation process isn't complicated. It is possible to choose anything from the clean lines of your contemporary fireplace to a reproduction Regency style or make contact with an architectural salvage yard for any genuine period piece. Most yards will also undertake restoration work on stone and marble fireplaces.

Baths and basins

Baths, basins and washstands can be either stone resin or solid stone. There exists a wide range of colors offered by off-whites to reds, browns and blacks. Keep in mind the loading over a suspended floor baths can weigh from 200 to 500kg or even more.

As well as the luxury of the solid stone basin, a few of the modern designs can also be breathtaking, with open wave forms, travertine mosaic and deceptively thin slab designs.

Worktops

Granite is the most popular of the natural stonework surfaces. It's not hard to clean and contrasts well with lighter wood carcases. Marble and limestone look nice but are softer and will scratch or stain. Whenever you plan your kitchen, ensure the runs of floor cabinets can withstands weights up to 90kgs per square meter average to get a 30mm solid granite top. You can even specify 40mm tops, produced from two 20mm layers using a ply central insert to cut back the weight. Your kitchen supplier should alter the design and add extra support around sink cut-outs and appliances. The suppliers may also need a clear work space so all sinks and hobs should be removed and kept free from the work area. When you can, don't install the wall sockets until after the worktop is fitted this can avoid any accidental damage since the stone is slid into place over the units. Depending on the shape and size of each element, the suppliers might point to extra joints in solid granite worktops as the grain structure can be extremely vulnerable to cracking if there's any stress over longer lengths or around narrow cut-out areas. Don't forget to order matching granite up-stands

for that walls. These are around 100m high with polished surfaces and edges. Color-matched silicone sealant can be used for the jointing. As with sanitary items, composite quartzite can help to eliminate the price of the kitchen but nonetheless give some of the solidity and feel of the real stone. In addition, it has the advantage of grain consistency plus a wide range of solid reds, blues, greens and more neutral tones.

Cleaning and maintenance

stone wall - Keep a copy from the care and maintenance instructions given your stonework as sealants and care procedures vary. Granite surfaces for example worktops don't need an excessive amount of specialist cleaning as the surface doesn't absorb stains in the same way as a softer travertine stone.

Wipe up any spills as fast as possible, especially liquids such as acidic juices and alcohol. Fine grit may be the big enemy of natural stone flooring as ground in particles cause striations than eventually dull the surface. Use a mop, soft brush or vacuum to get up the dirt. A neutral pH detergent and warm water will remove grease along with other light stains but ensure the floor is dried having a soft cloth to stop a film build of residues.

Stone should just have resealing every 3-5 years or so and some products won't ever need resealing. After installing any natural stone, it's essential to clean up any mortar/adhesive residue right away as the resin-based adhesives bond' the stone surface and therefore are extremely difficult to clean up when cured. For bathroom and kitchen installations, avoid using any wax or soap cleaners for around the first six weeks. Otherwise, the stone pores will become clogged and restrict the evaporation from the mortar/adhesive.