Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Granite tiles

Spent the last couple days cutting and laying the granite tiles. I had to rent a tile machine that could handle granite - and boy, they gave me a huge one! It took 2 people to move the cutter, but it worked great! Cutting was a breeze.
This is the new tiling system I tried. Of course, I can't remember the name of it - will have to find that and post.
It consists of metal tracks for the edging, and you cut strips of tile to fill it in. There are inside and outside corner pieces - so no mitering has to be done. It was quite easy to use, and really looks different.
I also used ditaset between the underlayment and the tile. This is a cushioned material that is designed to keep the tiles and grout from cracking if the substrate expands and contracts.
This is top of the system. It comes in different metal colors, I chose brushed chrome - since it matches stainless steel. You can see the ditaset, it's the orange stuff (this is dry fit for these pictures). The ridge slips underneath the tile and is mortared down. The tile then butts right up against the edge.


This is the front view, with the channel empty.

This is how the granite strip looks. You just use silicone to hold it into place, and grout around the edges.

Since the tiles come right up to the edge of the counter, there is a 1 inch gap in the back. I chose a mosaic to fill it in. There will be a backsplash as well, not shown here.