mosaic borders fix as your going or at the end ?

[brinkley]

i read a thread on here it was about tiling a wall with a mosaic border and a few tilers on here were saying that they leave out the border till the end just leaving a gap for it to pop in to . Personally i put the border in as im going using spacers to hold it i can see why some leave it out by either using baton or slithers of tile but how are you supposed to screed this little border sized piece of wall at the end, screeding the back of the mosaic results in the addy coming through the joints so is there little screeders you can buy that are about 2 inches wide sounds messy imo leaving your mosaic borders out till the end.

 

[lcjohno]

i leave them out till the end incase the wall is not 100% flat or the mosaic is thinner than the tiles. If this is the case i make a tool with an end that is the depth of the mosic and adhesive, the other part of the tool sits on the tiles (hope you know what i mean) I then fill the gap with a rapid set using the tool so the correct depth is acheived all the way around the gap. You can then cut out notches on the tool and use as a small trowel for the mosaics. Hope you can imagine this cos its hard to explain. You need to use something like a thick plastic, i found some of the plastic which protects the corner of the tiles whilst in the box works well.

 

[brinkley]

Good answer another good trick there but how long does that take ?

 

[doug boardley]

this is how I normally do them, (the pic belongs to Thespanishtiler tho)

 

[lcjohno]

that is what i was trying to explain doug. Good picture that. It doesn't take that long, i usually try and do at the end of the day then when i'm back in in the morning fit the mosaic first using rapid set and grout the rest whilst it drys. Or you can do it once the first tile above the boarder has set

 

[doug boardley]

I normally fix the tiles above the border with rapid set, then I can fix borders the same day

 

[mikethetile]

i havent done many borders but i use the method above

i learnt it from here and just assumed it was the right way to do it

i cant see how you fix a mosic border any other way

the mosaics are thinner so you would need to dub out........what a mess and how do you keep them flush on the front

you would need a lot of pegs to hold the mosaics in place if your going to tile straight off them

setting a batten is a faff but the scraper doesnt take long to make i think overall its quicker and a better job to set your border after than to stand there fiddling about with mosaics and then risk having the pressure from the above tiles compressing them

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Dougs way is the way I've always done it - but my 'tool' has a serration cut in for when I fix the mosaic!
I've found that by putting the tile either side of the border is easier to align and keep level and as suggested when thinner mosaic is fixed it allows for a flush finish.
I will always use fast set adhesive to stop any slumping of border and if they are heavy - tile spacers.

 

[White Room]

As above

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Yep, as Doug, Timeless, and Spanish. Works for me