Tiling Mosaics - Tile Advice

[gordybaillie]

Hi

I have just joined the site having completed a 4 week course to gain a City and Guilds Level 1 certificate and have done a couple of small jobs since - one which involved fitting a mosaic border.

I had a bit of difficulty with this as when applying the mosaic sheet border to the adhesive on the wall the adhesive would come through between each small mosaic therefore making it almost impossible to grout - is there a simpler way of doing this?

Then when you come to grout the mosaic how do you finish these off?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Old Mod]

Hi and welcome to the forum Gordy!

When fixing mosaic, depending on their thickness, u'd normally use a much smaller notched trowel, something around 4mm.
Deep enough to give a bed but not as deep as the thickness of the mosaic, this should keep your adhesive low enough.
If adhesive does come through, then it needs to be raked out before grouting.
I'd want to do that the same day, when adhesive has grabbed but not cured, next day is much harder.
You'd grout mosaic like any other tile, there's just more joints!

 

[Unused Account 1]

You can get sheets of self sticking plastic or board ,nice and thin,to cut to the size of the mosaic stick on the back of the mosaic and creates a solid finish so its not moving about ,

 

[Unused Account 1]

Mosaic self adhesive backer ,

 

[Italy]

Hi

I have just joined the site having completed a 4 week course to gain a City and Guilds Level 1 certificate and have done a couple of small jobs since - one which involved fitting a mosaic border.

I had a bit of difficulty with this as when applying the mosaic sheet border to the adhesive on the wall the adhesive would come through between each small mosaic therefore making it almost impossible to grout - is there a simpler way of doing this?

Then when you come to grout the mosaic how do you finish these off?
you started right away into fifth gear!!!!! good and welcome tf

Thanks in advance for any help!

you started right away into fifth gear!!!! good and welcome tf

 

[bansko]

Gordy, if it's something like a mosaic border and your using a cement based adhesive you have the option to mix a small amount of whatever grout you are using and using your squeegee spread a thin layer over the mosaic then fix it. That eliminates any adhesive showing through, if there's enough grout on you can basically grout it as you go. You will find it works perfect.

 

[gordybaillie]

Thanks for the welcomes and all your help! Already got quite a lot of useful info from this site which is great.

 

[MTiler]

depending on thickness of mosaics it is possible to get 3mm trowels.
If the mosaics are thinner than the field tiles and its a narrow border just fix the mosaics to a correct thickness backerboard first, which makes it less fiddly. When theyve cured just fix the board into the gap for the border.

 

[CJ]

mosaic backing mesh - Google Search

 

[Old Mod]

I'm sure that backing mesh has its advantages, but if I was learning to fix mosaic, I'd want to do it without an aid.
My guess is you're not always gonna be in a position to use it, I'm sure it'll be cost prohibitive at times.
And if u've only ever used the mesh, surely it's gonna be a much more difficult task without.
I've never used it so I can't really comment I suppose, but last time I looked it was around a £1 a sheet, that's gonna add £11 a metre!

 

[peteablard]

I'm sure that backing mesh has its advantages, but if I was learning to fix mosaic, I'd want to do it without an aid.
My guess is you're not always gonna be in a position to use it, I'm sure it'll be cost prohibitive at times.
And if u've only ever used the mesh, surely it's gonna be a much more difficult task without.
I've never used it so I can't really comment I suppose, but last time I looked it was around a £1 a sheet, that's gonna add £11 a metre!

I've used it a few times, it was only for packing out borders so not many sheets were needed which makes it low cost. You wouldn't want to use them for doing full walls as it eliminates the option to slice through the mesh and adjust sheets to line up better

 

[White Room]

Dog tooth for me...

 

[Just Rizzle]

how much was your course go get your money back.
what did they teach you how to put on a flat wall 6x6 tiles?
borders are an every day tiling traite you've had your money pinched.