working with sheet-mounted glass mosaics-suggestions needed for solving a problem

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Rob Z

Some background first, then my question....

The designer's plans for this bathroom called for a wavy soffit over the shower. The designer gave me the dimensions for the curves, I figured out the radii and the length of the curves, and then we built this in the shop and installed it. We then covered it with drywall and my employee plastered it, sanded it, primed and painted it. That was the easy part.

The problem is that now the husband has just learned what his wife decided back in July (she said she told him, he says she didn't tell him :mad2: ). The original drawings showed small glass mosaics in a band on the wall directly under the soffit. These small mosaics (about 1/2" x 1/2" and only about 3/32" thick) are paper mounted on the face. The designer thought they could be water-jetted to form the curve. The manufacturer said no they won't do it. I told the customer that the only way reasonably I could do this would be to install the wall tile first, running it up behind the eventual location of the curved soffit, and then install the soffit afterwards and use a flexible bead along the transition from the soffit to the glass tile. This would of course be some what more time consuming and thus more expensive for the labor.

The customer decided to save some money on the project and opted for the glass to get installed lower down the wall, with the 3" x 6" travertine running up to the soffit (easier to scribe and cut travertine than glass). This way, I could install full sheets of the glass mosaics and avoid cuts.

Now, the husband is unhappy (not with me, but with the missus) that the glass won't be installed at the top of the wall and under the soffit. I said I would try to figure out a way to do this, even though it's too late to do my original idea of installing the soffit after the glass is in place.


Jay from Oz mentioned applying contact paper and getting the sheets water jetted, but I don't think that will work because these are paper face mounted.

I don't think I can use biters to trim these because they are extremely fragile and thin. And even if so. there is almost 8 feet of intersection to trim and that would be about 200 tiles to try and cut:yikes:.

I'm not sure that a dry cutting diamond wheel in the small RotoZip saw would give a good cut (at least the paper would stay intact with no water).

I don't think it's practical to try and cut 200 individual tiles (glass blade on wet saw) and then set them by hand, one at a time.

Any suggestions or great ideas? I hate to just immediately tell the clients "too bad " and that they can just argue with each other about the fact they they didn't communicate about the changes the wife made to save some money on the original scope of work. I'd like to figure out some way to solve this problem.


That kneewall you see in the picture was built to be exactly the width and height of a certain number of sheets of glass mosaics (no cutting). The void at the top will be filled with drypack, sloped for a stone ledge and then a piece of glass up to the ceiling.

That's Wedi board on the walls.
 

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Rob, don't use biters, used wheeled Leponitt nippers, make a carboard template and draw the line on the mosaic sheets and nip away. One piece at the time. Tile nippers will be too hefty for this and not cope with the paper, the wheeled cutter doesn't care about the paper, and the faster you work the straighter the cuts across, I do this all day long, with every bit of glass in my mosaic 🙂
 
Hi G, I'm going to search for that type of cutter now. If that will do the trick I'm thrilled!

My next worry is that the pieces will fall off the paper. Just from sliding the sheets out of the box to show the customer, several pieces fell off of the sheet. What kind of low-tack, washable glue could I use to remount loose pieces back on the paper?
 
Hi G, I'm going to search for that type of cutter now. If that will do the trick I'm thrilled!

My next worry is that the pieces will fall off the paper. Just from sliding the sheets out of the box to show the customer, several pieces fell off of the sheet. What kind of low-tack, washable glue could I use to remount loose pieces back on the paper?


Yes,. that's the exact cutter I meant and use all day every day - (for UK folk Tradetiler sells one I also use, not leponitt and wheels not as sharp, but long handles which increases leverage, good to swap between the two).

Just turn the wheel regularly by loosening it with the allen key that comes with it - if you hold it square to the glass it cuts straight, if you hold it an an angle you can manage curves, have a look at the penguins, every piece is cut with it. Keep your wrist straight, in line with the lower arm, otherwise you can get RSS really quickly.

As to the paper, use diluted PVA (gasp!! I know!! pva on the forum!! :lol: ) like diluted weldbond, even 5 water to 1 weldbond might be enough, it dries ok into the paper and soaks and washes off again afterwards. Have fun, just get into the groove with it.
 
[video=youtube;A4Z3WTHQXw8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4Z3WTHQXw8[/video]
you could cut them with a rubi
 
Hi Dean, I have the Sigma version of that Rubi cutter. I didn't think of trying it because of the curves. Maybe I can get it to make the cuts along with the nippers that Gisela recommended.

Thanks, this gives me some confidence that I can tackle this next week.
 
Hey there Rob, We thought about that, maybe to use the Fein to get a nice cut. My concern was/is whether or not that transition between the cut edge of the drywall and the glass will look clean enough.

The tool that Gisela mentioned should be here on Tuesday, so by mid-week I'll be working on a solution.:thumbsup:



how thick is the dry wall? Can you not cut it back and still slide them behind?
 
Hope yopu get it sorted Rob 😉

If it was me I would cut the plaster and dry wall back just enough to get the tiles in, grout then afterwards take so outline tape, follow the curve of the ceiling maybe 1-2mm down on the tiles, apply a thin bead of decorators caulk, paint in with the ceiling and remove tape which would give you a nice crisp transition.

This sort of tape is used quite a lot in custom body shops

This is quite a good demo of the type of tape i'm on about

[video=youtube;n3R8h6u4EI0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3R8h6u4EI0[/video]
 
how thick is the dry wall? Can you not cut it back and still slide them behind?

Definately one way to do it, the easiest and cleanest or use a glass diamond blade to cut to the shape. If any fall off the sheet leave them and just fill in any gaps once theyre all on the wall.

missyT
 
Update: the Leonitt brand biters recommended by Gisela arrived this afternoon. I went into the shop tonight and experimented with some cuts, and it is just as G. said it would be...great tip MG-I'm glad I have this tool now. Thanks again Gisela :thumbsup:
 
Update: the Leonitt brand biters recommended by Gisela arrived this afternoon. I went into the shop tonight and experimented with some cuts, and it is just as G. said it would be...great tip MG-I'm glad I have this tool now. Thanks again Gisela :thumbsup:

Weyheyy!! :hurray: great...
 
Glass Mosaic's - Wet Rm - Wedi Deck 015-WEB.jpgGlass Mosaic's - Wet Rm - Wedi Deck 009.jpg-En-Comp.jpg

As Mosaic Girl is a real pro on this subject, I would take her advice any day. I have however, used my Rubi TX1200 fitted with a mosaic separator tool - also Rubi and it will cut curves as well, you have to ease the pressure off the glass and turn it slightly. Those ultra thin mosaics are a real challenge, take a look at these - 3mm thick - Italian and paper mounted.
 
The Leonitt nippers worked really well (thank you Gisela). The only aggravation was working with the paper-face mounted stuff. For the mesh mounted stuff nibbling away with these biters was a breeze.

I used the Festool Rotex 90 sander to clean up, grind, and polish edges, as needed. Festool sells pads which can be used to polish cut edges.

I'm waiting for the decorative glass panel to get installed, and then I'll get some photos to share.

Thanks for the help. I hope everyone is doing well over in the UK. We've been busy/hectic over here.

Richard, that's a fine looking installation! Very nice.
 
Update: the Leonitt brand biters recommended by Gisela arrived this afternoon. I went into the shop tonight and experimented with some cuts, and it is just as G. said it would be...great tip MG-I'm glad I have this tool now. Thanks again Gisela :thumbsup:

They are good, I use them all the time with mosaics
 

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