by Riley Doty, Doty Tile

A year later I’m picking up the topic of setting Subway Ceramics tiles with 1/32″ joints. I recently returned from the large national tile trade show, Coverings. There I met Jan Hohn from Minneapolis who won a major NCTA/Tile Letter award for her installation of period floor tiles set with 1/32″ joints. She used the Victorian/Edwardian type of tile called “Geometrics”, the undecorated single color unglazed tiles which are associated with decorative encaustic tiles of the period. The installation is in a sun room or breakfast room of a c. 1900 house and the layout of the colorful Geometrics make up a carpet like pattern which is true to the very best installations of its day. The juxtaposition of colors is accentuated by changes from straight grid to diagonal, using triangles, rectangles to other polygons, in a complex repeating rhythm. Jan is also experienced at setting Subway Ceramics wall tiles and I’m hoping she will write her opinions on this blog. I’m sure she’ll have both agreements and disagreements with my various statements. One of the methods she has used is an old one in the tile trade – setting wall tiles with string joints. Maybe she will describe how she uses that method!

Why 1/32″ joints are not approved by the tile industry:

Prior to a discussion of setting with these tiny joints the increased danger of cracked tiles must first be pointed out. I have installed a couple of large bathrooms with Subway Ceramics, using a maximum size of 1/32″ joints. I think the result is strikingly more authentic, more similar to period work than the same tile when set with a wider joint. But this is NOT a method that is approved by the NTCA (National Tile Contractors Association). Their reasoning is valid. With tiles butted so close together the installation has diminished ability to absorb shock or movement without cracking. (Even cementitious grout joints offer a bit of stress relief within a field of tilework.) In the next paragraph I’ll discuss how I view this practice which violates industry recommendations.

Examine some wainscot walls that are 100 years old. Few if any are pristine. There are generally two defects in evidence. (a) Cracks appear every so often, running across the field of tiles. (b) There are also usually cases of spalling – edge chipping of the glaze – on some individual tiles. These are the same defects most likely to appear in closely set fields of subway tiles today. (The same physical laws apply!) So in one sense if you want thoroughly authentic subway tile walls you may expect and accept some cracking and spalling. I personally aim to minimize their occurrence and would prefer to avoid cracking and spalling completely, but some appearance of these defects should realistically be considered acceptable. There are some measures which can be taken to try to minimize stress in these closely set walls, and discussion of that subject will have its own section below. (At the same time please note that using the recommended 1/16″ minimum grout joints will NOT ensure that the installation will be free of cracks! Tile is brittle and many forces have the potential to cause cracking – so this is a relative matter of following recommended practices in order to diminish the likelihood of cracking.)

My installation procedure:

As I’ve said earlier I prefer to use a medium bed mortar with a 3/8″ x 1/4″ square notched trowel, and I like to presoak the tiles. I am going to assume that the final height can “run wild”. By this I mean there is not any exact mark that the top tiles have to hit, rather the work can proceed upward until it finishes at whatever line the tiles need to maintain full units. Obviously the module is 3 1/32″, so there is an opportunity at approximately 3″ intervals to have the tilework end with a full uncut course at the top. (Occasionally the work must be planned to finish at an exact predetermined line, but let’s leave that possibility out of the equation for now.)

A. Overview:
(1) I stack off a level aluminum L-edge which I screw into the wall a my predetermined grout line, two courses above the bottom
(2) I set the wall in horizontal bands, working up from the bottom, each one being four courses in height
(3) When I have smeared and set a band of four courses high I stop to adjust and level it.
(4) I observe whether the highest point in the top course of tiles falls at or below the 12 1/8″ line which was my smear line.
(If the high point is above 12 1/8″ then I will have to re-calibrate and adjust by making 12 5/32″ my new layout module for each section.)
(5) After the four-tile-high band is set I put up a metal straightedge and rest it on the tiles.
(6) I secure the L-edge with blobs of thinset, press it in, and set a level on its flange.
(7) My level indicates which is the highest point.
(8) I put red wedges (the kind with razor thin tips) in until the top of all the tiles on the fourth course touch my L-edge..
(Some tiles will be slightly larger than others so some may not require a wedge, but will simply butt each other.)
(9) I remove the L-edge, cleaning off the thinset that held it to the wall.
(10) Before tiling further I first mark my future smear line for any adjacent walls (by laying an L-edge from the top of my finished section).
(11) I proceed up the wall this way in bands which are four courses high.
(12) I like to use a straight piece of lightweight wood about 3/4″ width to “true up” the tile faces, both rubbing with it and tapping on it with a rubber mallet.
(13) Periodically I hold up the 3″ edge of a tile to check my offset, to make sure the running bond doesn’t drift off center.
(14) Please see the earlier blog, including about presoaking and having to remove a portion of tiles to butter them out, etc.

B. Further detail:
-I usually start setting on the longest wall. First I will establish a level starting line. Usually this means that I screw an aluminum L-edge onto the wall. Whether or not the floor is level I want to start stacking off a level base. (I will later take away the L-edge and cut in to the bottom). I then mark and strike lines for three sections (at 12 1/8″, 24 1/4, 36 3/8″ ) each section being four courses high. I like to do sections of four courses rather than three because it is easier to manipulate the trowel and comb thinset for a nominal 12″ band than a 9″ width. These lines will probably be my permanent marks, but that is provisional until after I see that the tiles can actually fit within those tolerances. As I said in #3 above I may have to switch to a larger module if the tiles tell me so.
-I have an assortment of L-edges, with no more than 6″ intervals or gaps from one length to the next. They are generally full of holes drilled from past jobs but I am always ready to drill any new holes in new spots needed to attach them on the present job.
-There is a certain calculated risk that after one’s module dimension has worked for initial sections that a later batch of tiles may turn out to run a little larger in size. One reason I try to start with the longest wall is that this improves the odds that I will have a mix that will include larger tiles. However it may be wise to compromise slightly and work with a 12 5/32″ module right from the start; the visible different will be slight and this helps insure some wiggle room in case larger tiles do appear later on. It is true that Subway Ceramics wall tiles do vary more than 1/32″ from large to small. (The industry recommendation is to establish a grout size that is three times the maximum size variation of the tiles being installed. So we understand that what we are trying to do here is decidedly not pragmatic or necessarily easy!)
-DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES AGREE TO SET THESE TILES USING A 1/32″ FOR THE SAME PRICE AS NORMAL TILEWORK!!
-It is wise to work out of several tile cartons at once, shuffling them like a deck of cards (because the tiles in certain boxes may tend to run larger than average.)
-In case you do run into larger tiles on an adjacent wall which will not fit the module used on the long wall then you have a minor emergency on your hands. Sometimes things go smoothly for awhile and then one runs into a change in average tile size. Larger individual tiles will have to be removed from the field and swapped out for smaller ones. Not fun, but never as bad as it first seems when panic sets in – there will only be a finite number of oversized tiles and the problem will get resolved.

C. Possible means of accommodating stress:

-I am an advocate for installing “mini expansion joints”. This is not something which is recognized officially in the tile industry so I will describe it here: This is a scaled down version of standard expansion joints in larger areas of tilework. It is modeled after the use of perimeter expansion joints on floors which ARE strongly endorsed by tile industry bodies such as NTCA and TCNA. Under that system, foam strips either 1/4″ or 1/2″ thick are installed around the perimeter, wherever tilework butts up against hard restraining surfaces (such as walls or building columns). When the finished installation undergoes stresses of tension and compression these soft areas give the tiles room to safely expand. One beauty of perimeter joints is that they are often hidden by baseboards, etc. In those cases the installer does not even have create visible joints – which require considerable work and present a challenge aesthetically in terms of making them blend in nicely with the grout joints.
The material I use for “mini” expansion joints is strips cut from foam sheeting which is slightly thicker than 1/16″. I get the foam from Home Depot for example where it is sold in rolls for use under laminates that use “floating floor” systems. My reasoning is that given the size of most residential tile installations that these appx.1/11″ strips provide a meaningful expansion zone. (Further they ensure that there is no hard connection between a tile field and any adjacent restraining surface. Thus if there is structural stress perpendicular, or in any direction relative to the tiled surface, the tilework will remain unattached and unaffected.) This thin film serves some of the function of an old fashioned cleavage membrane or “slip sheet”.
-Before I install backerboard or mortar I put a strip of foam film on the face of the studs on the perpendicular side walls – afterwards this will be trimmed back flush to the edge of the board. Similarly when I turn to work on the perpendicular walls I put the foam on the surface of the backerboard or mortar. And later when I install the tiles I first apply foam film to the perpendicular restraining surfaces. When the work is finished the corner joints will receive matching caulk instead of grout. Foam is similarly installed at the bottom, between the floor and the wall tiles, and this joint is also caulked.

I have a definite feeling this system is not destined to catch on widely, but I suggest it because it is a possible way to mitigate some of the potential for tile damage from stress. I have no engineering knowledge to quantify how effective this maneuver may be, it’s an intuitive thing. I would be interested to see it tested but meantime I use it in many installations.

I also have a strong preference for using Schluter KerdiBoard as my backerboard of choice, and for working with 4′ x 8′ sheets to minimize joints in the substrate. In closing I want to emphasize that I am extremely satisfied with the results of two large installations I did with 1/32″ joints in 2006 and 2008 respectively. Both are still free of cracks. I hope they will stay that way. If they crack to a slight extent during my lifetime I think I would still favor the tight joints personally, but if they were to crack extensively I would probably abandon the practice of setting these tiles so tightly. The most important thing though is to preview this with the clients and make sure they understand to risk involved.

by Riley Doty, Doty Tile

The Schluter company has been an extremely creative and innovative force within the tile industry in recent years. I recently attended one of their instructional workshops which are available to professional tile contractors (http://www.schluter.com/3792.aspx) Here I was introduced to a brilliant method for truing up walls. I have not yet used this in the field but intend to at the next possible opportunity. This can be used for concrete and masonry walls as well, but I’ll describe the method when applied to wood stud construction. The backerboard is Schluter’s Kerdi-Board which has an extruded foam core, is very lightweight and has good structural stiffness. Preferably the pieces needed will be cut from 4′ x 8′ sheets, so as to make each wall as monolithic as possible.

-First examine the bare wall as previously described, identify the overall highest point protruding on the studs, and mark that spot on the face of the Kerdi-Board.
-Also mark the stud locations on the front of the Kerdi-Board.
-Butter the face of every stud with a generous amount of polymer-modified thinset
-Tilt up the board and bring it into contact with the studs.
-Press it into the thinset until it has contacted the stud at the high point which you marked previously.
-Use a long level (or short level along with straightedges) to true up the board and push it in until it is plumb everywhere.
-Confirm that it registers square to the room (or straight and parallel to the tub edge…)
-Walk away and let the thinset set up overnight
-The next day install Kerdi fasteners into the studs at the normal intervals.

I see everything about this is an improvement, except that the purchase price may cause sticker shock. The cost of the Kerdi-Board per sq. ft. will run about 3.5 times more than cement backerboards. Much or all of that cost difference will generally be mitigated by labor saved during the installation process. In the case of truing up a wall the purchase cost will be far more than made up by the efficiency of the installation. (Compare the above with my 2010 description!) In the end this waterproof board offers excellent performance characteristics.

Part 2 on setting a flat wall with Subway Ceramics tiles (continued from the previous post).
by Riley Doty, Doty Tile

(2) Backer Board.

(a) Truing the studs prior to installing the vapor barrier and the board is the first stage.
-Check the studs with a straightedge; test each one vertically, checking also with a level to see what’s leaning in or out of plumb. Then lay an edge horizontally to see what parts of the studs stick out and which areas are recessed.
-Having noted any gross anomalies (I write crib notes on the studs with Sharpie pen) the two options are adding and subtracting. I find it easier to add if I can do it that way.
-Check diagonally with the longest available edge. (I pride myself in having a set of L-edges with increments of 6″ or less between each length.)
-Check to make sure nothing is protruding around the plumbing fixtures – that’s something that can get missed.
-If the electrician has fastened up those little metal shields (to protect wires from getting pierced by a screw of nail) they have to be removed, as they seriously distort the plane of the backerboard. You thus become responsible to carefully mark the locations to avoid. (I write clear warnings with Sharpie on the face of the backerboard.) Or you may keep them if you mark their location and carve out a recess in the back side of the board so it will fit around the metal plates without touching them. (I use a mini-grinder to carve the board with.)
-To add thickness I use mostly a roll of 15 lb. roofing felt shimming strips that lumber yards sell for just this purpose.
-Other possible materials – depending on what’s available and how much thickness is needed – can include strips of doorskin, even 1/4″ plywood, etc.
-To subtract I sometimes use a belt sander with a coarse grit belt. Other people plane down crowns in the studs, but I don’t have a power planer and have never tried that. (And generally I think it is easier to add than subtract.) BUT if there are severe humps prior to installing backerboard they SHOULD be eliminated, because those are the hardest to deal with afterwards by means of skim coating.

(b) Truing the surface after installing backerboard.
Frankly I rely much more on this second stage. (I ALWAYS plan to do this stage, but only get involved directly with the bare studs if things are grossly out of whack.)
-I recently attended an informative workshop run by the National Tile Contractors Association. One heading written on the board said “Thinset is intended to adhere tiles, not to level uneven setting beds.”
-I admit to violating that rule! (Further I felt the workshop leader had no logical alternative other than I suppose “only work with perfect substrates”. He did suggest self-leveling beds for floors and that has some merits but doesn’t apply to walls, and often the floors I need to tile are not level – in which case I need to create a flat surface though not a level surface.
-If you need a flat AND level floor I strongly recommend floating or using a self-leveling system. (Self-leveling materials have their own special rules so don’t approach that work casually if you haven’t done it before.) For an installation such as Subway Ceramics walls with a cove base it is tremendously easier to have a level floor.
NOTE: Floating will raise the floor considerably higher from the subfloor than will backerboard. This has to be planned well ahead, accounting for planning the amount of step-up at the doorway, the height of the toilet flange, etc.
-It is easier to learn to float a floor than to float a wall. You can consult John Bridge’s books and forum, or we can discuss that on this blog also.
-Basically the way I true up floors or walls is by skimming them with thinset and then rodding off with a straightedge.
-Truing up backerboard is NOT faster and easier than floating! The usual reason for this approach is to permit a design in which the tilework finishes out with less buildup than with mortar. (Often the design requires having tiles set on a backing which is on the same plane as the drywall – vs. being 1/2″ proud of it and returning with quarter round or radius trim at the edges, which is normally the case with mud walls.)
-The first day I use my straightedges (and a level, for reference) to determine where the irregularities are. (Again I scribble notes and put squiggle lines on the backer material.)
-It is pretty easy to fill the swales; skimming out the areas surrounding humps is not as much fun.
-I use medium bed mortar and burn in with the flat side of the trowel. I turn it around and comb the area I’m building up with the notched side.
-I choose which notched trowel based on how thick the build-up needs to be.
-TIP: I don’t float out a solid bed; I only want to skim out a bed that retains the ridges from the notched trowel. (My colleague Phylece prefers to fill in fully with a flat trowel, so she doesn’t buy this “tip”.)
-The wall and floor surfaces are skimmed out using the longest available straightedge that fits the space, “screeding” off whatever the high points are and filling the low areas.
-That first day I do the walls in a horizontal direction, and the floors in one direction. (Then I either go do something else on the job or else I leave for the day. It makes a big difference in terms of an efficient work schedule if there IS other work on site that can be done while the thinset is setting up overnight.)
-The second day I come in and use a straightedge to scrape down my work while the thinset is still “green”. (I use a polymer-rich thinset, so the curing time is slow except in extremely hot weather.)
-I vacuum up the dust or hit the surfaces with a sponge, and repeat what I did yesterday, only in a perpendicular direction. (Then I’m done early again!)
-The third day I’m ready to vacuum or sponge, and put down layout lines.
NOTE: I would always want do those steps, and Phylece also does the same. But I’d say that most people do less prep, because they feel it takes too long and costs too much. That’s a core issue: YOU CAN’T GET THE SAME PRECISION WITH ANY FAST METHOD. And that comes down to money. Communication and agreement with the client is at the heart of this, and if that’s lacking there is going to be grief.

(5) Setting the tiles.
-Having said the above the next question is probably: How can you make a decent job even if you skip some of those steps in the prep? (Or make it better if you DID do that work prior to installing the backer.)
-For setting tiles I recommend using a medium bed mortar and combing with a deeper notch trowel than you usually would. This extra thickness gives more room for beating and rubbing in the tiles, gaining some of the advantage that the old timers had with the plasticity of their fresh mortar beds.
-I have a beating block and also a straight piece of wood that is a bit longer than 12″ to use to rub in and true up the tiles.
-I strongly recommend soaking the tiles before use. (Put a batch into a bucket and let them bubble and fizz until they calm down, taking them out after about half an hour. Then stand them upright, fanning them out to help the excess water drain off the surfaces. This increases the adjustment time once tiles have been set. (Soaking isn’t a big pain, once you get the rhythm going.) Tiles that were soaked the previous day only need a perfunctory dunking, because they retain most of the moisture from yesterday.
-Come prepared to take out tiles and butter them up as needed. I would say with Subway Ceramics I take out and re-butter perhaps 10% of all the tiles I set. (I have a small diameter suction cup with a release knob and a thin hook that looks like a dentist’s tool, but often I simply lever with the blade of a razor scraper.) Fact: if a satisfactory plane can’t be achieved by beating and rubbing IN then the option left is buttering OUT. And every tile that is re-buttered will improve the precision of the installation. Tedious but true.

That’s it for now. No hate mail, please! But it’s okay to disagree, so do express opinions.

Next topic to come: Pros and cons, and techniques for setting tiles really tightly, with 1/32″ joint.

by Riley Doty, Doty Tile

I considered this as the central challenge to setting Subway Ceramics tile as I wrote out my ideas on the whole subject. When I looked over what I’d written it really struck me that floating a mortar bed is simple, elegant, traditional, reliable. By comparison the explanation of my methods for trying to flatten a backerboard wall reads like a description of some Rube Goldberg contraption.

So I’m going to post the first parts now. Later, separately, I’ll post the section about using backerboard. Still I myself have installed two large bathrooms with Subway Ceramics – on backerboard! So I know it CAN be nicely done!

(1) A bit of history first. Late 19th century and early 20th century tile installations were installed in a fresh “wet bed”. Typically a crew floated mortar in the morning and set tile in the afternoon. Because the tilework was beaten in while the mortar was still plastic it was possible to achieve a VERY flat plane. Tiles were square edged and set with tight joints. That was the historic look of period tilework.

As the industry moved into mid-century other methods and materials for tile setting came into the mix, generally ones which did not require such a high skill level from the mechanics. (There were other factors, and that could be the subject of a future discussion.) None of the new methods, including pre-floating the mortar bed and then installing with thinset, produced a flat true plane that could match the earlier standard. That decline in precision resulted in installations that looked a bit “lumpy”. Corners of tiles could be seen kicking up slightly. A field of white tiles was especially vulnerable to scrutiny, because wherever the light raked across a protruding tile a black shadow was blatantly visible.

Tile manufacturers responded by discontinuing the square edged product and bringing cushion-edged tiles onto the market. Switching to tiles with slightly rounded edges helped to mask minor problems of lippage. At the same time grout joints were widened and this also helped make the finished work look presentable. (Early in the century joints had varied between butt-jointed and 1/32″, but now companies began to produce wall tiles with built-in spacer lugs that insured a 1/16″ minimum, so that lippage problems were less noticeable.) Thus a new template was created and this became THE standard “look” for tile installation in the post-WWII era.

(2) Recreating the period look. Subway Ceramics offers a square edged product which reproduces the look of historic tiles used from about the 1880s to the 1930s. But the laws of geometry apply to us today just as they did 80 years ago before cushion edged tiles were introduced. If the finished plane isn’t quite flat then the lippage will show up more readily with these than with most other tiles. (I’d say the demand is comparable to that of setting dimensional stone such as 12×12 marble tiles with a tight joint.) It simply takes longer, takes more care, and it will cost more per foot to install than will many other types of tile.

(3) How do we make the walls suitable for a square edged tile?
I want to toss out a few thoughts and ideas, after which I’ll describe the things that I do to get a flat wall.
-We are talking about cosmetic acceptability – not functional deficiencies. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and not every client will have the same expectation regarding lippage.
-Communication is the key, and for me making up a small sample board and grouting it is the best way to show what degree of precision I plan to deliver. (I make sure to save this because this will be the standard of reference in case of a dispute later.)
-I also use this sample board to mock up the proposed grout color. (I gravitate towards about 12 parts white to 1 part natural gray.) I want to get the sample approved before I grout the installation.
-The sample board is also going to represent how the tiles look with a given grout joint width. With Subway Ceramics I personally lean towards 1/32″ on the basis of historic precedent, but functionally I would prefer 1/16″. So if the client isn’t wedded to “as tight as possible” I’d opt for 1/16″. (Subway Ceramics tiles are NOT calibrated to less than 1/32″ accuracy themselves so the tighter the joint size the bigger the challenge to make things work. But it CAN be done, and it looks good to me – when that’s what the customer wants. The bid has to be higher if using a tight joint.
-Two factors that influence the perception of out-of-true walls are light source and viewing angle.
(a) If lighting is diffuse – as from windows and a central overhead fixture – lippage problems don’t produce dramatic shadows; conversely if there are wall sconces or other sources that cause light to glance across the tilework at a low angle then lippage problems will be most apparent.
(b) If a wall is viewed only full-on then a lower standard of flatness may be acceptable. For instance if there is a three wall tub surround the long back wall is never viewed from the side, whereas the view along the plane of the pipe wall makes irregularities of that surface more prominent.
-Two phases are important in order to produce a pretty flat wall: first preparing the substrate and second setting the tiles.

(4) Substrate. There are two general methods/materials for producing the substrate:

(a) Mortar float
(b) Backer board

These methods are equally good functionally, but floating a mortar bed produces a truer plane.

(5) Mortar Bed

(a) Wet setting
-A small percentage of tilesetters still use the method of wet setting.
-I would not recommend that anyone learn this technique on the job by themselves; this skill should be learned – if at all – over time from a mechanic who is proficient at it.
-My belief is that this method produces the truest plane possible, but that it creates an installation which is somewhat more prone to cracking in the long term, because of greater tension within the tile/substrate assembly.

(b) Mortar float (“pre-floating”, not “wet setting”)
-Tiles are NOT installed the same day as the mortar; instead they are adhered with thinset at least a day later, after the mortar bed has hardened.
-This involves skills which any committed tile setter will want to learn if he/she isn’t already proficient in this area.
-John Bridge has written effective instructions to guide the learning of mortar (“mud”) skills. His work in recent years has emphasized the use of systems provided by the Schluter company, but his web site and forum (www.johnbridge.com) still touch on mud work, and his earlier book is a good “how to -” manual.
-I’m willing to delve into possible questions about mortar work if they are on people’s minds.
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NOTE: You can’t decide at the last minute whether to proceed with mortar or backerboard. Everything has to be planned out ahead of time, accounting for the ramifications of either one system or the other. One main basic difference is that a mortar float will bring the finished tile surface approx. 1/2″ farther out from the studs vs. that obtained by using backerboard. Setting the plumbing valves and several other key relations (including what type of tile trim needs to be ordered) depend on one or the other approach. The two methods are NOT interchangeable once construction decisions have been made.
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Next time I will address the use of backerboard as a substrate.

by Riley Doty, Doty Tile

I will start by one specific tip, based on a past experience: RECONCILING THE HEIGHT OF A 1″ HEX FLOOR TO MEET COVE BASE ON THE WALL. (Problem: the hex is too thin to match the thickness of the cove.)

I was helping give advice and set things up for a homeowner friend who was going to do his own tile installation. I pointed out that the thickness of the cove base was a perfect match for the thickness of a Subway Ceramics wall tile… BUT since he was planning to use a ceramic hex which was thinner something would need to be done to reconcile the heights. Here’s how things veered off course in the real world:
-I had showed him that if he were to stack the walls off the floor, starting with the cove, and then set the hex directly on the same floor that those tiles would be too low to match up to the toe of the curving cove piece.
-I suggested it would be easy to run the coves through the saw ahead of time to shave 1/8″ off the base of the cove, so that it would sit lower to the floor. Using an actual piece of each kind of tile he would do careful experimentation by cutting a trial piece off the cove and confirming that the right amount had been removed by holding the pieces in their intended positions.
-Then the rip gauge could be set for the thickness of the scrap, and bottoms of all the coves trimmed before any tiles were set.
-Meanwhile the job went on hiatus for three months.
-When work finally commenced he had forgotten that plan and simply installed the cove base right onto the floor, uncut, straight out of the cartons
-Then came the dilemma about how to make the heights match correctly. I ended up working with him to skim a thin float on the floor – with medium bed thinset, using 1/8″ thick metal flat bar to screed off of. This raised the plane of the floor so the hex to transition smoothly onto the curve of the cove.

Lesson: IT WOULD HAVE BEEN MUCH EASIER TO TRIM THE COVE RATHER THAN RAISE THE FLOOR!
-A related tangent: I have a little trick I like to do when working with cove. Namely that after the cove pieces are set I make a jig, a notched piece of lattice about 3″ – 4″ long, which I carefully cut so that it will let me screed by riding it along the toes of the cove. This way I intentionally ramp the floor up just a hair, thus adding a thin band of fresh thinset that extends a couple inches out from the wall all around the perimeter. (From 1/16″ or so to zero over a three inch span.) That mini-float is done quickly. My reasoning is that I want to avoid having the hex tiles be too low anywhere that they meet the cove, and I don’t want there to be any tendency to end up with a little swale near the edge of the room where water might puddle. So if I err I want it to be on the side of coming in a tiny bit high – because I can correct that by giving the floated area a quick scrape or grinding to bring it down to fit perfectly.

. . . . . . . . . .

Next installment I plan to write about what I think is the central challenge in working with Subway Ceramics: HOW TO GET THE PLANE OF THE TILES FLAT ENOUGH. I feel that’s key to making the installation look really good.

I see some nice photos of installations here on the site, so some installers are definitely finding ways to make this work! It will be interesting to compare notes as to the different approaches that may be taken. One thing I want to touch on is the fact that authentic square-edged tiles from Subway Ceramics cannot be set today in exactly the same way as was done 80 – 100 years ago. We’ll need to be using different methods in order to succeed in matching the old look.

[introducing Riley Doty] Subway Ceramics is privileged to work with crafts-people like Riley Doty, who have dedicated themselves to re-establishing the lost art of traditional tile installation in their practice. Riley has inspired many of us with his contributions to The Tile Heritage Foundation, leading workshops on historic tilework and tours that instill a greater appreciation of our uniquely American tile heritage.

[Rile Doty] I’m a tile setter based in Oakland, CA with an interest in period restoration work. I’m actively involved with a guild of period craftspeople (http://www.artisticlicense.org) and with Tile Heritage Foundation (http://www.tileheritage.org/).

I’ve installed Subway Ceramics tiles in a couple of large bathrooms. I have had extensive communications with Keith about these projects. He asked if I would write a blog about the experience of working with this product from my perspective, as a tile setter. I told him I would be interested in doing that so long as it was an interactive format. I DON’T intend to dictate how everyone ought to do their jobs, but I DO want to express my ideas and relate some of my own experiences. I hope other installers will put forth their ideas and observations.

The flush, sanitary cove base system is only compatible with radius trim outside corners. Consider either the quarter round or the radius bullnose options. For inside corners, the conventional approach is to butt-join the field tiles and miter the cove base mouldings.

Option A: radius trim, radius cove inside corners – This example uses the 33RB03 as the outside corner trimmer, alternating on each course of tile to maintain the offset vertical grout joints as the tile wraps around each corner. The 06CB01 is used as the sanitary cove outside corner matches the radius trim above.

The optional 33RC03 radius cove used at the inside corner creates an exquisite period detail rarely seen in the vintage tilework that still exists today. The 06QC01 is used as the sanitary cove inside corner matches the radius trim above.

Option B: quarter trim – This example uses the 06QR00 quarter round as the outside corner trimmer, and the 06QC00 for inside corners.

Two systems to trimming outside and inside corners were commonly used historically in American heritage tilework. We refer to these alternative approaches as radius trim and quarter trim. Select the one that works best for your project.

Option A: radius trim – This example uses the 33RB03 radius bullnose as the outside corner trimmer, alternating on each course of tile to maintain the offset vertical grout joints as the tile wraps around each corner. The optional 33RC03 radius cove used at the inside corner creates an exquisite period detail rarely seen in the vintage tilework that still exists today. The 16PC6L is used as the P-cap outside corner matches the radius trim below.

Option B: quarter trim – This example uses the 06QR00 quarter round as the outside corner trimmer. The optional 06QC00 quarter cove used at the inside corner creates a gentle transition between wall surfaces.

Two versions of the P-cap outside corner trim are available. Select the one that is appropriate for the type of field tile bullnose trim used.

Option A: radius trim [traditional approach] – This example uses the 16PC6L as the cap outside corner

Option B: surface trim [conventional approach] – This example uses the 16PC1L as the cap outside corner

A forum question inquired about a traditional mudset tile installation using extended p-cap mouldings with a recessed medicine cabinet above a pedestal sink.

This design features P-cap end stops to create an elegant effect where the wainscot meets the pedestal sink. The use of the mudcap trim around the cabinet adds to the sculptural quality that is unique to heritage tile installations.