How much weight can tile take?

[BeanAnimal]

I apologize if this is a hijack.. I hope it helps those of you who entered the thread and are interested in DIY tile.

My window in the shower was rotting as well. The block comes in singles or in kits. If you buy singles, than you will need to mortar them toghether (a real PITA if you have never done it before). These are "redi2set" brand, made with Pittsburgh Corning glass block. You should be able to find them local but let me know if you can't. http://www.pittsburghglassblock.com/

The "redi2set" series is joined with silicone, not mortar. Perfect for a tub surround. I simply took out the old window and framing. I then measured the rough opening and ordered the largest window I could with 6x6 blocks (they come in several sizesm but I wanted 6x6 for looks). I then hung the hardibacker to fit the new window size. I added framing where needed (the window is smaller than the old windows OUTER FRAME but the viewing area is much larger ) I skinned everything with 1/4 hardibacker so the mortar would stick better. Used silicone where needed to seal the rough opening gaps and vapor barrier inside. I wedged the glass block unit in place and went outsideand mortered it in place using glass block mortar. In this case I made the edge of the glass block flush with plane of the finished tile (or pretty close at least) for a nice built in place look. You can just as easily set it back and frame it like a normal window, using tile to create a sill and casing.

Notice that the glass block was an afterthought... I had already hung the hardi and tiled half the tub. So I kinda lied above... but that is they way it "should" be done Note: my glass block are NOT centered in the old window opening by maybe 2" horizontal. I had to offset them to get the same size gap on each full tile to the right and left. Luckily even with poor advance planning it worked out! Like I said the window was an afterthought and I did not plan the tile around it. I will flash the outside and it will be barely noticeable that the window is not centered. I could care less anyway... the old window look SO BAD with the new tile.

Here are some photos to give you an idea.

 

[douggiestyle]

getting a little thin on top eh.

 

[BeanAnimal]

bald does not bother bean.... gray now that bothers bean.

 

[nyvp]

just to give you a reference here is my 560g with 240 sump on a steel stand on tile. I put a thin foam pcs under the stand so the stand and tile not to meet directly. Its the gray stuff at home depot.


http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=847516&perpage=25&pagenumber=3


look at close to the bottom of page










.

 

[douggiestyle]

bean...and whomever is interested

i stear people away from the epoxy grout. my installers dont want to use it. there is an epoxy grout ive been tempted to use i think its Lacticrete. it has a very long working time something over 1 hour?

anyways ive been using as an upgrade the Prism line of grouts. they are made by custom. they use glass beads instead of sand. they can be used with 1/16" and up. and the glass beads are suppose to be very stain resistant, there are no guarantees. time will tell, the product has only been out for a year?

 

[BeanAnimal]

The prism stuff is reportadly horrible to work with.

That is the Laticrete epoxy in those photos. The product name is "spectralock". They have an industrial/commercial version as well (same stuff I think, just has the appropriate agency certs for govt use, and price to match).

Yes working time well over an hour. If you get in a jam, put it in the freeze... (I still have 2 colors in the freezer from 2 weeks ago) Tested a dab for giggle... low and behold the freezer almost stopped the reaction and once warmed the dab setup.

A guy on johnbridge did a stain test with the spectralock.. ALMOST perfect. He abused it too. It was on a test kitchen counter slab for his kitchen. I think it was grape juice that he let sit for 4 hours that left a slight discoloration that was visible if you searched for it.

I am sold on the stuff... and I am very picky!

 

[douggiestyle]

had no complaints about the prism. havent done a job using it myself. i think all grout is a pain in the ***. yeah sprectralock that sure beats the old 20min work time. i think that is why i cant convince the installes to use it. that 20min stuff left a bad taste in their mouth.

 

[fourth horseman]

tile is as tough as the surface you put it on. example thinset a piece of tile to a concrete floor and to a thin piece of plywood(1/8 inch) let it set up and hit it with a hammer gaaarooontie the one stuck to the ply wood will break sooner than the one on concrete. the key is to make sure it is set up without any voids under it. if you have tile take a golf ball and bounce it around the house, you will know when you find one with a void, or just knock on it with your knuckle. use a good elastimeric thinset you can go really exp. or versabond from home depot. make sure you set a good base of thinset and let set for a couple of days. you need to wait to let the thinset set completely if its not set up they will all sound hollow. before you grout tap on the ones under the tank if their hollow sounding i would pop them up, much easier before you grout. also if you look at the back of the tiles at the color you can tell hardness. the lighter the back the less clay in the tile and the harder it is. not real scientific but if you are using tile that don't have the box's anymore it might help. a good tile floor on concrete should take a couple of blows with a hammer to break it so i think it will be plenty strong enough.