All Tiled Up
Worry not, I am still alive. Indeed, this is certainly a record for the blog… It’s been well over a month since I posted an update, and for that I must apologize. I usually spent some time on the weekend to update the site, but lately my weekends have been spent running around handling errands for the house. Who would have thought building a house would get in the way of updating a blog about building a house. Shocking, I know.
A lot has happened since my previous post—the brickwork has been completed, trim has been installed, the kitchen has been installed, everything has been painted, etc.—but in the spirit of maintaing focus for each post, I’ll stick to a single topic today. Tiling.
All of our tile was purchased from Saltillo, with the exception of the floor tile in the master bathroom. The hexagon carrara marble (pictured above) was actually purchased months ago when we stumbled upon a 40% off sale at Ciot. At $11/sqft, that was still outside of our budget, but Jess had wanted that style from the beginning… and the steep discount made it a little easier to swallow. So purchase it we did. Beyond the hexagon mosaic floor, we went with a polished Fiorito stone for the shower walls and tub surround. The stone is primarily white, with some grey veining and a hint of brown. The grey matches mosaic floor and a single random-brick carrara inlay that wraps the shower wall at about 4”. The brown touches should really bring everything together as it’ll compliment the walnut vanity that’s being made for us.
We also went with a Nuheat radiant floor heating system… although, can someone explain why Nuheat thought they could use the Coda application icon and nobody would notice? For shame.
Ok, so we definitely splurged a little lot in the master bathroom… so we needed to simplify things just a bit in the shared bathroom. The floor is a white penny tile ($6.75/sqft), and the tub surround is a 4×12 white subway tile ($2.32/sqft). For a little additional character, we added a little single inlay of 1/4 polished bluestone bricks. Now, these suckers cost $17/sqft, but luckily we didn’t need many of them.
The main floor is primarily hardwood, but the foyer and powder room floor is a beautiful 16×24 filled/honed Travertino. We had considered a number of options but at $9/sqft, the Travertino was a steal in my opinion. It has a warm, cream colour and the complex veining gives it a lot of character.
In the basement, we had toyed with the idea of stained concrete, but in the ended decided to finish the laundry and mechanical rooms with a simple and inexpensive ($3.38/sqft) 12×24 ashgrey tile. It certainly looks better than stained concrete, although the size of the tile made sloping the floors a little difficult.
The basement bathroom has a similar style to the shared bathroom upstairs, with a 1×1 white hexagon mosaic for the floors and a 3×6 white bevelled subway tile for the tub surround. In retrospect though, I’m not sure we’d do the bevelled tile again—It looks great on the wall, but really messy in the corners. The bevel creates uneven gaps where we cut pieces, which are further exacerbated by the grey grout we used. Granted, it’ll be behind a shower curtain in a room that won’t get much use, so it’s not the end of the world.
Post Tags: bathroom, carrara, marble, stone, tile
Hi Jeremy,
What do one of those Nuheat systems go for? Spendy?
— posted on June 30, 2009Did you use an anti-fracture membrane like Schluter’s Ditra under the floor tile anywhere? It stops the tile from ever cracking. Tile, whether stone or porcelain, has compressive strength but very little tensile strength. Mike Holmes (not necessarily the authority on everything) uses it under all tile, as I did. The tile on the floors of most of the churches in Europe have never cracked as they used anti-fracture membranes in the form of a layer of sand under the tile, which separated the tile from the underlying substrate, resulting in no cracking when the substrate shifted as the tile and substrate were effectively uncoupled from eachother. In my opinion, a mechanical anti-fracture membrane is the best one (vs a paint-on one) and Schluter makes the best one out there. it’s about $2/sq ft installed but a small price to pay so that the expensive tile does not crack. And, the tile does not necessarily crack immediately but over time, especially with the substandard (yet Building Code conforming) floor joist and plywood design they use today.
Also, for the tile walls in the showers or around the tubs did you use a waterproofing membrane? All tile grout eventually cracks and water gets behind it creating mold (and, of course, people use water-resistant wall-board such as the green or blue drywall or cement board behind tile for this very reason – they expect the water-resistance will be required because eventually water will get to it). Schluter also makes Kerdi which is a membrane that goes over the drywall (you can just use plain ole drywall when you use Kerdi) and under the thinset under the tile and acts like a rubber glove over your entire shower enclosure (another product Mike Holmes loves). I used this also in my showers and in my steam shower.
Or did you use other similar type products? If so, what?
— posted on June 30, 2009Yep, we used Dirta in the foyer & bathroom, but nowhere else as it didn’t really make sense with the mosaic tiles. The mosaics show the subfloor imperfections if it’s not perfectly level. To ensure everything was perfectly flat, the installer applied a layer of cement (or something similar… I don’t recall exactly). This obviously doesn’t prevent cracks, but the mosaics aren’t as susceptible.
As for the walls… we didn’t use the Kerdi, although in retrospect, I wish we did. I had asked for it, but our contractor said they don’t typically use it… and the budget was already pressed, so we really couldn’t spend the extra. We did use the cement board (which I think you commented on previously), but that was kind of a surprise… I didn’t realize it was in the drywall estimate and I just discovered it one day at the house. I guess Kerdi would have been ideal… regular drywall would have been worst-case… and cement board is a decent middle ground. Or at least that’s what I’m telling myself now.
— posted on June 30, 2009I don’t know exactly which model we got, but it came to just over $400 if I remember correctly.
— posted on June 30, 2009Well, this doesn’t seem so expensive. I was trying to find similar model, but the cheapest I got was over $550. Couldn’t find cheaper.
— posted on July 1, 2009Regarding the Kerdi, most contractors don’t use it because they are stuck in doing everything the way (often wrong) they always have. Kerdi (or similar products, but I think Kerdi is the best as it’s basically mechanical waterproofing) is the only insurance that the water that does eventually get behind your tiles does not go into the substrate (ie the drywall or cement board) and cause mold. But since it’s cheaper, quicker and requires no training not to use it, contractors don’t. Hardly an excuse not to waterproof walls in an area that is going to subject to water a few times a day for the lifetime of the house. Cement board, water resistant drywall, etc are not waterproof but do provide a small degree of water resistance (not that the seams between the adjacent cement boards are not even sealed typically and that is hardly going to stop water flow). I used plane ‘ole drywall behind my Kerdi as with the Kerdi it doesn’t really matter what you put behind it.
— posted on July 6, 2009Seems like this blog is dead. There was another blog subject posted after this one, then suddenly it was deleted and the last subject was over 40 days ago. hmmmm
— posted on August 10, 2009Too bad that the owner seems to have lost interest in this project. Hope it ended well and didn’t end in bankruptcy.
— posted on August 26, 2009Jeremy,
Just found your blog and wanted to thank you for the work you’re doing. Educating the public about creating an eco-friendly home is an extremely admirable thing to do. I write an ecohomeblog out in Los Angeles, and plan on following your developments. Keep up the good Green work!
— posted on August 29, 2009Helllloooooooo? Anyone home?
— posted on September 17, 2009I emailed him directly at his other blog, which appears to be updated regularly, but didn’t get a response there either. Seem exceptionally odd given all the press this house and blog hasn’t gotten in the local media.
— posted on September 17, 2009Has gotten in the local media, I mean, not hasn’t lol.
— posted on September 17, 2009Fear not, I’m still here… and contrary to the rumours, we haven’t run out of money! Unfortunately work and a pregnant wife has eliminated a great deal of my free time… so I haven’t had a change to keep on top of the blog. I’ve got a huge backlog of emails to respond to, plus I need to start writing again.
Excuses, excuses, I know.
Heck, the webcam went down weeks ago as well…
The exterior of the house has been lingering (looong story, which I obviously need to blog about), but the interior of the house is almost done.
When I can find a spare moment, I’ll get this site updated!
— posted on September 17, 2009Good to hear that your lack of updates are not catastrophic in nature.
Your project has been quite the inspiration for my own future home….
— posted on September 22, 2009Looking forward to the updates
— posted on September 25, 2009hi jeremy,
i too have enjoyed visiting your blog, and anxiously await your latest updates. i noticed your stair railings most recently and love them. they mix modern and organic – unlike the usual crap you see in most toronto homes. who did you get to do them?
— posted on September 29, 2009Any new updates, I have been following the process from the start and would love to see some final pics. This is a beautiful home and congrats on the final outcome for you and your family.
— posted on December 16, 2009