Installing Wall Tiles Different Thicknesses

Tiles of different heights.

Installing wall tiles different thicknesses.

So if you re looking to put your tiles on a bathroom or kitchen wall be sure you get semi vitreous or impervious tiles. We have mexican tile in the entire house but the owners put some smaller tiles in the baths and we are remodeling and installing porcelain tiles on shower walls and bath floor. The height of the existing tile is 1 from slab to top of mexican tile. First install the field tile with spacers.

Once the wall tile is dry the spacers are pulled out. The tiles come in different sizes pre spaced on mats. Today many glass tiles are produced in thicknesses matching ceramic tile but there will always be cases when the problem of various tile thickness. Installing mismatched tiles is a great way to save money or use up leftover floor coverings and still get a designer look to your room.

In our project we used crema marfil an italian tumbled marble tile. On the ceiling and floor of the shower we used 2 x2 tiles and on shower walls 2 x4 tiles. Ten or fifteen years ago when nearly all commercial glass tiles were 1 8 thick installers had a recurring problem of having to fit thin glass tiles into a thicker ceramic tile installation. Installing wall tile is a four stage process involving surface prep layout applying adhesive and tiles and grouting the tiles.

Your main shower tile is 3 8 thick or thicker and your glass accent tile or mosaic is 5 16 or less with some as thin as 1 8. The tiles to each side were cut out of scrap and are the exact size as the accent tile and are used as spacers 1. Installing different shapes and tile material to your walls can often result in the smaller tiles likely made of glass to be a different thickness than ceramic tile. Installing ceramic tile that has different thicknesses.

I cut spacers out of scrap tile that is the exact same size as the glass accents so i can install the wall tile first. Lippage describes the difference in heights between tile set side by side. It happens all the time. When installing two tiles from two different suppliers often the thickness of each tile is not the same.

The average do it yourselfer can correct this problem with the proper tools and by following a few simple instructions. Step 1 prepare the wall. Too much lippage can cause an awkward and uneven look in a shower or bath.