Tile up? Or tile down?

chrisz said:
uh-oh, contradiction! if i sit the tile on top like gcol suggests, then seal between tile and worktop, will this not be a sufficient seal?
Tough call here - gcol is very experienced, and generally we agree, but not on this point I fear.

If you abut the bottom of the tile to the worktop then there'll be no gap to seal - you'll be relying on creating a strip of sealant against the tiles rather then underneath.

This is more critical on baths and shower trays than on kitchen worktops, but, personally, I prefer to use the same method at the bottom all tiled walls.
 
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My reasons for saying you should sit the tiles directly on the worktops are thus:
1. Ease of tiling.
2. More often than not, kitchen work surfaces are not fitted correctly. Often the walls are not flat and so it's not unusual to have 6 or 7mm gaps between the work surface and the wall. Kitchen fitters hate having to scribe the backs of work surfaces because plasterers have done a shoddy job, so it's usually just left with a gap. This gap can make it difficult to apply silicone if you space the tile off the work surface - the silicone goes straight down the gap!
3. If you have a close look at the edge of a tile, it's not perfectly square - before firing the tiles are cut with a cutter. This cutter leaves the rounded edge you see on the front and the sharp edge on the back. It also means that the edge of the tile slighty slopes inwards towards the front. This fact means that when the tile is sat on the work surface, there is a small gap that will accept a small amount of silicone.

I agree that when tiling round a bath, the whole void at the bottom of the tile and the edge of the bath needs totally filling with silicone because of the regular movement and the water issue involved. The fact of the matter is that it's not necessary to do so in a kitchen and in my opinion the pros of sitting the tile on the work surface outweigh the cons.
 
All understandable, but I have some comments:

1. I agree that it's easier without spacers, but I don't find the extra difficulty to be very much.

2. When there's a large gap/cavity waiting to devour silicone, I poke scrim tape into the gap first.

3. I agree that there's a gap at the front of the tile, created by the rounded edge, but the silicone generally adheres less well to this edge because of the glazing (when it's there), whereas it sticks better to the the unglazed part of the edge towards the back of the tile.
 
Valid comments Softus, whilst I agree that your method is required for bathroom areas it's unecessary for kitchens.
Both methods will privide a good seal for kitchen use.
 
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ok. i will see which method proves easiest when I tile.

The worktop is fitted pretty well, and at one end there is no gap, at the far end there is a small gap. but one which is easily covered by a tile.

thanks

now is just need to decide whether to do them in a brick style or one on top of the other!
 
Seal the worktop with silicone before tiling.

Leave 2 or 3 m/m gap above worktop for final silicone seal, remove grout from this gap with a plastic scraper.

In my opinion use the brickwork pattern, much easier to tile, than trying to keep a straight vertical line between tiles.....Good luck
 
trazor said:
In my opinion use the brickwork pattern, much easier to tile, than trying to keep a straight vertical line between tiles.....Good luck

That's what I reckon.
 
One more thing....!

I have both a diamond wet wheel cutter and normal tile cutter (score and snap). Which shall I use on the ceramics? Is it better to use the wet wheel regardless, or is it a bit overkill on ceramics?
 
Personally, I use a scoring cutter for every straight cut, and a wet diamond saw for tiles that need shaping around things. The scoring cutter does porcelain too.
 
Softus said:
The scoring cutter does porcelain too.
I think it's worth mentioning that cheapo tile cutters often struggle with porcelain - usually they're ok when you're cutting a good portion of the tile but when you want to cut a small piece off (say a 20mm strip) they can't handle it and the tile more often than not, breaks. As with most things, you do get what you pay for.
 
gcol said:
I think it's worth mentioning that cheapo tile cutters often struggle with porcelain - usually they're ok when you're cutting a good portion of the tile but when you want to cut a small piece off (say a 20mm strip) they can't handle it and the tile more often than not, breaks. As with most things, you do get what you pay for.
You're right - perhaps I should've mentioned that I use a big Rubi. ;)
 

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