…the marble tile backsplash kitchen project has been… interesting. *heh*
Warning: Renov tale. Skip if handymanish stuff gives you a rash. The voices in my head say I must go here…
So, 12″ marble tiles. That was cool, since the backsplash I was working on was just about 12.75″ tall (by almost exactly 15′ in length–4’+11′) with the area under the window over the sink ~8.75″. Worked out the 3/4 inch differential with an oak spacer (which I’ll “pickle” this weekend).
The “interesting” parts?
Cutting the freaking tiles. *sigh* I had made a decision to cover one straight run of just a hair over 11′ with whole times as much as possible (except for the 3′ under the sink window where I’d planned to use my tile cutter to trim 4″ off each tile–I’ll get back to that later). That meant I knew up front I’d be cutting at least one hole in a tile for an outlet (and cutting a notch out of another one for another outlet and notches out of two more for the left and right side of the window). Since the hole for the first outlet was offset only 1/2″ from the edge of the tile, and these tiles fracture pretty easily, I took it very, VERY carefully. Used a Dremel and a cutoff wheel. Yeh, I know, wrong tool. I have the carbide attachment to cut tile with, but I wanted more control, so… slow and tedious.
Still, the tiles got cut accurately. For the outlets and the sides of the window. That’s the good news. Bad news? *sigh* The tile cutter I’ve used successfully on up to 20″ ceramic tile just busted these marble tiles to pieces. *sheesh* I managed to end up with 4-4″ X 12″pieces and one good 8″ X 12″ piece. Oh, three of the 4″ x 12″ were in 2 or more pieces, but… Mr. Ingenuity (that’s me, in case you had any trouble making the connection ;-)) had a solution. Epoxy and marble dust from the Dremel work. *heh* Breaks disappeared; just more veining consonant with the rest of the tile.
And then… pressing the (properly-buttered :-)) 8″X 12″ piece onto the (properly-troweled :-)) adhesive, the tile cracked. *sigh* OK. Pressed a tad harder and brought some of the adhesive through the crack, wipe-down. Another vein, consistent with the rest of the tile. *whew* Oh, the adhesive is sanded so, no grouting! *yipee!*
So, all that’s left is a bit of deail work–pickling the oak (including the custom shoe molding I cut today), a little caulking, etc.
Feels nice to check one more lil honey-do off my list.