Tile Manufacturer:

Florida Tile, Inc.

Tile Manufacturer:

Florida Tile, Inc.

Due to the very high amount of moisture, only certain tiles can work in the shower.  Couple that with the need for skid resistance (for the shower floor pan) and you’ve got a number of factors to satisfy before you can find the right type of shower tile.

Best Shower Tile Material

For showers, you’re looking for any type of glazed ceramic or porcelain tile.  “Vitreous” means that water absorbs into the surface of the tile very relucatantly–if at all.  So, with truly glazed, vitreous tile, the surface is completely waterproof, and the grout seams are the only potentially non-vitreous area you will need to worry about.  Not to worry, though, grout lines can be sealed.

What About Slate For the Shower Floor?

Slate looks great, and can be used to some degree on shower walls.  But slate and other non-vitreous natural stones will need to be sealed.  Never use these materials for shower floor pans.

But if you’re dead-set on slate in your shower, use tile that looks like slate.  These are regular waterproof porcelain or ceramic tiles that tile manufacturers have mimicked to look just like slate.

The Best Size of Shower Floor Tile

In addition to the composition noted above, shower floor tile works best in smaller sizes.

• Large Tiles – Large tiles such as 12″x12″ or even larger (16″x16″) are the absolute worst for shower floor tile.  They are slippery and, to put it frankly, they look weird on shower pans.  That’s because you will only be able to fit 4-8 of these large tiles on the shower pan, and this causes the eye to note the grid pattern.  Not only that, this necessitates lots of cutting of tiles.
• Medium Tiles - Medium tiles such as 4″x4″ or 6″x8″ can be used.  As noted above, the smaller the better.  But the best of all are…
• Mosaic Tiles – Mosaic tiles are excellent on shower floors for two reasons.  First, they create lots of grouted seams, which provide great slip resistance under your bare feet.  Second, these smaller tiles allow you to better form the tiles to the slope in the shower pan, needed to drain water.

Pictured Above: Slate shower from CJ’s Custom Tile, a company owned by Damon Johnson servicing the Oklahoma City/Edmond areas.

But how do you remove tile grout without damaging the tile?

Many products claim to remove grout from tile.  Let’s take a look at the main ones:

1.  Flathead Screwdriver and Hammer

Image:  www.cae2k.com

Hammer and flathead screwdriver are the traditional method of chipping out tile grout.  Unless you have just a small portion of grout to remove, this method will tire you out quickly, leading to inevitable tile damage.

• Type:  Manual
• Cost:  Around $3-5
• Effective (1-10):  1

2.  GroutGetter

Image:  GroutGetter.com

A slight improvement over the screwdriver/hammer method, the GroutGetter has a triangular head to better gouge out grout with less impact to the tile.

• Type:  Manual
• Cost:  Around $10
• Effective (1-10):  3

3.  Dremel Tool

Image:  Dremel

The Dremel is a 12V rotary tool which, though not specifically designed to cut out grout, has countless interchangeable heads that will accommodate this use.

• Type:  Electric
• Cost:  Around $100
• Effective (1-10):  8

4.  Ridgid JobMax Combo

Image:  Ridgid

This multi-tool set from Ridgid features a JobMax™ power base handle with a Multi-Tool head that includes saws to cut through tile.

• Type:  Electric
• Cost:  Around $200 at The Home Depot
• Effective (1-10):  6

5.  The Grout Remover

Image:  TheGroutRemover.com

The Grout Remover is a novel concept.  Rather than cutting or zipping out the grout with a rotor, The Grout Remover “vibrates and reciprocates which helps eliminate damage to the existing tiles during the regrout process.”

• Type:  Electric
• Cost:  $69-$149
• Effective (1-10):  ?

If you want to get down to brass tacks, not really.  In terms of texture, slate is a highly unique substance.  No doubt you have seen slate up close before and witnessed its multi-layered effect.

As a sedimentary rock, layer upon layer of slate are compacted together to form one cohesive material.

It’s hard to duplicate that layering in ceramic tile.  Even highly textured ceramic or porcelain tile tends to fairly smooth and rounded–rather than sharp and angular like real slate.

So, the best you can hope for is, literally, a tile that looks like slate. Rather than a tile that feels like slate.

DalTile and American Olean are two of the biggest tile companies around.  They also happen to be sister companies, both owned by Mohawk Industries.

DalTile has a line called Continental Slate Colorbody Porcelain.  These are tiles that look relatively close to slate.  Of the eight Continental Slate tiles, one of them looks the most like slate:  Asian Black, CS53.  That’s the product pictured here.

These tiles come in four sizes:  6″x6″, 12″x12″, 12″x18″, and 18″x18″.

Not perfect, but as close to slate as you will get in a ceramic tile version.

First, cut two parallel lines downward with a rod saw.  A rod saw is a cheap saw, that can either be bought as a blade that fits into your own hacksaw or as a separate saw.  If you’re trying to tile around the tub faucet with tiles no larger than 4″x4″, I recommend the hacksaw.

Next, you need a third line that connects the two previous lines, forming a square that you can knock out.  This can go either of two ways.  You can keep using your rod saw and just cut across.  Or, if you’re tired of sawing, you can score the tile surface with a utility knife or tile cutter.

You need to do some precise measuring to make sure the square you’re cutting out will be covered by the faucet flange.

Deftly knock out that scored piece with a small hammer or handle off a screwdriver.

Fit the tile around the tub faucet hole.

The faucet flange or faucet itself should cover the hole.

Because you’re dealing with such small tiles, you really aren’t cutting the tile itself:  you’re cutting between the tile.  That’s the great thing about mosaic.  So, let’s review your options for cutting mosaic tile, all of the super-simple:

1.  Cut Between Tiles in Mosaic Sheet

This is always the first thing you should try.  Nine times out of ten, you can slice through the fiber backing and get a perfect (or perfect-enough) fit.

How to do this is to turn the mosaic tile sheet upside-down, and cut through the backing with a utility knife.

2.  Cut Individual Mosaic Tiles with Nipper

If you just have a couple of individual tiles within the mosaic sheet to cut, then snap them apart with a tile nipper (or nibbler).

If you have to cut a sheet of mosaic diagonally, your only option is to use the snap cutter.  Cutting the tiles apart (#1) will not work.

3.  Cut a Row of Mosaic Tiles with a Snap Cuttter

Cut a line of mosaic tile by setting the sheet in your snap cutter.  The tiles will wiggle around a bit and protest, but with a steady hand you can position them and snap them apart.

Because, if you didn’t know this already, caulking is a strangely archaic and inefficient process.  You squirt the caulk bead where you want it and then…

…Then you dab your finger in water and you smooth the caulk down.  Or you can use little plastic scrapers that are supposed to do the same thing.  But in the end, it’s more efficient just to use your finger.  Messy!

So, a suggested “cleaner” way to do this is to lay down two strips of masking tape, one on either side of the intended caulk bead.  The idea behind this is that when you smooth down the caulk with your finger, the caulk gets smooshed out in direction you didn’t want it to go.  But by having this masking tape, you can later on strip the tape away and the mess with it.

How well does this work?

It’s certainly worth trying out.  Not all tilers–professional or DIY–use masking tape.

For one thing, it takes a lot of time to lay down the masking tape precisely.  Pros with steady hands can caulk cleanly without the tape, and save time.

Also, it’s too easy to rely on the tape to do the job.  The tape is just clean-up help.

Us DIY tilers often have “eyes” bigger than our “hands.”  The opposite scenario is laying down just a little bit of mastic, laying down 2 or 3 tiles, laying down more mastic, and doing this over and over.  It gets tiring.  That’s the point where most of us start increasing the amount of mastic.

You will know if the mastic is too dry to install tile when it has “skinned over.”  Skinning over means that the very top of the mastic has develope a thin, dry layer.  To the touch, it may not feel like much.  In fact, you can even break through it with your fingernail.

But don’t do this.  Even that thin skin is enough to prevent your tiles from sticking properly.

Don’t throw skinned-over mastic back in your bucket of mastic, or you’ll ruin the stuff in the bucket.

Carefully scrape off any “skinned over” mastic from the wall and dispose of it.

Then reapply mastic to your wall–less mastic this time around, of course–and start tiling again.

Frankly, there is no magic bullet.  It just takes a few tips and a little patience, and you’ll get it right.

Use Bullnose on One Side, Flat on Other

On one side of the corner, you will use bullnose edged tile.  On the adjacent side, you will use tile with a flat edge (i.e., non-bullnose).

This is the only want to make sure that when the two tiles meet, they will form a smooth corner.

Trim Off the Bullnose

So, where do you get the “flat tile” mentioned above?  You can either buy tile without the bullnose, or you can use your wet tile saw to trim off just the bullnose part of some tiles.  Do not go too far; just the bullnose.  And don’t worry, you won’t notice the smaller dimensions if you’re judicious about trimming off only the bullnose.

Don’t worry about any special skills needed to trim the bullnose off.  This is an extremely simple cut to do with a wet tile saw.

Bullnose Overlaps Flat-Edged Tile

Now, make sure that the bullnose overlaps the flat-edged tile.  The bullnose is the “show” part of the tile.  The cut-off flat time may have some minor ridges, but this will be covered up by the bullnose.

Tile Both Sides of Corner Simultaneously

Ah, now here’s a great tip.  Do not tile an entire column of bullnoses upward, stop, and then tile the flat-edged tiles upward.

Instead, do a bullnose and its around-the-corner neighbor.  Then the next one up.  Then the next one, and so on.

Stacked Tile Design, Not Overlapping Design

Now, this is no requirement, but it’s a helpful thing–unless you’re really confident about your tiling skills, you will find that the stacked tile design is much easier than the overlapping tile design when working with corners.

Note that by “overlapping” we’re not talking about bullnose overlapping the flat-edged tiles in the tip above.  This is an entirely different thing, where you lay the tiles out in a grid fashion:

Stacked Tile

Overlapping Tile