🤔 Glass tile what you need to know before you install it.

okay so just laying out the glass tile backsplash here this is a three by six glass subway tile there's a few things you know need to know about glass tiles it's not like a regular porcelain tile or ceramic tile is a few things that you need to take into account when you're going to install a glass tile backlash shower whatever when you're gonna be using glass tile okay so if you haven't seen my videos before my name is Sal DiBlasi tile contractor on the Boston area with over 30 years experience installing all kinds of ceramic tile floors walls showers anywhere the tile goes and my channels got over 600 almost 700 videos with many how-to videos and the many videos detailing exactly how to install tile all kinds of tiles on all kinds of different systems but anyway today I want to talk about glass tile now glass tile is a it's a special kind of animal as far as tile goes today I'm installing glass tile subway tile three by six the substrate here is Wedi this is actually an 1/8 inch Wedi board and I installed over the drywall because it was really far out of whack so I need to straighten it out and the best way to do it in this case was just to put an 1/8 inch layer over the tile and it still works out fine over here the refrigerator is gonna be up against it and on this side door casing is gonna be over this here so anyway the thing to know about glass tile is glass tile moves a heck of a lot more than a regular porcelain or ceramic tile expands and contracts at a much greater rate than a porcelain or a ceramic tile so you need to take this into consideration also they've got like a backing on them so you can't see through them so this backing will you know it's colored on the other side it gives a color to the tile when you cut that a lot of times this will chip if you use the wrong kind of blade that's a regular porcelain blade all chipped in the back you can see all the chipping in the back yet I wanted also sometimes you have to cut it first from the back halfway through and then cut it from the front to get a a good clean cut many times a snap cutter will be preferable because you just score it snapping and get a nice clean cut as this backlash it's just gonna be stacked this like that it's not gonna go right so when are you dealing with a porcelain tile or ceramic tile tiles with one side greater than 15 inches are considered a large format tile for glass it's a different story for glass any tile longer than three inches so this is three inches here is considered a large format tile so this is three by six so because it's just outside the six inches it's considered a large format tile glass is very finicky it will crack for no reason at all when you're installing this you have to make sure that you install a properly so what that means is where the tile goes in four corners get back in here okay let's do over here what tile goes into a the corner or meets a wall or something you have to leave room for expansion and contraction and you can't grout that in you have to use a flexible caulk when you're installing this you probably most times you want to knock down the ridges of the of the thinset so you get a smooth backing not so critical for these tiles that have a colored or opaque they're opaque you can see it's room but you can't see through the ends of them like you can see see you can actually see through the end and the tile because it's the glass so you want to be really careful when you're installing this you want to get a hundred percent coverage another thing is you have to use a high polymer content thinset Tec Super flex Mapei makes glass tile adhesive Laticrete makes glass tile adhesive all the manufacturers make glass tile adhesive I'm gonna actually in this one here I'm going to use Ardex x77 which is a high polymer content thinset what else like I said you gotta leave expansion contraction and then because this is glass it'll scratch very easily for what you need to do is make sure you use the proper grout this is gonna be a 1/6 inch grout line so I can use unsanded grout unsanded grout will not damage the glass however some of the advanced grouts will do not come in unsanded and it so most of the time they're okay you just want to check with the glass manufacturer see what they recommend for your glass some mosaic glass tiles actually require sand grout some required that you seal it before you grout it others don't this one does not so I can just set this don't install it set it and let let the thinset set up and then come back and rgrout it don't have to seal it but there are some mosaic tiles that do require sealing before you grout it so anyway I just wanted to get a few points out about glass tile oh another thing is when you set the glass tile you want to have a thin as possible bond coat as thin a bond coat as thin as possible the more you build up the thinset on the back of the tile the easier and more likely it is that the tile is gonna crack so what that means is you're going to use the right size trowel you're not gonna build it up on the back so that you have a thick bond coat so what that actually means is and that's why I did this on this this backslash what that actually means is that you want to get your surface prepped as perfectly as possible so it's completely flat and you don't have to you don't have to run into problems if you look at this my substrate is completely flat completely flat all the way around all the way around I this wall was way out of whack and tearing down the the sheet rock under it and and replacing it wasn't a possibility so ended up putting an 1/8 inch Wedi board on top of it prep the wall first and put the Wedi board on top it's actually thinsetted to the substrate through the studs and I covered the the washes so that there's no possibility those will rust and although you know they're made for wet areas but you know he just cross all your T's and dot out of your I's so anyway I just wanted to talk a little bit about glass because it's a very finicky and delicate tile that a lot of people are using of like I said I've done showers I've done backlash it's up done all kinds of of installations with the glass so when you do pick a glass tile make sure you know what you what you getting make sure you know what the materials the setting materials are and what grouts to use and make sure your substrate is is suitable for your tile some glass manufacturers require a cleavage membrane on the substrate before you install it it's usually like you know liquid applied waterproofing membrane which also acts as a crack isolation membrane others don't this one does not require we require that so you know check all the things you need to know before installing the tile do not install this glass with mastic I haven't used mastic in years I just don't even buy it anymore years ago went through a ton of it systems with different recommendations different today you know we have advanced and the recommended setting materials these days mostly does not include mastics so mastic is anything you get in the bucket even if it says thinset on the bucket it's not what you want anyway so I hope you find this useful like I said I've got a ton of videos on my channel that describe and show exactly how to do many things from small floors to backlashes to entire showers and you know anything to do with tile I've been installing tile for over 30 years and I follow TCNA standards and anyone that doesn't do that they're rolling the dice so just you know just want to make a point clear that don't guess at what you're doing make sure

Channel: Sal DiBlasi

Views: 238,742

Keywords: Tile, Tiling, How to tile, Install glass tile, glass tile, glass tile what you need to know, glass tile backsplash, glass tile installation, glass tile shower, subway glass tile, installing glass tile, how to install glass tile, glass mosaic tile, sal diblasi, glass, subway tile, Large format glass tile, prep work for glass tile, how to tile with glass, glass tile thinset, important glass tile tips, glass tile shower installation, glass tile mortar\, grout for glass tile

Id: Q-MCdbgjSYs

Length: 11min 37sec (697 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 02 2018