Help!: mosaic tiles

[tomt]

could anyone give me tips on putting glass mosaic tiles onto new plasterboard walls? tomt.

[Dave Ramsden]

Hi Tom and welcome to the forums.

To start your going to want a suitable notched trowel, usually 3/4mm for thin mosaics and 6mm for thicker. Id suggest using an adhesive thats the same colour as your grout ie white grout = white adhesive.
You will want to use level, straight lines everywhere to ensure your joints dont start running out and pad down the tiles as you fix them with a grout float. You can use a stiff bristled brush or paint brush with water to carefully remove any excess adhesive from joints...

Hope this helps!

[saintdom]

another tip would be to cut out small sections ina random pattern then cut the next mesh of tiles too fit into it. (a bit like tetris) sorry quite difficult too explain.

this will combat the grid effect where sometimes if put on the wall as whole square sheets of mosaic you can see where the joints are. This intertwining of the 2 sheets help .

sorry my explanation may not be great but im sure someone will explain better than i can.

[saintdom]

this method will cause you a bit of waste , so if expensive tiles or you have just enough , then just ignore what i said

[diamondtiling]

another tip would be to cut out small sections ina random pattern then cut the next mesh of tiles too fit into it. (a bit like tetris) sorry quite difficult too explain.

this will combat the grid effect where sometimes if put on the wall as whole square sheets of mosaic you can see where the joints are. This intertwining of the 2 sheets help .

sorry my explanation may not be great but im sure someone will explain better than i can.

A very good tip, I have not seen that done for a long time but it certainly works. I use it in large commercial shower areas, where the mosaics are only small.

[peckers]

good advice above, If it is large areas then what i tend to do is to stagger the sheets of mosaic to loose the joint lines.
I would also use an adhesive specifically for mosaics, another tip is if you get a bit of slip in the sheets then you can use a small brad(nail) to temporarily hold in place by placing it in between the mosaic, hope this helps

[user123]

It's Mapei Adesilex P9, I'm pretty sure, I used last year on my apple tree bathroom mosaic, wonderful stuff, no vertical slip and nice long working time so you can take it steady, and it's white, too. And yes, staggering the sheets is really necessary, as grout runs become more obvious the further you stand back, very hard to judge close up. Have fun...

[tomt]

thank you all for tips! tomt.