Mosaic feature question - Tile Advice

[Rived36]

hi,
Im about to install a mosaic center feature up the middle of a 900 shower enclosure,
Its 300mm wide foor to ceiling,
There is a 10mm square chrome trim up either side but the mosaic sheets are only 6mm
Whats the best way to make up the 4mm needed ?
Was told to try 3mm ply but was a little apprehensive with it being inside the main wet zone,
Thanks in advance guys

 

[Waluigi]

There are a few ways to do this; either create a trowel out of a piece of ply which creates the perfect adhesive bed thickness for your mosaics or an often easier way would be to use the mosaic mesh and stick it to the wall and skim it with rapidflex and then trowel it with your serrated trowel once it’s dry.

The trowel method is a bit difficult for me to explain but if you imagine a piece of ply like this :-

__|””””””””””|__

Which is scraped across your chrome trim to create the correct depth of adhesive bed for your mosaics.

It take a small amount of time to measure the trowel size you need to make.

I have also glued mosaics to Kerdi matting and left overnight before fixing.

You only have a 4mm difference though so not much really to make up. I’d probably use the mosaic Matt method in this instance.

 

[Old Mod]

Piece of Ditra matting up the middle. Fixed is approx 4mm thick.
You can buy Ditra by the metre in most decent stockists.
Or Durabase from Topps. Same difference.

If mosaic are small, skim over matting day before and let it set. Use white adhesive on top if they’re glass.
Next day you’ll have a nice flat surface to fix your mosaic to.
Do not use ply or any other type of timber based product. Esp mdf.

 

[Albert]

You can fix 4mm backer board to the gap then try

 

[Qwerty]

Dog tooth method and a strip of ditra are both good methods. Ditra is easier IMO.

 

[Flintstone]

I never do the dog tooth method I think it’s prone to having wobbly mosaics if your doing it in one go. Ditra is a good idea

 

[Waluigi]

 

[Waluigi]

I never do the dog tooth method I think it’s prone to having wobbly mosaics if your doing it in one go. Ditra is a good idea

I agree, the mosaics can buckle and bow from their own weight if the adhesive bed it too thick especially when installing on a vertical border. Best suited for horizontal borders IMHO

 

[Flintstone]

Thankfully, mosaic features aren’t as popular as they were 5 years ago and beyond.

 

[Old Mod]

Thankfully, mosaic features aren’t as popular as they were 5 years ago and beyond.

Thank heaven. I do everything I can to try and change clients mind, it’s soooooooo yesterday.

 

[WetSaw]

Thank heaven. I do everything I can to try and change clients mind, it’s soooooooo yesterday.

And you're not used to grouting more than 3 tiles in a room...

 

[Flintstone]

There’s a lot of ‘high end’ actually middle of the road bathrooms shops still slapping a band in every bathroom

 

[Old Mod]

And you're not used to grouting more than 3 tiles in a room...

Well there is a certain element of truth in that Paul. Haha
However, grouting stuff like this more than makes up for it.

(Love the lizard thing btw!)

 

[Old Mod]

There’s a lot of ‘high end’ actually middle of the road bathrooms shops still slapping a band in every bathroom

I know, it should be outlawed, there is no sane explanation for this!

 

[WetSaw]

(Love the lizard thing btw!)

Chameleon, unfortunately he sent it to me after it had gone back up a tree and disappeared. Not native so was probably someone's pet.

That must be the most random thread hijack ever!