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Showing posts with label tile questions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tile questions. Show all posts

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Tile Experts, Small Contractors, Consumers:We Need You!

If you are a small business or a consumer who has experience with online reviews, ie: yelp, yahoo, thumtack, merchant circle, manta, etc., good or bad, please write up your experience,  pro/cons and especially businesses,  if you're received a bad review you thought unfair, please share how you handled it and what the outcome was.

Tile Excellence,  Inc.  (owner/operator of asktileexcellence-THIS BLOG) continues to encourage readers to contribute their experiences,  opinions, niches and stories relating to all things tile related as well as small business/contractors issues.

The goal is to continue to become a consumer,  DIY, small business and contractors resource for all. We offer honest, ethical tile businesses the opportunity to share their specialty or niche,  and to offer exposure by opening up discussions and encourage feedback on posts written by Chris Lawson, Owner of the Cape Ann, MA company, Tile Excellence,  (and part of Tile Excellence, Inc. -which is the "umbrella" company responsible for all content and all non-blog post data and related sites for tile contractors and other small businesses). and others - locally and even across the globe. Chris continues to provide his day-to-day experiences with pictures and DIY instruction plus answers to reader questions. Due to this exposure here and referrals/repeat clients, he is unable to write posts as often as he'd like, and has personally invited other tile related businesses to contribute to this blog to share other perspectives and niches.

We are still looking for guest bloggers who work in the tile installation/supplier/designer/contractor field. Please consider contributing to this valuable community resource.

Send any questions/concerns/suggestions/advertising and affiliates requests to:  diana@seopoweredwebsites.com

To share any posts on items mentioned above, please feel free to post it here on asktileexcellence blog.

To ask any tile related/contractor/DIY/consumer related questions or things you would like to see here, again, use this page here to enter your post here.

To be considered as a guest blogger please send Diana a brief note telling me a little bit about you, your company,  your niche, what you'd like to write about, etc. All considered will be contacted with further questions/information.  diana@seopoweredwebsites.com

Finally, to book chris for a tile installation project in Cape Ann and North of Boston,  you can call him directly at 978 471-9127 or email him at tileexcellence.com.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Question from Jim Blog reader

I came across your responses to questions re: waterproofing and I appreciate your response as I am about to do a demo of a walk in shower. I will be taking it down to the studs as I am sure it has regular sheet rock and not hardieback as mold keeps coming through the grout. it is tiles floor, ceiling and walls.

My question is: I am removing all walls and tile and installing hardiebacker. I will be scraping tiles off the floor/pan and assume it is a poured concrete pad as the shower is a customer size - pretty long. After I scrape the tiles off the floor/pan and before I reinstall new tiles, will I have to do anything to that pan such as re-waterproof or perhaps even do a whole new pan? If I do, I will probably have to hire a professional as I am not confident that I can pour a new floor/pan. And I am afraid once I start demo, if I have to have a new pan installed, I will be waiting to find a professional to do it and that puts the shower out of commission for a long time. What are your thoughts and/or suggestions? Nothing has been started at this point.

RESPONSE
Jim
if you remove the tiles from the concrete pan carefully without cracking or gouging chunks of the concrete there is no reason you cant install new tile on it without removing it. If its a little rough or some thin set is left on the concrete you can just skim coat it smooth with thin set then let it dry a day  before you install new tile. There is no reason to remove the concrete and redo the pan if it is not leaking. Another options is to install your new tile on top of the existing tile floor just treat the existing tile with concrete bonding additive so the thin set will adhere good to the old tile lay your new  tile on top of the old tile . As for your drain  remove the drain grate screws and drain grate lay your tile so as the drain grate will sit flat on top of new tile(tile is laid just 1/4  inch inside of drain edge leaving screw holes clear to reinstall grate screws) get longer drain grate screws and screw grate flat on top of dry grouted finished tile. 

Saturday, December 1, 2012

reader comments and responses and a recent swimming pool job

First I have to apologize for not getting to write On the blog as much as I would like.The  overwhelmingness  of everyday life and pricing and then doing all of the tile jobs I have to do to make a living and get ahead is heavy. But I really want to thanks you folks out there so much for reading and commenting In such numbers. I am so amazed by the worldwide visits to the blog.I especially want to thank My web designer and web master Diana Smith Who created the web site and got me to write on it!If It wasn't for her vast knowledge SEO and HTML in the background of my site and years of hard work and devotion to my site You wouldn't be reading me now!I'm hardly a tech guy as a matter of fact I am very tech handicapped and can barely write this blog. Everything about this web site and blog was built and are maintained every day by Diana.I'm just a simple tile guy ,a Mason working with concrete and rocks man made and natural. My grammer sucks and my spelling is worse, But 35 years of tile work has given me Insites that can be easily shared.So I want to say a very special thanks To diana for putting up with My barbaric old southern boy way.
I encourage you If you need a web site or  have a site you need to get out there then go to  " websitedesignsbydiana,com" or let me know and I'll hook you up.

  

4 different comments have been posted in the last 24 hours I'm starting to get alot . So ive decided to post the new ones every couple days. here are the comments with my responses






1------ I usually do not write a comment, but after browsing through
a few of the comments here "copper shower pan vs rubber membrane to dry in shower pans???".- I actually do have 2 questions for you if you don't mind. Could it be simply me or does it appear like some of the remarks appear like they are coming from brain dead folks? :-P And, if you are posting on additional online sites, I would like to keep up with you. Would you list of every one of all your social networking sites like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed?

RESPONSE  There are alot of international Folks  who have a hard time writing In English . And I really appreciate their efforts. Also there are alot of people who have never been on a construction job or have never even hit a nail with a hammer. Those are the people that I write this blog for the ones who really need it!Those of us who work with our hands and were born on the construction job
may think some of the questions posted here are out there. But Remember those of us in the world Have many talents and there is no way one person can know it all > There are many questions those people know the answer too  That I wouldn't have a clue about. So to me there are no stupid questions
simple is easy and all questions regarding tile work will be answered here.
As far as Social network feeds I have those accounts but I am not really active on Twitter and facebook , Linked in ect. But If you want to follow this blog  simply look to the left of the Blog homepage and subscribe to our free mailing list. regards   Chris



2------Woah! I'm really digging the template/theme of this website. It's simple, yet effective.
A lot of times it's very difficult to get that "perfect balance" between superb usability and visual appearance. I must say that you've done
a awesome job with this. Additionally, the blog loads very fast
for me on Chrome. Outstanding Blog!

RESPONSE; Thanks alot!!!Again all the credit for the visual and tech stuff regarding web site and operation  Goes back to Diana  I just write when I can  regards   chris


3-------Awesome blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers?
I'm planning to start my own site soon but I'm a little lost on
everything. Would you propose starting with a free platform
like Wordpress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I'm totally confused .. Any ideas? Thanks!

RESPONSE
My web designer Diana  Again knows all this stuff and all tech questions go to her   websitedesignsbydiana,com                        .    But as far as writing Goes simple and clear seems to be the best way to reach  diversified  readers.Pick a toppic that you REALLY know about and just share the wealth!!


4--- What do you know about the Schluter shower pan systems? It seems superior to all other options.

RESPONSE; I know that the system requires the use of UNMODIFIED thin set which is the lowest cost least grade available concrete adhesive and is low grade $5. Per bag product that turns to dust several years after use. Your tile is stuck only as good as the thinset u use to install it.And for this reason i would not use this system in my house and expect a long term quality installation . RegardsCHRIS
 



 Below is a swimming pool  I tiled about a month ago along with photos of unfinished and finished pool


 


Pools are a very specialized type of tile job and require precise materials and alot of experience to get right. I recommend Using pure portland cement in both your thin set and grout to give you extra strength and durability







chris

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