Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 84 Page 85 Page 86 Page 87 Page 88 Page 89 Page 90 Page 91 Page 92 Page 93 Page 94 Page 95 Page 96 Page 97 Page 98 Page 99 Page 100 Page 101 Page 102 Page 103 Page 104 Page 105 Page 106 Page 107 Page 108 Page 109 Page 110 Page 111 Page 112 Page 113 Page 114 Page 115 Page 116 Page 117 Page 118 Page 119 Page 120 Page 121 Page 122 Page 123 Page 124 Page 125 Page 126 Page 127 Page 128 Page 129 Page 130 Page 131 Page 132ASK THE EXPERTS QUESTION I have a project in Park Ridge, Ill., which requires replacing the ceramic tile on the floor. Originally the owner decided to install a 12” x 24” tile, but due to slop- ing issues, such tile cannot be installed. Therefore the owner switched to a smaller tile, a 3” x 3” mosaic. Would the labor to install either size tiles be the same? If not, which one costs more? Please advise. Thank you! ANSWER Installing mosaic tile typically requires additional time for the cutting, straightening and han- dling of many individual tiles and grout joints even if, or sometimes because, they are mesh-mounted. Installing large format tile such as 12” x 24” on a substrate that does not meet minimal acceptable flatness requirements of 1/8” in 10’ can require additional labor and materials for such activities as grinding and flattening the sub- strate with appropriate patch or self-leveling underlayment and their primers. Large-format tile (any tile with one side longer than 15”) will also require setting material designed for large-and-heavy tile. Due to any inherent warpage, this may require the use of a larger gauged trowel to assure required minimum bond coat coverage, which may result in the need for additional mortar. I hope this helps. – Mark Heinlein, NTCA Technical Presenter mark@tile-assn.com QUESTION Our rectified porcelain wall tile is three years old. We need to re-grout or caulk these thin grout lines. Which is better: silicone caulking or unsanded grout? For both I would use the caulking gun. Thank you! ANSWER Grouting is a complex and inte- gral component of any tile instal- lation. Grouting requires a degree of knowledge and experience with materials, environmental condi- tions, tile types, tools and tech- niques. Qualified professional tile contractors possess these traits. I do not recommend using caulk Sponsored by 22 TileLetter | October 2016