| The
cost of every tile project is a
combination of the cost of the tile and the
cost of the labor to have it professionally
installed. The purpose of the information
here is to help you understand how the pattern,
the size of the tile and the material
of the tile can effect the labor portion of
this equation.
1.)
Patterns & Designs
Probably
the easiest one to understand is how the pattern
you choose will effect the cost
of a tile installation. But, for the
uninitiated, it can still be truly shocking to
discover the time it really takes to do what
appears to be simple. When we look at a beautiful
and complex tile design, we see only the beauty in
it. When a professional tile setter looks at it he
sees all the extra work involved in all the
additional planning, measuring, sorting and
cutting. A grid or block pattern is the least
expensive tile pattern to install, everything else
adds higher costs, in direct proportion to the
complexity of the design.
2.)
Size of the Tile
A
less obvious factor contributing to costs is the
size of the tiles selected. The standard size tile
is now the 12-by-12 or the 13-by-13 (twelve inch
or thirteen inch square tile). Switching to a 6
inch tile increases the amount of
individual tiles to be handled, cut, set and
grouted by a factor of 4 times!
Going even smaller
will increase the labor cost even
more. Glass tiles and mosaics in the two inch or
even one inch size are on mesh or wet and release
sheets, which means even on a floor almost every
individual tile has to be nudged and twisted just
a bit to keep everything looking good, on a wall
the difficulties increase even more because of
gravity wanting to pull all of these little tiles
downward.
Based
on this, it would seem logical then that going to a bigger tile
would make things less expensive. However, unfortunately
this isn't so. Lippage or the issues of the edges
of a tiles next to each other being higher or lower are dramatically
increased in larger tiles, requiring more time in
leveling of surfaces and leveling of each
individual tile as it is installed. The margins
for error get greatly reduced and it is not
uncommon to have to reset an individual tile two
or more times to get it right. Large tiles also
require large saws, a 16x16 inch tile that
requires a diagonal cut can't be accomplished on
most tile saws, special bridge saws become
necessary. The issues are many and complex as tile
increases or decreases in size, and the time it
takes to complete a quality installation greatly
increases with the differences of tile out side of
the standard 12x12.
3.)
Type of tile material
And
finally perhaps the most confusing, yet probably
one of the biggest factors to effect tile
installation costs, is the actual type of tile
being installed.
Ceramic
Tile
Ceramic, made from clay and fired in a kiln, is
the material that most people think of when it
comes to tile. It's the least expensive to install
due to it is easy to cut, and the most forgiving
of mistakes made by inexperienced tile installers.
Since ceramic is very porous, it usually has a
glazed finished surface. The porous nature of
ceramic makes it very forgiving to install.
Because ceramic absorbs moisture so readily,
no special thinsets or chemical additives are
usually required for installing it correctly. The
ceramic will absorb and bond very well to the
least expensive of setting materials making it
very forgiving and faster to install.
Porcelain
Tile
Is a tile that is generally made by the dust
pressed method from porcelain clays which result
in a tile that is dense, impervious, fine grained
and smooth, with a sharply formed face. Not only is the tile itself more
expensive but there is an increase in the cost of
setting it.
In order to qualify as being a porcelain tile the
tile must be tested and found to not absorb more
than .5% of it's weight when immersed in water.
This very property that makes porcelain so desirable
also makes it more difficult to set properly.
Normal thinsets do not bond to the body of
porcelain tiles very well, the porcelain will not absorb
the wet thinset as readily as ceramic does and
without taking precautions in how you set it, how
you apply your setting materials and what setting
materials you use, you run the risk of a failed
installation over time. Porcelain requires more
expensive 'modified' thinsets, it also requires
more careful installations, some tile setters will
even go so far as to wet the back of each tile
before applying it, or even to 'back butter' -
apply thinset to the back of the tile instead of
the floor and then setting the tile. This all adds up
to more time being taken and an increase in labor
costs to do it correctly.
Porcelain
while harder than ceramic is also more delicate
and brittle and susceptible to edge chipping with
the normal handling you use with ceramic tile.
More time is required to examine each individual
tile before it is installed to verify it is perfect
and without chips. Porcelain is also heavier than
ceramic and harder on the workers over a long day
and cutting down on productivity because of
fatigue.
Porcelain is much harder than ceramic, it destroys
tools, dulls blades and requires expensive
specialty bits to drill.
Natural
Stone
Such
as travertines, marbles and granites are even more
labor intensive to install. These are now natural
products, quarried from the earth, one issue that
is a problem is the tendency of these products to
vary in thickness and even in size. Much more care
needs to be taken in setting them in order to
avoid lippage issues, and keep grout joints
uniform.
Natural stone does not offer bullnose edged tiles
like ceramics and porcelain tiles. Every edge that
will be exposed that will require finishing
requires sending it out for finishing prior to
installation or finishing it on the job site,
using grinders and buffers. We are entering the
realm of old world craftsman here. This becomes
much more art than science and experience definitely
counts.
Natural
stone will absorb water and chemicals, so all
natural products require an additional step of
sealing them. Some require a pre-grout release to
be applied so that the grout itself will not stain
the stone!
Natural
stones require double the strength in the floors
they are set on. This is not because of weight but
because of stones lack of tolerance for floor
deflection. There are exact formulas of deflection
used in tile setting, stone requires exactly 1/2
the deflection in the underlayment below it. This
can require additional costs to strengthen the
floor before stone can be applied.
Some
stones will warp and some will bleed through the
setting materials used on them. Special setting
materials are often required and extra care is
needed to guaranty long lasting
installations.
Glass
Glass tile is the top of the pyramid when it comes
to costs for installation. Glass is extremely
unforgiving and extremely tedious to install. Once
again glass tiles often come on wet and release
sheets, meaning the front of the tiles are
actually covered by a sheet of paper attached to
them with a water soluble glue. You actually apply
the tile by pressing it into the thinset and then
wetting the paper with a wet sponge, (often
causing the tiles themselves to move around and
out of place), then you peel off the paper to
discover how accurately you placed that block of
tile and then to begin the tedious process of
nudging around many of the individual glass tiles
to get them to line up. Gravity also works against
you during this process so your thinsets have to
be mixed with little margin for error in open
times.
Because
glass is often transparent the color of the glass
tile is created by the thinset showing behind the
tile, so special white thinsets are used and
special tools are used to apply the thinset and
make them flat.
Glass
is not a porous substance. The very nature of it
fights against anything adhering to it. The grout
around the tiles often is as important as the
thinset behind the tiles in keeping them in place.
Glass tiles easily pop out and fall off walls
during installation and great care must be taken
with them to avoid this until they cure.
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