# What you guys rate this work?



## astor (Dec 19, 2008)

I have seen these floors just over 3 months ago , I just felt in love with it. I would give a huge discount if I have an opportunity to do such a work in USA- probably I need to get couple masters from over there to show me the tricks.
See bigger pictures when clicked on.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

Not rate--appreciate. I've never figured out if great work tile/stonework is easy or not.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Looks great, I like the design. From the way the reflection looks in pic 4 it seems they may have been ground and polished in place - which takes a little bit of the skill required out of the equation, but not much.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Looks great, I like the design.


:thumbsup:
IMO....design is what separates people most in the trades. Everything else is production work...and there's plastic for that. 

The above is just materials and layout--but not everyone can pull it off and those that do, don't make it look that hard. There definitely looks like some surface work done, but still, it's gotta be there to do that. 

The folks that are given that floor by the architects have long ago proven their skills. Any surface stuff is just that. I'd guess those tradesmen were in it for 2-3 years before they were allowed to touch a trowel--no 1 month laborer, 2 month helper, no such thing as a finisher, so now a setter, aka tile professional.


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## steex (Feb 19, 2013)

It's gorgeous but I think it would make me dizzy to walk around in there.


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Thats bad azz


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

I'd like to hang out at the bar for Happy Hour....:thumbup::thumbsup:

and then have dinner there....:clap:

Looks like a first class joint....:thumbsup:


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## Rich D. (Oct 14, 2011)

What country they from?


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

griz said:


> I'd like to hang out at the bar for Happy Hour....:thumbup::thumbsup:
> 
> and then have dinner there....:clap:


Not me--I only have jeans and t-shirts. May have two flannels though. I'd go there and they'd ask me what I wanted at the door.


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## astor (Dec 19, 2008)

Rich D. said:


> What country they from?


In Istanbul, zero point to The Bosphorus strait.


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## astor (Dec 19, 2008)

CO762 said:


> Not me--I only have jeans and t-shirts. May have two flannels though. I'd go there and they'd ask me what I wanted at the door.


Funny, we were all in jeans or khakis and some other tables, quite fancy but everyone is welcomed there, bill wasn't that bad either,actually was much better than Olive Garden here.
Food was to die for....


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## moorewarner (May 29, 2009)

Very tight, interesting designs. :thumbup:


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

astor said:


> Funny, we were all in jeans or khakis and some other tables, quite fancy but everyone is welcomed there


 I do love the second world as they're not as tied into appearances of their clientele--as long as they look western. There is an honesty there and moreso in the third world.

But speaking of honesty, some bars in black areas of urban areas don't allow jeans....unless you're white. :laughing:

It's all business and the world is business. 

Very cool you had that experience.


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

CO762 said:


> Not me--I only have jeans and t-shirts. May have two flannels though. I'd go there and they'd ask me what I wanted at the door.


Hawaiian shirts, cargo shorts & Keens is all you'll find me out in...

If an establishment don't like the way I look...:laughing:

My money will spend just fine some where else....:thumbup::thumbup:


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## Jaws (Dec 20, 2010)

Keen sandles are the bomb.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

griz said:


> If an establishment don't like the way I look...
> My money will spend just fine some where else....:thumbup::thumbup:


 Come on, now you've never stuck it in their face? 

I went to a place one time that I'd been to a few times before, but this time I wore my cowboy hat and the DB at the door, asked me something silly, like "can I help you?". I told him I was there to fix the plumbing..... 

Sometimes ya just gotsta say something......


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## griz (Nov 26, 2009)

CO762 said:


> Come on, now you've never stuck it in their face?
> 
> I went to a place one time that I'd been to a few times before, but this time I wore my cowboy hat and the DB at the door, asked me something silly, like "can I help you?". I told him I was there to fix the plumbing.....
> 
> Sometimes ya just gotsta say something......


No sometimes you just go next door and drop 4 bills on dinner & the bar...:thumbup::thumbup::thumbsup:


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

Sometimes....
I was with a woman that liked that place, so I continued. I knew they would overcook seafood because I had tried it there before. Long story short--a few cross room comments between tables (that was amusing), they overcooked the seafood I ordered. 

They comp'd our meal (again) and when we were leaving, in front of the line to get in, I gave my waitress a tip that would have been half of our bill as I stated I had no idea why someone would eat there with such low quality food.


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## njtileguy (Jun 4, 2013)

if its marble which it looks like it is polished in place just like hardwood floor gets polished in here. and over mud job. not self leveling. 
commercial.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

njtileguy said:


> if its marble which it looks like it is polished in place just like hardwood floor gets polished in here. and over mud job. not self leveling.
> commercial.


So is tile hard or not?


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## njtileguy (Jun 4, 2013)

CO762 said:


> So is tile hard or not?


I do not understand your question


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

njtileguy said:


> I do not understand your question


 That's OK, because I can't really explain it either, even though it's a straight forward question.

I don't think tile is hard, but neither do I think carpentry is hard. Matter of fact, I think carpentry is more simple than tile, but I'm sure others will think the opposite.

Just typing......


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

CO762 said:


> Matter of fact, I think carpentry is more simple than tile, but I'm sure others will think the opposite.
> 
> Just typing......


Same here :thumbsup: Way more variables and adjusting on the fly with tile or stone. The hacks make up for skill with grout. I still would like to really learn how to do mud. The problem is there is no market for it here. Hell - I can't hardly get people to pay for thinset and cbu work :sad:


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Way more variables and adjusting on the fly with tile or stone.


By jove you just hit me in the noggin with something.
I think tile/stone is more difficult because there are more planes that you're working on--and sometimes the planes change within the piece itself--both on top and bottom--even though the surface below must still be in full contact with the bottom of the piece. Slate comes to mind.

Masonry comes to mind as they squish their piece to get it right, and just acid wash it clean later, but a lot of their work can be 'rustic'. I guess it would depend upon how one defines 'masonry' though because I worked for a company where all their masons could do tile, but (obviously) few tile guys could do masonry. We did finished type work, polished granite slabs, mechanically fastened and the other side did the tile stuff, no mudwork.



> I still would like to really learn how to do mud. The problem is there is no market for it here.


There's always a market for mudwork, but it's very very small in residential, high end niche type stuff. Commercial is where there's a market for mudwork--that's my background. 



> Hell - I can't hardly get people to pay for thinset and cbu work :sad:


Well only charge for labor and include materials for free.


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## njtileguy (Jun 4, 2013)

Marble requires skill and patient . As far as mud goes it requires hard labor skill and also patient. installing Marble usually is a slow process. There is 2 ways 2 do it . Fresh set and dry set. By fresh set i mean no thinset required . Dry set sand cement and thinset. Commercial jobs marble slabs on the walls can be installed with hooks and epoxy. A very slow process. When there is designs the dificulty is higher so that brings more time consuming.
Most off the designs are done in the fabrication shops. The installers job is to make sure the right pieces go in the right place.


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## njtileguy (Jun 4, 2013)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Same here :thumbsup: Way more variables and adjusting on the fly with tile or stone. The hacks make up for skill with grout. I still would like to really learn how to do mud. The problem is there is no market for it here. Hell - I can't hardly get people to pay for thinset and cbu work :sad:


Where are you located? Mud unfortunately cant be learned in a day or week. If you were around nj i would invite you next time there is a mud to be done.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

njtileguy said:


> Where are you located? Mud unfortunately cant be learned in a day or week. If you were around nj i would invite you next time there is a mud to be done.


I'm in FL. Yeah I know, that's the biggest reason I haven't learned it yet. I'm pretty much an all or nothing kind of person. If I can't do something 100% I tend to shy away until I can. I appreciate the offer.


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## Hank B. (May 6, 2013)

njtileguy, I like to use thinset for bond coats when I beat tile/ stone into fresh mud. Never done the Portland paste method. I had to read self educate/ practice though. Supposed " tile setters" in AZ think mud setting is when they build up cheap thinset to over 1" thick when they want to " do the job right".


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Hank B. said:


> njtileguy, I like to use thinset for bond coats when I beat tile/ stone into fresh mud. Never done the Portland paste method. I had to read self educate/ practice though. Supposed " tile setters" in AZ think mud setting is when they build up cheap thinset to over 1" thick when they want to " do the job right".


Those same guys do work in FL.... I've seen thinset used as a bond coat before. Makes sense. Any of you guys know about the "FL mud job" method?


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## Hank B. (May 6, 2013)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Those same guys do work in FL.... I've seen thinset used as a bond coat before. Makes sense. Any of you guys know about the "FL mud job" method?


 thinset to bond to floor, loose layer of mud so they don't have to work all that hard to beat it in, thinset on back of tile for 1$ pf?


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

njtileguy said:


> Most off the designs are done in the fabrication shops. The installers job is to make sure the right pieces go in the right place.


And sometimes the fab shop is in china, which amazes me that things like that can be done, then shipped half way around the world and have it still be cost effective. Read the prints and match the numbers on the piece and while we have saws on site, rarely do we need any trimming up done. Pretty amazing.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

Hank B. said:


> thinset to bond to floor, loose layer of mud so they don't have to work all that hard to beat it in, thinset on back of tile for 1$ pf?


You're giving them too much for a buck a foot--slurry coat. :laughing:


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## HARRY304E (Jan 18, 2011)

Nice job:thumbsup:


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Any of you guys know about the "FL mud job" method?


1/2 trowel down, 1/2 trowel backbutter, then lightly set?


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

Hank B. said:


> thinset to bond to floor, loose layer of mud so they don't have to work all that hard to beat it in, thinset on back of tile for 1$ pf?


Winner winner.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

Guess they get what they pay for.


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

CO762 said:


> Guess they get what they pay for.


I've seen a lot of them get surprisingly flat floors with that method. Not sure how long they'll last or what the downsides are other than I thought mud is supposed to be 1 1/4 minimum thickness. Opinions? I'm not a mud guy so school me.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

PrecisionFloors said:


> I've seen a lot of them get surprisingly flat floors with that method. Not sure how long they'll last or what the downsides are other than I thought mud is supposed to be 1 1/4 minimum thickness. Opinions? I'm not a mud guy so school me.


I ain't a tile jockey but I thought it was 1-1/4 for unbonded mud and 3/4" for bonded. Bonded means you slop down a Portland slurry or thinset on the floor, pack your mud onto it, hammer your tile level, then lift up the tile and butter it with slurry or thinset then smack it back down.

If it's unbonded then you have to tar paper, lath, build up 1-1/4 min.

Beauty of it is you can level a big fat tile, pry it up, check for voids in your mudbed then lay the sticky to it. Doing the same with modified thinset would create so much mortar suck you could break the tile prying it up to adjust.


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## CO762 (Feb 22, 2010)

PrecisionFloors said:


> Opinions?


Every jobsite is them things. 

If they don't pack it down, it should be easier to get it flat as it's still compressible. Depending on the mix, it could last better than one would think as the tile would disperse the loadweight. What would be interesting would be for someone to do that method with sheet and see how those take more pointed loading, say hand trucks with weight, or heavy cabinet/table legs loads. When they do that with larger format, I bet it's sort of like a semi-bonded bed--any cracks will disperse into the bed and as long as the above tile's loads can be supported it'll work.

Some folks don't use a slipsheet under unbonded beds because, it's drypack and if tile won't stick to it on top, why would it stick to the concrete below? Lots of variables though.


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## Hank B. (May 6, 2013)

The problem as I've seen it is they don't pack out down nearly enough. Probably less of a problem with porcelain but they're setting lots of travertine and marble like that too. If the mud is good & packed I'd be more comfortable with it being thin than packed just good enough to hold up the tile while it dries and thick. I don't really care for the 3/4 in min standard, especially when using a nice pre bagged product with consistent clean sand in it.


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