Cutting penny round tiles for shower floor

[branimal]

Can I use my my wet saw? Wondering if the mesh backing will piss off the wet saw.

Or do I use a tile nipper? Heard they crack penny tiles.

Or do you just bring them as close to the edge as possible and accept large grout lines?




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[RobertForRealEstate]

Should be no problem. I cut all sorts of mesh backed mosaic type tiles on my wet saw.

On smaller more intricate patterns you may notice it trys to fall into the blade gab in the table a bit. I keep the cardboard under the tile and cut it all together on those and it tends to support it well.

Good luck!

 

[Radix2]

You can make a cut in a cheap 12x12 tile to support small pieces if needed. The mesh backing can fall apart if wet too long, mark it, cut it, set it on a towel to dry.

 

[branimal]

Great advice guys thanks!!

How do you feel about Penny tile for a shower floor with dark grout lines? Pain in the *** to keep clean?

Debating using larger tile vs Penny.


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[Zippercat]

Great question. The prior owner installed 1x1 tile in the floor of our master bathroom shower. Some kind of stone that must be related to slate. It is not very easy to clean and some of the tiles spall off a thin layer from time to time.

I suggest something in the 3x3 to 8x8 range. Maybe you can create a design that uses some of the penny tile, like around the outside edges or on the wall?

 

[Kaizen]

Great advice guys thanks!!

How do you feel about Penny tile for a shower floor with dark grout lines? Pain in the *** to keep clean?

Debating using larger tile vs Penny.


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Yup. All those little grout lines are a pain to keep clean. Also hard to seal them as there is ten miles of them. If your pattern is straight it’s easier. Makes a nonslip surface though. I’d keep the pretty stuff in the walls


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[LegacyIndustrial]

I have a small hexagon pattern (approx 2" )and seems to be holding up fine, chose a darker grout.

 

[Justind97]

I've cut small rounds on the tile saw before, no problems. That was with the type where you have to push the tile over a fixed blade which comes up from the bottom.

My current saw that I have has an overhead blade with a sliding table. It would be much more difficult to cut since there's a 1" gap between each side of the table.

Grout lines between the rounds were pretty big (but this was done y the manufacturer), darker colour than the tile. Took a lot of grout and a lot of sealer. Looked great, busy, but great.

Flat cuts against the the walls nearly as tight as possible.

 

[rsanter]

What I have learned about grout is that it is a pain to keep clean. The less grout the better.
Now for when you have to have grout, once you install it let it dry and either seal it or in a previous house I used grout paint/stain to change the color of the grout.
What I learned from that is that it was easier to keep the grout clean after it had the grout paint on it than before.
So if you are going to have a bunch of grout, seal it or paint it and save yourself some headache

 

[Bigwheels]

We used to pregrout our mosaic and then cut it like a 12x12. Ive also set mosaic on cement backer grout it and cut it to fit works good if you have an intricate pattern or an inset.

 

[branimal]

Ok you guys got me thinking.

I’m tiling the shower floor tomorrow and I’ve got two tiles to choose from.

Here are my options:

1. Carry bathroom floor tile (12x24”) into the shower. The shower is a weird hexagon. Will be a pain to cut, but do it once and get it over with.

2. Install the black penny rounds with charcoal grout and add some pizzazz to the bathroom. It’s really kind of grey in there. What’s the downsides of dark charcoal grout? What shower residue will it show?








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[Bigwheels]

You will have white deposits of soap and scum on the black grout ive had several clients over the years complain like it was my fault. Efforvesence could also be a problem with dark grout. Regular scrubbing with a nylon brush will handle it if thats your thing.

 

[Justind97]

The soap scum will show up no matter what colour you go with, but with the charcoal grout and a grey/black tile it's going to be really apparent.

 

[Kaizen]

The black looks cool with clear in between. With grout...eh. Go with the large. If it’s real stone pick the money pieces for the middle


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[branimal]

Thanks for the advice guys. It was heeded. I ended up carrying the large format tile into the shower. Next time I’ll use 6x24 or smaller for the shower. 12x24 is too clunky.


The penny rounds would have been pretty.

For future reference, would sealing the grout have helped? Also I’m assuming when grout gets really nasty between penny rounds you really cant replace it. Are you forced to retile?





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[Radix2]

Thanks for the advice guys. It was heeded. I ended up carrying the large format tile into the shower. Next time I’ll use 6x24 or smaller for the shower. 12x24 is too clunky.


The penny rounds would have been pretty.

For future reference, would sealing the grout have helped? Also I’m assuming when grout gets really nasty between penny rounds you really cant replace it. Are you forced to retile?




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I think the guys are wrong about the floor grout in a shower. You can use an epoxy grout that is basically impervious and scrub it occasionally, or even better squeegee after you shower and it will never get bad in the first place.

I have a pebble floor in the shower and it looks exactly the same as new after 5 years. Some people are slobs though and their showers look like science experiments after 6 mo...? One of the heavy duty cleaners like "purple power" can cut through some pretty heavy soap residue too.