Varying tile size

EssexBreeze · Post by **EssexBreeze** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 8:27 pm

Help!!
I have bought some 300mm by 300mm marble tiles for my bathroom wall. On measuring them some of the tiles are 299mm and some 300mm. Is this normal for marble? What do I do to mask the difference when i put them up on the wall?
(I bought them on e-bay so cannot return them.)

manchestertiling · Post by **manchestertiling** » Wed Feb 25, 2009 11:32 pm

Thats the chance you take unfortunately essex with buying from an auction site. A reputable stone dealer would sell exact calibrated marble to the exact mm but for this you pay a premium price.

You have a 1mm difference which actually isn't that bad to be honest, i've seen much worse.

I would suggest you try & lose it within the grout line, if you have to cut the end wall & ceiling tiles which invariably you do then use them for the cuts, but this depends on how many you have. If they are half & half, then possibly think about a border, use one size above & one size below, nobody would notice that way.

Be careful of the weight issues you may have too, recommended guidelines are 20kg for plaster walls & 32kg for plasterboard. Use premium quality adhesives too, otherwise you will regret buying the cheaper stuff with marble

m3 fitter · Post by **m3 fitter** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 7:52 am

use a 3mm joint, and or use coulour co ordinating grout to minimilise the effect of the staggered effect, but 1mm isn't actualklt that bad... some national reatailers namely Wickes etc... have been known to be 3-4mm out!! even on porc's and ceramics... happy tiling

jozeffo · Post by **jozeffo** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 1:38 pm

Are they cut so that they appear square but are 299X300 and therefore are actually rectangular?

Have you tried tile wedges rather than spacers to allow you to easily adjust the spacing?