Tile Your World: John Bridge's New Tile Setting Book

I ordered this book on the strength of the positive reviews. I'm doing an outside deck with expensive porcelein tiles, so I thought I'd read a manual. I've done tiling before and the jobs have come out fine and get compliments and have never cracked or popped a tile. I'm a little slow, but I don't pay myself by the hour.So I wanted to know more about the actual process of tiling. Not the history of tile or the trade. And I know now John loves his mortar bed, but they invented backer booard to make tiling more accessible and that's why I'm reading the book.. I look at the pictures of people somehow doing a mortar bed in a big room, and only think, "yeah, right. That's an art and I'll never do that". I'm not doing a bathroom, so I'm not grading that portion of the book. I did carefully read every word up to that point in the book.I thought the description of how to layout tile and snap chalk lines was very good. The discussion of isolation was also good, how you can make your tile job more resistant to changes to the substrate. What I didn't find was much on how to actually put the thin set down, when to back butter tiles, why you pick a trowel notch size (although John says he doesn't see the need for much beyond 1/4-3/8, he doesn't ever explain how to figure out what you should use from first principles), what are some tricks for swiping the thinset (I've always used straight trowel movement but the pictures show arcs), how you see your chalk lines after you've smeared over them with thinset, do you then scrape up all thinset right up to edge of placed tile(s)? I was also looking for some guidance on how to work out of multiple boxes... I've only done near identical tiles, and now I have tiles that are mixed and I don't know how to work out of multiple boxes or whether I should literally lay out 100% of the tiles and move them around by sight and then carefully stack them to the side...And a real back breaker for me... even though everything I've seen or read (or done) says you hold the trowel at a 45 deg angle when making the ridges, John says 90 deg. Whew! Is that why he doesn't use a big notch on big tiles? He gets twice the thickness at 90 deg? If you do this, do you pull the trowel? This is so different than even the back of the thinset bags, it begged an explanation.So the bood gives some good information on design and is worthwhile for that, but the stuff John probably forgot is harder for amateurs (if you can do a mortar bed, actually placing tiles must be like getting dressed) doesn't get covered in enough detail. Basically the problems you're dealing with when you out on your knees with boxes of tile piled about.

If you're getting ready to do a bathroom renovation that includes putting in a new shower, you NEED this book. We are not new to major home renovation projects and I have done lots of tiling projects in the past, but this is our first shower build from the floor up. This book is not just about how to schlep mud on a wall and make the tile look pretty, but more importantly it goes into considerable detail about the crucial part - what's underneath and how to properly construct it. I've learned with each successive project that you have to think in terms of "3 steps down the road" - step A has to be done a certain way, otherwise later on when tackling step C or D, you run into problems. This book does just that. It's not your typical bathroom book (which are usually nothing more than a photo gallery of nice bathrooms telling you to hire a contractor to do the project). This book is for those of us who enjoy working with our hands and are up to a good challenge. The step-by-step instructions include lots of pictures and details even which order to tile the curb, niche, bench, etc. And yes, it also includes "pretty pictures" for inspiration!!

Doing tile right takes a bit of time and a bit of money. Most "do-it-yourself" books will give short shrift to tile laying, put in some pretty pictures and make it look easy. And they your tile will pop up or crack five years later. Tile should last decades. And sometimes it can take a lot of work to prepare a surface, and some surfaces shouldn't even be tiled at all. With that in mind, finding good information and digesting it is a must before taking any steps.John Bridge's book does a top notch job of covering a wide variety of tiling specifics and generalities. In addition to all the gory details he has a motivating "can-do" writing style that encourages success. Furthermore, his online website and tiling forums are an amazing resource and clearly demonstrate his willingness to make a major contribution to both professional and do-it-yourself tiling laying.Do yourself a favor, get this book and Michael Byrne's "Setting Tile" before doing a thing. A 15-minute Home Depot "how-to" seminar can be a dangerous thing - get real useful info instead.

I had very little experience tiling so I decided to read up on it before I tackled tiling my shower surround. I found several helpful hints in this book, but I learned way more from someone that helped me that has been tiling for a while. I think it is one of those things that experience is nearly impossible to substitute. Nonetheless, I found the book to have some good tips, even if some of the styles in the pictures are a bit dated. I also would have found more pictures to be helpful.

This is the ultimate book for tile setters and for those who want to be tile setters. John focuse on all of the little things that the amateurs don't. focus on. The actual tiling itself is the last thing he focuse on. He will teach you the science of laying different types of tiles. You will learn everyting from floor deflection to room layout to determing the square footage and much more. I even learned of a new underlayment product made by Schluter that does not transfer cracks to the tiles due to structural movement and also a waterproofing membrane to use in shower tile installations! I have learned so much Thank you.

Good information for anyone interested in tile laying

He starts off his book asking the reader to read the book cover to cover. This is not typical for a do it yourself project book. We needed some help on technical questions for a windowsill and backsplash and between reading the book when we can and trying the John Bridge Forum online and asking the specific question (we were unable to find another thread with our answers) we still have no answers. We have been trying to get answers for about 3 weeks now. However, for someone trying to learn masonry this is a good book to add to your library.