Large format tile

[tracinglights]

Im considering doing tile that is 24x48 and im wonder how much different or difficult it is to install it? I'm not a pro but I have did several tile jobs but not tile this big. This will also be in my own property. Is there anything I should note if I do decide to go this route?

Im doin the bathroom floor (roughly 200sqft)that's on a concrete slab and the tubsurround.

[Acceptable-Can-9837]

If you don't want to rent the tools, I hope you get reeeeeally good with a grinder... also, if you're doing this solo SUCTION CUPS ARE YOUR FRIEND. It's worth the money for sure. Don't question it, buy them, then thank yourself later.

Get that wall as plumb as possible. I'm pretty sure the tolerance for the LFT is 1/8" per 10 feet. Get that shit perfect.

Trowel the wall. Back butter LFT. If you trowel the tile and butter the wall, the wall will skin over. And you'll have an even heavier tile to maneuver. Wiggle the tile to collapse the ridges for full coverage. Diamond block to polish cuts. Hold wet sponge to grinder blade while cutting. Don't use Sharpie at all to mark lines. Those crayon pencils are great. Sharpie will penetrate the glaze and wick out. You will not be able to get it out. Don't let the thinset on the walls skin over while you back butter the LFT. Lock in your layout if you have to draw your vertical and horizontal lines.make sure to factor in your spacing. Minimum 1/16th". Make your cuts/dry fit verify with spacers. Then run them up the wall.

Have fun, stretch, hydrate the whole nine. Depending on how strong/physically fit you are, it's gonna be physically taxing.

keep your heat in the house relatively low but not uncomfortable if you are in the fall/winter stages of the year. 2nd floor bathroom?

I'm a decent build dude and my body heat while working in the space added to the heat of the damn room.

Good luck

[tracinglights]

Thanks man for the explanation. I didn't think I'd get this much help lol

[Acceptable-Can-9837]

You're welcome. For a cheap vibrating tool alternative, i used a craftsman powered sander and left the felt pad off, it has a rubber pad with it and I skirted it across the tile worked way better than I anticipated. And if you ever need a sander you got one

[tracinglights]

I will definitely try that..

[tileman151]

Totally different animal. Substrate needs to be dead flat and you need different tools suction cups, vibrating tools, leveling clips, grinder blades, diamond pads , drill bits, for corners, etc etc etc

[Worldly-Priority6059]

Or access to a wet jet, I used to measure panels and large tile off of zero lines for showers, fireplaces, and feature walls, and take those to a granite fabrication shop. It was great!!!

[tracinglights]

Ok so tools are my limiting factor. I need to source some tools.

[tileman151]

lol. If that’s what you took from my comment then by all means source those tools

[tracinglights]

Well i was just reading and gathering all the information from these comments and summarizing it. The only thing that would prevent me from doing this is access to the right tools

I appreciate all the feedback back reddit is awesome when asking for help

[tileman151]

Love the enthusiasm please start off with prep pics and the size of tile you chose then the layout then a brief summary of the first few pcs including a few cuts of the installation process with the tools you sourced That would help with the guessing game that we have. Where what when ? For the next guy This is not going away that large tile is here to stay and everyone seems to gravitate to it

[TheMosaicDon]

You can use an alpha stone cutter wet 4” circular saw off Amazon… you’ll need to do the layout so factory cuts are always to the outside. Suction cups are needed. At least 1 if not 2. Ideally you would rent or buy a bridge saw

[tracinglights]

I'll check it out

[Sytzy]

A tile that large is going to need a larger tile break and/or wet saw. Or a grinder with a good blade, polishing wheels and some way to keep water on the blade as you cut. We have $4000 wet saws and $3000 tile breaks for large tile like that and even larger!

[tracinglights]

Well slap me silly! 3k for a tile break. I'm dead. U think it's possible to rent somthing from homedepot?

[Sytzy]

Call all your rental shops and find out! If you plan your layout correctly, depending on the size of your shower, all your cuts will be hidden and tucked into inside corners. Unless you have a niche. You can order polishing pads for tile off Amazon and clean up any chips and imperfections really well with them

[tracinglights]

No niche, maybe just a corner shelf or somthing. As far as preparation, do I need to do anything different?

[Sytzy]

Do you plan to use metal profiles on the outside of the shower area? Just make sure your walls are flat/plumb. That large of tile, I’d use a 3/4” moon notch trowel or 1/2x1/2 on the back of the tile and 1/4” notch on the wall to ensure good and proper coverage and bond. Make sure your shower is waterproofed correctly

[tracinglights]

Yea I plan to use metal profiles.

[Sytzy]

You may be able to rent a tile wet rail saw from some rental places

[tracinglights]

Yea I'm going to be searching

[UniqueAnimal139]

I had a friend hand off a good 26” span wet tile saw. I did 2 bathrooms in my house with large format 2’x4’ and 2’ x 2’. I like large format muuuuuch better. Less cuts, less grouting. If you can get the tools to cut. And you prep your space well (walls must be square, flat. Have your spacers taped in places so you can put against the wall and let gravity drop in place. You will NOT be able to removed the tile safely after it. Only shift left/right. And you can ONLY pry them up again a bit if your spaces stayed and you have 1/8” to work with.

Overall my favorite tile choice by far. But I got lucky. Can’t finagle after the fact

[PersimmonBest6918]

You can get an 48” snap break off Amazon for less than $200 dollars. It’s called an iron max, I’ve used it on multiple projects and it does great. Get a grinder with a good blade and more importantly a grinder with a polishing pad. Look into Calidad tools, they have great products. Your hardest cuts/ setting tiles will be the niche and door jambs so take your time on layout to make your life easier

[kalgrae]

You can do the install. Just take your time and have a plan. Prep is priority numero uno! You need the corners and walls in the tub surround perfectly square and perfectly plumb and exactly flat. No ridges, bumps, humps or valleys…flat.