Replies

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Sep 29, 2003 06:34pm | #1

   Ron -- I can't answer all of your questions, but I have a comment or two, and I know where you can get excelent advice.

   First, your client should think very carefully before changing their stairs (and you should think too....). If you add the hardibacker and the tile, you are raising the height of the steps that are being tiled. Assuming that the top floor (hallway?) and the bottom landing/floor are not being tiled, then the first step will be significantly taller than the rest. And the top step will be shorter.

   That will cause a lot of people to trip. In addition, it probably will not meet the building code.

   For better advice on specific tile and installation questions, go to

   http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1

   The John Bridge tile forum is much like these Taunton forums for content -- lots of great advice from pro's -- and it is specific to the ceramic tile craft.

   Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.
1. 
   Badger1 | Sep 30, 2003 03:03am | #2

   Thanks for the information. I was aware of the change in height of the steps, especially if I used half-inch hardi-backer combined with at least a quarter inch of tile. The change in step height would be significant. I also havn't figured out how to handle the edge of the steps (molding, bullnose, etc.) so this is a problem of several dimensions.

   Ron

1. 
   YesMaam27577 | Sep 30, 2003 03:48am | #3

   this is a problem of several dimensions.

   I agree.......but I'll bet that the good folks over at the John Bridge forum have done this before, and have some good ideas.

    Vast projects should not be founded on half vast ideas.

2. 
   ravenwind | Jan 18, 2004 11:27pm | #4

   I can see several problems in doing these steps like give and flex of the treads . if i were building the steps i would use double stringers on the sides and middle. so there would minemal bpunce and i would glue two 3/4in layers of plywood risers and treads . and then i would screw everything and i would support them from belod with a post or wall assuming they would be against one wall.    I would try to achive a very stiff set of stairs before think about any tile as the first thing that would break down is the grout , i can see it cracking where the risers meet the treads. and the nose of the treads ,if they were to giv at all you would have grout breaking up between the tiles . then the tiles breaking is another possiblity. but i think the grout is a strong possibility that needs to be addressed.    good luck Dogboy

1. 
   Badger1 | Jan 19, 2004 01:58am | #5

   Thanks for the valuable input on the steps tiling. At this date, I still haven't begun the job and am looking at boosting the structural steps that exits before I think about tile. This is a trickey situation where I'm trying to match tile in the entry of a house. One option is to go with a deep groove vinyl look-alike that wouldn't require the extensive underpinnings. The owner is leaning that way rather than the extensive work required to make the subsurface rigid. I'm not so sure that the vinyl would hold up very well on steps.

   Ron

1. 
   Scrit | Jan 19, 2004 02:00pm | #6

   I've seen this done on an open-tread staircase where the tiling contractor used a trowel layer of contact cement to bond the tiles onto the step, but I was back there a couple of years later and the grout was badly cracked because the treads were flexing, even though they were (nominal) 1-1/2in thick pine (actually finished to about 1-5/16in).

   Scrit