Sleek & Durable Edgeband Wall Tile
This past week, we took a look at a kitchen, here on the blog. That kitchen had a ceramic tile floor. That particular type of ceramic tile was rectified tile without an edgeband. Grout lines were set with spacers and in that particular case those grout lines provided a contrast in color of the tile.
Today, we’re looking at wall tile, not floor tile, and this particular type of wall tile has an integral spacer that is set into the tile itself. The grout lines here at this particular type of tile are also dark and also in high contrast to the color of the tile itself. Sometimes that type of contrasting color combination makes the tile and grout pop in a way that visually stands out. It’s not necessarily a minimalist sleek.or minimalist type of look though, instead it makes things a little bit busier from a visual perspective.
With the integral spacer, the tile shown below has a grout line that’s roughly about 1/8 of an inch. This is relatively small tile, like a subway tile. With small tile pieces, with relatively thin grout lines, it’s hard to hide any defects in the trueness or planareness of a wall substrate. It’s much easier, in most cases, to make a wall straight and true and in a consistent plane than a floor system, in most cases. There are exceptions though, particularly with framed or elevated floor decks, it might be easier to build a true substrate. With historic restorations, like many of the buildings here in Washington DC, floors have been installed many times, over many years.
Where the substrate floor deck is a concrete slab, on grade, for example, it might be very hard to modify this slab without impacting other things. Some of those other things that might get impacted in a leveling of the floor are the doors and wall base. If you raise a floor, even a relatively small increment of just one half of an innch, you then may have to adjust your doors and wall base to accommodate that new elevation difference.
Most people think of door modifications just affect the header of the door itself, and that can be complicated, but, particularly for entry doors, modifying the thresholds may be even more difficult. Also, for most interior doors, a modification of the floor height may just require no more than undercutting the door. Most hollow core wood doors which are found in modern fast and dirty or cheap construction generally have the ability to be undercut up to ½ or 3/4 of an inch without rebuilding the interior stiles and rails.
The tile in last week’s blog included no complimentary edgeband tile. The tile shown here, this week, does have a complimentary edgeband tile. That edgeband tile essentially terminates the field tile. The field tile is the basic tile that comprises all the main areas of the tile. That means the edgeband tile allows the field tile to basically transition to a different, non-tile, type of surface. In this case, the tile transitions to a painted drywall surface. Instead, if the tile just ended or stopped without an edgeband tile, then it would have an unnatural or unfinished looking edge.
Here though, the edge at the top of the tile, transitions to the wall surface with a curved radius. That return or turn back to the substrate wallboard surface essentially allows the thinset mortar to remain hidden from view. Without an edgeband, the planar tiles actually show the morar at the edge, and that doesn’t look good. Here it looks clean and finished, you can see that finished top edge in picture below.
Complimentary edgeband tile isn’t common, not all types of tile have complimentary edgeband available. There’s an alternative though. Metal termination strips can be used as an alternative to edgeband tile, but metal termination strips often do not visually blend directly with the tile. Metal termination strips are also available in a variety of colors and metal finishes. Some of the different finishes also include options for metal textures as well. Examples include polished and satin types of textures. Some of the polished texture can look almost like a mirror finish and sometimes the brushed finishes look dull. Dull surfaces might not sound good, but can look less shiny which can actually often look better.
Dupont Kitchen & Bath Can Help
As dedicated and local DC metropolitan kitchen and bath builders and installers, we pride ourselves on turning your visions into reality. Your kitchen and bathrooms can reflect your unique style and be designed with personalized aesthetics. It can be a process from creative designs to the realization of your dream space. Specializing in kitchen and bath construction, we bring expertise and skills to every project. If you’re contemplating a renovation, upgrade, or modernization in the local market, we’re happy to be your team. Consult with us, and we can start together on a path to redefine and elevate your DC living experience.
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