Some of you know I do tile installation for a living. wanted to share a few photos of my current job. It is a damn nightmare for sure. Taking every bit of my skills to make it work. I hate it some days and others it is okay. The pressure is on as it is a home here in Utah for a somewhat famous person. Clues, he went to Brigham Young University in Provo, Ut. Played as a QB for the Sf 49ers ad now is a football analyst on ESPN. Been here 2 months s far and probably 2 left just on the exterior, then 5 bath rooms inside.

These tiles are unique in that they are 39"H x 116"L x 1/8th" thick, made of porcelain and are quite fragile before their installation. Use large racks with 8 suction cups to transport them. To cut them we score them with a glass cutter and snap them. I have to go 40 ft up on one section of scaffolds and then still have the 5' x 5' x 7' chimney to clad. Lucky the weather here has been ideal, cool enough that it permits me to comb out large areas of the bonding mortar and apply the tile before the mortar skins over. If it was much hotter than the 20's and 40's we have had, the job would be significantly more difficult. This is the 1st wood framed residential structure in the U.S. to receive these "Thin body" tiles. I have no technical support, just submit my procedures in depth and get answers back like "That should work" They are made in Spain and are new to the U.S. market with this line of thin tiles. I'm the guniea pig tile contractor...

Here are a few shots of the ongoing project and some finished sections. Every tile joint has to be masked off and then filled with silicone, no grouting.

 

Nice, being in the design/build industry myself I love interesting building materials and techniques and construction/renovation. I like the tape lines on the sealant joint, gotta keep it clean. I'm not even going to look it up to check - that's gotta be Steve Young. I was a 49ers fan as a youngster back in the 90s.

 

Wow, what a project!
Are you allowed to have a provision in the contract that excludes you from liability if one of them shows up with a crack or break? Seems every time I get tile there are a few of them that broke in shipping or something.
This reminds me of precast tilt-up but on a smaller and more delicate scale, I remember what issues we had with that. Looks great!
just out of curiosity what kind of siding is the wood style just above that? Has that deep Brown wood grain look?
I am fixing to work on the master bath here shortly and will be doing the tile in the shower.
I have the construction manager that will be doing the supervision (aka Mrs. Bickerson, who knows everything) watching over this project