LESLIE: Now we’re going to talk to Chuck in Illinois who wants to install a tile countertop.
Chuck, how can we help you?
CHUCK: Well, we just got done buying a house that has one of those wonderful cement counters on there. We keep – it doesn’t look very well and she wants to put ceramic tile on top of the counter.
TOM: Sure, I don’t see why you couldn’t attach tile to – you know, ceramic tile to a concrete countertop. Is there any way to refinish this countertop? Because countertops that are concrete generally have a lot of possibilities by themselves. Have you thought about restaining the countertop, for example, with say an acid stain?
CHUCK: Really didn’t think about that. The wife was enthused about the ceramic tile but …
TOM: Alright, well let’s keep her on the tile idea, OK? We don’t want to get her off that because she likes that idea. (chuckling) That’s going to make your life a lot happier, I suspect.
I don’t see why he can’t do that, Leslie. What do you think?
LESLIE: No, I think it’s a great idea. Tile countertops are gorgeous, they’re durable, they’re easy to clean.
CHUCK: Yeah, that’s – (inaudible) the whole kitchen was just remodeled before we bought it and it’s still really nice. That’s the only thing that right now has the tendency to look kind of bad because it’s chipping.
TOM: Well, go ahead and add tile to it. You’re going to have to use a tile adhesive to attach it and you might just want to think about how you’re going to treat the edge of that. That’s going to probably be the trickiest spot; to make sure you have a good, clean front edge. Probably a bullnose tile or something like that would be the solution.
LESLIE: You can even get – there’s like a metal track that staples to that front edge of the backer board or whatever your base countertop you’re working with and then you can lay your adhesive – whether it’s cement or mastic – and then put a thin tile along there. So if there’s something that coordinates with the tile you’ve selected, it can go right along that front and make like an overhang.
TOM: Alright, Chuck. Well, good luck with that new house.
CHUCK: OK, thank you very much. I appreciate that. Like I said, I listen to you all the time and I really think everything you do is really interesting and I appreciate you helping me out here.
TOM: Thanks, Chuck. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT, 888-666-3974.
Leave a Reply