'71 Starcraft Wanderstar- "The Hilton"

U.P. BLDR wrote:
I sold my Ford diesel and fifth wheeler this winter to a guy who was heading out to the oil fields. His plan is to buy campers here where they are reasonably cheap and bring them out there to resell to the workers.

I wish him the best of luck with that but I think maybe there are a few guys that have also thought of that very thing. There is a thread in the "modifications" part of the TT section where a guy is camped fulltime in Watford City and he explains what he did to make it through the winter. He had some very ingenious ideas like heat lamps and special skirting to limit heating costs and stay cozy.

OK, this will be part one of one of those "How I did it" posts, not a just "look what I did" kind.

Tiling 101:
I decided that the area around my propane heater should be enclosed with masonry and I wanted something better than just painted cement board (although that would have met my functionary requirements). Tile is the natural solution since I am fairly conversant with tile setting and the price is affordable. I'm already hearing,"Yeah but what about the weight!" In this case, the additional 85 lbs is going to be working for me, not against me. The mass of the tile will help in my heating efforts.

First, the basic materials and tools required:

Tile saw, this is a 10" diamond blade wet saw that I've owned for a number of years. They are available to rent in most communities with a rental center. Personally, I wouldn't use anything else unless the tile is less than 1/4" in thickness.



Notched trowel sized for this particular tile, 1/4"x1/4" (yours will look better than this old warhorse):



The ingredients to make thinset, the cementitious material used to adheze the tile to the surface. This time, I chose to mix in my own latex additive rather than buy modified thin set mortar. It's a choice and economy thing. Buckets of water for mixing thinset to the required consistency, about like toothpaste or peanut butter. I tend to mix mine thick because I can spread it and it holds better to vertical surface.



I thought I had at least one picture showing just the use of a notched trowel but I guess I got carried away with progress. You can still see the pattern in this picture where I have the bottom field layed out with full tiles and am measuring for the first cuts:



First cut completed on the saw:



Economizing tile by using both ends of one tile to make the smaller cuts (you will be surprised by the small amount of waste when this is done):



This is one tile that has multiple dimensions due to the border edging around the opening. This is how I mark the tile to cut it:



Bottom of enclosure done. Notice the 1/4" spacers I've used to keep the joints even. You can also lay them into the corner intersections and I will do that on the vertical surfaces but it is easier to remove the spacers if they are standing up like shown:



The procedure is the same for the back of the enclosure and I've chosen to do that secondly since the two sides will wrap the cut edges and the sides will be either contained or have a bull nose on the edge of the opening. As you can see, I've started with a full tile to the left and have cut the small tiles on the right. You could start from the middle and have both sides even but for my purposes and desires, it isn't necesary and saves on cutting time. Here, I am applying some thinset to the back of a tile, this is called "back-buttering":



You could back-butter each tile individually but spreading a bigger area with the notched trowel is more uniform and much faster. There is always a small area, it seems, that doesn't get covered and this job is no exception. This is where the back-buttered piece is to be set:



I continued to set tile until I had the back of the enclosure completed. I had only mixed enough thinset to get this far and after a grueling 30 minutes of work, I'm half way done. In fact it took longer to upload the pictures and post this thread than the actual work, lol.



I'll conitnue showing the rest of the work in Part 2 and I hope someone can make some use of this. I've done tile in a few RV's and it usually works out pretty well. Having a tile entry, for instance, can save a lot of sloppiness and is easier to manage than a track mat by the door. I see some folks are using glass or other tile for backsplashs in kitchen areas and that is a good use, also. If you have any questions, be sure to ask. I am only following my company motto: "We can help". It's printed on our shirts, anyway :D: