April 30, 2024 • 20 mins
Ever wondered how to elevate your tile installation game or create a kitchen that defies the ages? That's what we're unwrapping this Tile Month! Join me, Chris Kerby, and my co-host Adam, as we lay down the foundations of successful tile contracting, from nurturing essential industry relationships to selecting the crème de la crème of tools. We're spilling the secrets of why partnering with interior designers could be your golden ticket and how a trusty wet saw might just become your new best friend.
This episode isn't just about the nitty-gritty of tile installation; it's about the art that goes behind it. You'll get to hear the great debate: should you start with a center line or trust your instincts? We're breaking down how to strike that sweet spot between technical skill and creative flair that leaves clients in awe. Plus, we're serving up a fresh perspective on design trends that are transforming kitchens from simple cooking spaces to the heart of the home. Think: dopamine-inducing hues and patterns that make a lasting impression.
Finally, we're stirring the pot on color choices in home design. Say goodbye to the days of playing it safe with greys – we're diving into a kaleidoscope of color, with sage green leading the charge. We're also dissecting how social media is reshaping the way homeowners express themselves through their living spaces. So, buckle up and get ready to inject some personality into those walls and floors. Your tile and color conundrums are about to meet their match, and you won't want to miss it. Subscribe for a dose of inspiration and insight that'll have you seeing your home in a whole new light.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Home Building and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to the HomeBuilding and Remodeling Show.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhome building and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you're a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on home building and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:26):
Let's go Everybody at tile monthon the home building and
remodeling show.
So this month we wanted to kickit off with the five key
relationships that you shouldhave as a tile contractor, and
what I'm trying to do here isjust help you improve your, your
business, your contractingcompany.
If you're just starting out,these are good tips and valuable
(01:47):
advice coming from somebody whohas run multiple construction
companies, and this is just someof the things that I recommend
and that our team recommendsthat you do, to either launch or
grow your tile installationbusiness, and so the number one
thing to do is to find thosevaluable relationships that you
(02:08):
can nurture and people that youneed to meet to be able to grow
your business, to gain businessand to have partners and I say
partners because a lot of theserelationships are partnerships
because the more you help them,the more you connect with them,
the more they'll help you andconnect with you, and it's just
a good way to do business.
So the number one relationshipthat I've outlined is your
(02:32):
supplier or the manufacturer.
So for us, we've got a goodrelationship with our vendors,
and the reason being is that'swhere we get our materials,
that's where we get the newproducts that are coming out and
the more that we that's wherewe get our materials, that's
where we get the new productsthat are coming out, and the
more that we enhance and nurturethose relationships and better
access that we have to newproducts, to setting materials,
(02:57):
discounted prices on things.
As a contractor, it's great toget a contractor's price because
it's going to be cheaper foryou to develop those vendor
relationships and get thecontractor price.
Save yourself some money whilestill being able to charge the
client.
Give the client a good deal andthe better prices you can get,
(03:18):
the better prices you can offer,the more competitive you are,
the more competitive you are,and not only that, but the
suppliers and manufacturersknowing your product and which
product and materials that youlike is invaluable.
So you're going to be able toget what you want when you need
it and you're going to be ableto establish those connections
(03:38):
to have access to betterproducts, more products, better
quality, better prices.
So suppliers and vendors isthat number one relationship
Plus, as they get to know you,they're going to refer business
to you and in one day, if youwant to open up your own tile or
tile and flooring store, thoserelationships are going to be
(04:00):
crucial to having the productthat you need and getting the
discounts that you want so youcould offer your clients better
pricing.
Number two oh, this one is huge, huge, huge the interior
designers man, thoserelationships with our interior
designers and we own our owninterior design company.
But even before then interiordesigners were our friends.
(04:22):
And now we move into Shop Talk.
It's the portion of the showwhere I bring in a co-host and
we cover trending topics in homebuilding and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy.
Let's go.
Welcome back everybody.
I got Adam here with me and weare talking tile this month.
From the contractor'sperspective, may is tile month
(04:43):
and we started off this month.
From the contractor'sperspective, may is tile month
and we started off uh, thismonth with some basic tool
videos, tile tools.
You're going to need to do tilework, um, and adam was gracious
enough to talk about all thedifferent types of tools.
We brought out some cool tools.
One of our guys, jeremiah, hada pretty nice tile.
That was the first time I'veever seen that tile cutter.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, he's got all the stuff of like when I was
talking about nips, tile nipsand everything.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
He was just tired of running back and forth to his
truck because he had him.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, dude, I was surprised, though, that the
actual, when he cut that smallpiece with that slide cutter, I
was impressed, you know what Imean.
But what we also noticed, that,uh, that thicker tile.
You know, justin tried to, hebrought over that thick piece
and it really, it really didn'tsnap it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, yeah, because it's only scoring just the top
edge.
So the thicker the tile is, youknow what I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So let's talk about it, though.
Man.
The reason that we kick off allof our trainings every month
with tools right and then we gointo materials is how important
is it as a contractor, andespecially you?
You know, I was rarely out inthe field man, just just a
little bit, but you spent a lotof time out in the field, from
(06:00):
framing to trim, carpentry totile, installation, cabinets,
all this different stuff.
How important is it as acontractor, even for the DIYers
out there listening to have goodtools, or have the right tools
the right, I mean it's key tosuccess.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know what I mean Like.
Having the right tools makesyour work better, and it makes
the job so much easier too.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You got to invest, yeah, I mean you got to Well,
and especially with tile right,because it's becoming more of a.
I mean, look, these arecraftsmen and women out here
installing this stuff and I callit the pretty works.
Just like paint Dude, theclient is going to eat you alive
if that tile doesn't look right.
Right, and they're going to askquestions, right, and they're
going to YouTube and all thisstuff.
(06:47):
But it starts with not justknowledge but your tools, how
you do it.
So talk to us about some ofthis stuff.
So one of the more importantthings I noticed we had Justin
installing some subway tile outat one of our new home builds
and I questioned him because hewasn't using a laser level.
(07:07):
Right, and I'm like man, that'skind of one of the most basic
things, but he was able to do it.
He ran his first row out andthen he kept checking level as
it went right.
So how important is it to keeplevel?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Very, very important.
Yeah, it's probably the mostimportant thing.
Setting tall is keepingeverything level.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So how do you do that then?
What separates people that justgo in and slap the stuff in
from somebody that's takingtheir time and getting it right?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, you can see it in their work.
So you can look at the back ofa shower wall and see somebody
that kept it level and somebodythat didn't, by the size of the
tile, grow or get smaller on theends.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So usually, if you're walking in so let's just say
you were going to inspect a job,a tile job, one of our tile
jobs when you're walking in,what are you doing?
How are you analyzing whetheror not our team did a good job
on a shower or a floor?
How, what are you doing?
How are you inspecting thatwork?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I'm starting off the placement of the grout line, so
their layout means a lot.
Making sure it's not broke upin little pieces near like the
top of the pony, I can't standthat, or those little baby
livers, yep.
Especially when you're using asmall format tile.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
It matters the most because, yeah, if you have a
quarter inch slither, yeah, nextto something.
It just don't, it does not lookgood at all.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Right.
And then if you, if, if theclient which these days it's
it's not that much, but if theywant a thicker grout line and
you've got a little sliver inthese thick, I mean is it
doesn't look this?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
is know, just an adjustment to your layout before
you start.
There's, I mean, sometimes youcan't get away with, sometimes
you're going to have it, yeahabsolutely but there's.
If you lay it out correctly,you can hide it somewhere.
That's not.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right, yeah, absolutely, and that's kind of
we've run into that.
We've actually ripped out wallsbefore to fix it and make it
right or lay it out differentlyand look.
It costs time and money butultimately the product, the
quality of work that you put out, is your reputation and you
know, for us.
So we talked about it beinglevel and things.
(09:25):
You're going to walk in andyou're going to eyeball it.
I usually look at the corners,I look at the niches or if
there's a window.
In that case we had a niche anda window right and it was subway
tile, which is a, you know,three by six, a smaller tile,
and I got onto our guy.
I got onto him because he wentin there and just kind of ran
(09:47):
out that bottom row and didn'tmake adjustments and I was
arguing with him that he shouldhave, you know, established a
center line, ran it out and cuteven on both sides.
But he was right.
I was wrong because I think thesecond crew that went, went in,
did that right and had littlechips and little pieces and and
(10:10):
so sometimes that's where thatknowledge piece comes in right.
Man is, uh, he knew better thanI did and it actually turned
out the one he did without usingthe laser, without finding that
center line turned out.
You know it turned out lookedpretty good, but it was a layout
thing.
He did take his time and I I dida video on it, but he went into
(10:34):
the living room, laid it on andhe laid it out on the floor.
Is that, I mean?
I know some people might thinkthat's waste, it's wasting time.
I've done this 100 times, yadayada right, but it proved valid
and this and this.
And he didn't use a laser.
One of the reasons, though.
He said he typically would, butbecause he was doing the tub
hop-up, he didn't use the laser.
(10:56):
Because he's saying that itkind of cuts If he's in front of
it, because he's sitting in thetub setting the tile, you can't
see it anyway.
The laser shot isn't, it'shitting his back and cutting off
the line.
You know what I mean.
So sometimes it's a matter ofspace too right that you can't
always use that laser, so you'regonna have to continuously
(11:18):
check your level and things likethat and you know sometimes the
way it looks.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You know I mean yeah let's see that if that tub's not
quite level, sure, you put alevel run in there and it's
growing right there at thebeginning.
Yeah, sometimes that looksworse too.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
So you got to kind of play with it a lot sometimes
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
So you're saying that you got to give it an eyeball
test.
I mean realistically sometimesyou do.
Exactly so.
That eyeball test sometimes,you know, from a client's
perspective especially, is goingto tell the truth, sometimes
more than just getting it 100%accurate, right when the levels.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Level.
It'd be level, but it don'tlook good.
Yeah, I mean you can fight withthe customer and be like well,
look, it's perfectly level.
This is your problem, right?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
But it looks terrible .
I got you Okay.
So we're talking level.
We're talking laser.
What else?
The slide cutter versus a wetsaw.
So let's talk about those twodifferent scenarios.
You know my brother-in-law,mark.
He always used a daggum slidecutter almost for everything.
(12:29):
So what scenarios do you wantto use?
And you've got the side grinderas well, so what scenarios do
you want to use?
What tools when installing tile?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So slide cutter is handy to have inside the home
right there next to you.
Yeah, it speeds up process.
Depends on some of the tiles,like those, those clay tiles.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They do not that slide cutters, it doesn't break
well and it bridges.
It's real, it's just.
You're not going to get a goodclean line, right, okay?
So that's when wet saw comes inmitering yeah because you know
so you, you would rather use awet saw when you're, when you're
having to cut 45s or whenyou're yeah, okay and you know,
(13:12):
I mean that's more professional.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Outside corner, yeah, a good minor cut, that's more
professional.
Yeah, but yeah, and then agrinder you know your regular
grinders handy to have if yougot to do a little cutting
inside as well, and it helpslike do circles and stuff like
that.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay, and then you showed off these, the suction
cups, right.
So is that going to be for moreof your heavy, large format
tile?
Is that what those are used for?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, you should use them on anything that you can
fit a set on.
Oh, really, just for placement.
It's a lot cleaner.
You know what I mean, becausewhen you put a 12 by 24 piece of
tile on the wall, and you'repressing and you're not using it
, and then it's getting all overyou.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It's just messy.
Yeah, you're pressing andyou're not using it.
All over you, it's just messy,yeah.
I mean, yeah, and that's onething in tile man, that's again,
it's one of the the finishings,right.
Uh, before you grout, you'rechecking your level, you're
making sure it looks good, butwhen you're done, if your tile
looks wonky, I mean, it's easyto tell when your tile is off.
(14:23):
One of the things that make adifference for me, and the
reason I look at corners andniches, is man, it's hard to cut
sometimes and that's where Isee those corners of niches.
Right, that's where I see themost mistakes.
Now we're going to move into theportion of the show where we
(14:44):
talk interior design.
We're going to bring in aninterior designer and we're
going to talk trending designand products.
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
Welcome back everybody.
We have Courtney with us againand she's one of our interior
designers.
May is going to be tile monthfor the Home Building and
(15:07):
Remodeling Show, and so we'regoing to kick it off with the
top five trends.
I don't know if they're the topfive, but five trends in tile
design today, and then one ofour audience members also had a
question about timeless design.
I guess they yeah.
If they want to remodel, theyonly want to do it once.
(15:28):
So they were looking for atimeless look, classic look.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And timeless.
Really, it transcends throughmany, many things, depending on
the person, but timelessgenerally means it's very
monochromatic, and monochromaticjust means tone on tone when
you start adding in color.
Color a lot of times is whatpeople tend to think of when
they think of dated periods yougrew up with.
When you were a kid it was theturquoise and that mauve color.
(15:52):
We talked about this last timecranberries and greens.
Well, you really can't date acream or a white.
It is timeless.
So when I think of a timelesskitchen, I do think of something
that's a little more tone ontone, a little more
monochromatic.
However, you can have fun withthat too.
So if you're doing a backsplashtile, most people think subway.
Yes, absolutely that's timelessit is, but it's becoming so
(16:15):
trendy that it's not going tobecome timeless again for quite
some time, after this trendslows over.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So trends tend to fade in and out is what I've
noticed.
Yes, okay, because when wefirst started seven years ago on
the remodeling side, we did abathroom that was all subway
from the floor to the shower.
We did a clawfoot tub.
They wanted a subway tilearound it and then really it's
(16:42):
been spotty.
But now recently, we're doingmore subway, but it's not just
the classic white as well.
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It's a little bit more tonal and then it has some
bright whites, a little ivoryand even a little bit richer of
a color.
You can also take what weconsider a boring classic and
elevate it.
Do a chevron backsplash.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
It gives you a little more visual interest.
It's adding in pattern.
Which pattern is a trend that?
We're seeing come to the marketmore and more.
You can go for fun shapes, gowith an arabesque.
It does not have to be yoursimple elongated tile, even if
it's laid in a different pattern.
But if you really want to keepit classic, it is about keeping
it on that monochromatic sidewhere it fluctuates with trends.
(17:24):
You can elevate it with otherthings in the home.
Your decor on the countertopscan be color.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
You know, your artwork on the walls can be
color Basically.
Having a blank palette to workwith keeps it classic.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Well, I've seen people that will do a lot of
neutral.
Or they'll do the whitecabinets and the subway tile lot
of neutral.
Or they'll do the whitecabinets and the subway tile.
Maybe they'll use a darkergrout, but also they'll have
pops of color in theirdecorations that go on the
countertops or just somethingthat's a little bit different.
The island may be a differentcolor, a pop of blue or green,
(17:59):
hunter green or something likethat, just to kind of change it
up your hardware even yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I love hardware, so having fun with that that is so
simple and easy to switch outand change.
So if you're like you know whatI really like this at the
moment.
I'm not sure if I'm going tolike it five years down the road
.
Sure, but you loved it forthose five years.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
How hard is it to switch out?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Absolutely.
So let's kick off tile monthappropriately and let's talk
about the number one trend thatyou're seeing, and these may not
be in order, but these are justfive trends that are popular,
just five trends that arepopping up.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I'll touch on one of the first ones, that's the most
prevalent, is color Gotcha, andI heard it referred today as
dopamine colors, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Dopamine.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Dopamine colors.
Dopamine is what your body getswhen it's happy.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
You know when something good's happening.
You're eating good food, you'rehaving a great conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So a Friday, not a Monday.
Today is Monday, that's right,exactly Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We're making it dopamine Monday.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That's okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Color, lots of rich, saturated colors.
Right now, people are reallytaking it upon themselves to
live in their homes.
So we did touch on classic.
That's something that you knowyears down the road you're going
to sell and it's really notgoing to be something trendy,
but a lot of people are nowsaying you know, this is my home
.
I want to make it feel like me,yeah, not like what's just
trending.
So we're doing a lot of colorsaturation, a lot of color
(19:22):
drenching where your cabinetsand green is a very prevalent
color.
Sure, let's say there is areally soft, sagey green and
then the backsplash is about twoto three shades darker, but
still in that green family.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Oh, so you're actually blue in color on color,
okay, in the same palette, samefamily.
So, wow, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You see that too, with a lot of paint you're
taking and you're wrapping colorall the way around the room,
including the door, the frame,and across to the other side.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So you don't mean light gray and dark gray.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
No, I don't.
Okay, and I love it, because ifyou're on social media now and
they have all these differentoutlets where people can reach
out and talk to each other,somebody says well, I was going
to do this gray floor with thisgray countertop.
The immediate reaction is no.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel.
Follow us on social media viaFacebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,wwwthehomebuildingshowcom.
And, as always, remember who weare the Home Building and
(20:31):
Remodeling Show.
Bye.
The Home Building and Remodeling Show.
Let's go.
Welcome everybody to the HomeBuilding and Remodeling Show.
My name is Chris Kirby and I'llbe your host.
(00:21):
I am the owner of threeconstruction companies on the
Alabama Gulf Coast.
The show is about residentialconstruction.
We're going to cover topics ofhome building and remodeling.
Are you thinking of doing aremodel or building a home?
Are you a contractor looking toimprove your knowledge base or
grow your business?
Have you ever done a remodelproject or built a home?
(00:42):
There were so many things youwish you knew or that you could
have done differently during theprocess.
Then this show is for you.
We break down the process ofbuilding and remodeling and how
to have the best results duringyour project.
Whether you're a DIYer lookingfor tips, someone looking to
hire a contractor to do aproject, or a contractor looking
(01:04):
to expand your knowledge baseor your business, welcome aboard
.
Glad to have you.
Stay tuned.
We kick off the show with mythoughts on home building and
remodeling.
I'll share best practices andtalk about some of our
experiences in business and outin the field.
These shared thoughts andlessons learned are meant to
help you on your very ownjourney.
(01:26):
Let's go Everybody at tile monthon the home building and
remodeling show.
So this month we wanted to kickit off with the five key
relationships that you shouldhave as a tile contractor, and
what I'm trying to do here isjust help you improve your, your
business, your contractingcompany.
If you're just starting out,these are good tips and valuable
(01:47):
advice coming from somebody whohas run multiple construction
companies, and this is just someof the things that I recommend
and that our team recommendsthat you do, to either launch or
grow your tile installationbusiness, and so the number one
thing to do is to find thosevaluable relationships that you
(02:08):
can nurture and people that youneed to meet to be able to grow
your business, to gain businessand to have partners and I say
partners because a lot of theserelationships are partnerships
because the more you help them,the more you connect with them,
the more they'll help you andconnect with you, and it's just
a good way to do business.
So the number one relationshipthat I've outlined is your
(02:32):
supplier or the manufacturer.
So for us, we've got a goodrelationship with our vendors,
and the reason being is that'swhere we get our materials,
that's where we get the newproducts that are coming out and
the more that we that's wherewe get our materials, that's
where we get the new productsthat are coming out, and the
more that we enhance and nurturethose relationships and better
access that we have to newproducts, to setting materials,
(02:57):
discounted prices on things.
As a contractor, it's great toget a contractor's price because
it's going to be cheaper foryou to develop those vendor
relationships and get thecontractor price.
Save yourself some money whilestill being able to charge the
client.
Give the client a good deal andthe better prices you can get,
(03:18):
the better prices you can offer,the more competitive you are,
the more competitive you are,and not only that, but the
suppliers and manufacturersknowing your product and which
product and materials that youlike is invaluable.
So you're going to be able toget what you want when you need
it and you're going to be ableto establish those connections
(03:38):
to have access to betterproducts, more products, better
quality, better prices.
So suppliers and vendors isthat number one relationship
Plus, as they get to know you,they're going to refer business
to you and in one day, if youwant to open up your own tile or
tile and flooring store, thoserelationships are going to be
(04:00):
crucial to having the productthat you need and getting the
discounts that you want so youcould offer your clients better
pricing.
Number two oh, this one is huge, huge, huge the interior
designers man, thoserelationships with our interior
designers and we own our owninterior design company.
But even before then interiordesigners were our friends.
(04:22):
And now we move into Shop Talk.
It's the portion of the showwhere I bring in a co-host and
we cover trending topics in homebuilding and remodeling.
Hope you enjoy.
Let's go.
Welcome back everybody.
I got Adam here with me and weare talking tile this month.
From the contractor'sperspective, may is tile month
(04:43):
and we started off this month.
From the contractor'sperspective, may is tile month
and we started off uh, thismonth with some basic tool
videos, tile tools.
You're going to need to do tilework, um, and adam was gracious
enough to talk about all thedifferent types of tools.
We brought out some cool tools.
One of our guys, jeremiah, hada pretty nice tile.
That was the first time I'veever seen that tile cutter.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, he's got all the stuff of like when I was
talking about nips, tile nipsand everything.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
He was just tired of running back and forth to his
truck because he had him.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Well, dude, I was surprised, though, that the
actual, when he cut that smallpiece with that slide cutter, I
was impressed, you know what Imean.
But what we also noticed, that,uh, that thicker tile.
You know, justin tried to, hebrought over that thick piece
and it really, it really didn'tsnap it.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Well, yeah, because it's only scoring just the top
edge.
So the thicker the tile is, youknow what I mean.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
So let's talk about it, though.
Man.
The reason that we kick off allof our trainings every month
with tools right and then we gointo materials is how important
is it as a contractor, andespecially you?
You know, I was rarely out inthe field man, just just a
little bit, but you spent a lotof time out in the field, from
(06:00):
framing to trim, carpentry totile, installation, cabinets,
all this different stuff.
How important is it as acontractor, even for the DIYers
out there listening to have goodtools, or have the right tools
the right, I mean it's key tosuccess.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
You know what I mean Like.
Having the right tools makesyour work better, and it makes
the job so much easier too.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
You got to invest, yeah, I mean you got to Well,
and especially with tile right,because it's becoming more of a.
I mean, look, these arecraftsmen and women out here
installing this stuff and I callit the pretty works.
Just like paint Dude, theclient is going to eat you alive
if that tile doesn't look right.
Right, and they're going to askquestions, right, and they're
going to YouTube and all thisstuff.
(06:47):
But it starts with not justknowledge but your tools, how
you do it.
So talk to us about some ofthis stuff.
So one of the more importantthings I noticed we had Justin
installing some subway tile outat one of our new home builds
and I questioned him because hewasn't using a laser level.
(07:07):
Right, and I'm like man, that'skind of one of the most basic
things, but he was able to do it.
He ran his first row out andthen he kept checking level as
it went right.
So how important is it to keeplevel?
Speaker 2 (07:19):
Very, very important.
Yeah, it's probably the mostimportant thing.
Setting tall is keepingeverything level.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
So how do you do that then?
What separates people that justgo in and slap the stuff in
from somebody that's takingtheir time and getting it right?
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Well, you can see it in their work.
So you can look at the back ofa shower wall and see somebody
that kept it level and somebodythat didn't, by the size of the
tile, grow or get smaller on theends.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
So usually, if you're walking in so let's just say
you were going to inspect a job,a tile job, one of our tile
jobs when you're walking in,what are you doing?
How are you analyzing whetheror not our team did a good job
on a shower or a floor?
How, what are you doing?
How are you inspecting thatwork?
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I'm starting off the placement of the grout line, so
their layout means a lot.
Making sure it's not broke upin little pieces near like the
top of the pony, I can't standthat, or those little baby
livers, yep.
Especially when you're using asmall format tile.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
It matters the most because, yeah, if you have a
quarter inch slither, yeah, nextto something.
It just don't, it does not lookgood at all.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Right.
And then if you, if, if theclient which these days it's
it's not that much, but if theywant a thicker grout line and
you've got a little sliver inthese thick, I mean is it
doesn't look this?
Speaker 2 (08:48):
is know, just an adjustment to your layout before
you start.
There's, I mean, sometimes youcan't get away with, sometimes
you're going to have it, yeahabsolutely but there's.
If you lay it out correctly,you can hide it somewhere.
That's not.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Right, yeah, absolutely, and that's kind of
we've run into that.
We've actually ripped out wallsbefore to fix it and make it
right or lay it out differentlyand look.
It costs time and money butultimately the product, the
quality of work that you put out, is your reputation and you
know, for us.
So we talked about it beinglevel and things.
(09:25):
You're going to walk in andyou're going to eyeball it.
I usually look at the corners,I look at the niches or if
there's a window.
In that case we had a niche anda window right and it was subway
tile, which is a, you know,three by six, a smaller tile,
and I got onto our guy.
I got onto him because he wentin there and just kind of ran
(09:47):
out that bottom row and didn'tmake adjustments and I was
arguing with him that he shouldhave, you know, established a
center line, ran it out and cuteven on both sides.
But he was right.
I was wrong because I think thesecond crew that went, went in,
did that right and had littlechips and little pieces and and
(10:10):
so sometimes that's where thatknowledge piece comes in right.
Man is, uh, he knew better thanI did and it actually turned
out the one he did without usingthe laser, without finding that
center line turned out.
You know it turned out lookedpretty good, but it was a layout
thing.
He did take his time and I I dida video on it, but he went into
(10:34):
the living room, laid it on andhe laid it out on the floor.
Is that, I mean?
I know some people might thinkthat's waste, it's wasting time.
I've done this 100 times, yadayada right, but it proved valid
and this and this.
And he didn't use a laser.
One of the reasons, though.
He said he typically would, butbecause he was doing the tub
hop-up, he didn't use the laser.
(10:56):
Because he's saying that itkind of cuts If he's in front of
it, because he's sitting in thetub setting the tile, you can't
see it anyway.
The laser shot isn't, it'shitting his back and cutting off
the line.
You know what I mean.
So sometimes it's a matter ofspace too right that you can't
always use that laser, so you'regonna have to continuously
(11:18):
check your level and things likethat and you know sometimes the
way it looks.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
You know I mean yeah let's see that if that tub's not
quite level, sure, you put alevel run in there and it's
growing right there at thebeginning.
Yeah, sometimes that looksworse too.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
So you got to kind of play with it a lot sometimes
Gotcha.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
So you're saying that you got to give it an eyeball
test.
I mean realistically sometimesyou do.
Exactly so.
That eyeball test sometimes,you know, from a client's
perspective especially, is goingto tell the truth, sometimes
more than just getting it 100%accurate, right when the levels.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
Level.
It'd be level, but it don'tlook good.
Yeah, I mean you can fight withthe customer and be like well,
look, it's perfectly level.
This is your problem, right?
Speaker 1 (12:08):
But it looks terrible .
I got you Okay.
So we're talking level.
We're talking laser.
What else?
The slide cutter versus a wetsaw.
So let's talk about those twodifferent scenarios.
You know my brother-in-law,mark.
He always used a daggum slidecutter almost for everything.
(12:29):
So what scenarios do you wantto use?
And you've got the side grinderas well, so what scenarios do
you want to use?
What tools when installing tile?
Speaker 2 (12:38):
So slide cutter is handy to have inside the home
right there next to you.
Yeah, it speeds up process.
Depends on some of the tiles,like those, those clay tiles.
Speaker 1 (12:50):
They do not that slide cutters, it doesn't break
well and it bridges.
It's real, it's just.
You're not going to get a goodclean line, right, okay?
So that's when wet saw comes inmitering yeah because you know
so you, you would rather use awet saw when you're, when you're
having to cut 45s or whenyou're yeah, okay and you know,
(13:12):
I mean that's more professional.
Speaker 2 (13:15):
Outside corner, yeah, a good minor cut, that's more
professional.
Yeah, but yeah, and then agrinder you know your regular
grinders handy to have if yougot to do a little cutting
inside as well, and it helpslike do circles and stuff like
that.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
Okay, and then you showed off these, the suction
cups, right.
So is that going to be for moreof your heavy, large format
tile?
Is that what those are used for?
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, you should use them on anything that you can
fit a set on.
Oh, really, just for placement.
It's a lot cleaner.
You know what I mean, becausewhen you put a 12 by 24 piece of
tile on the wall, and you'repressing and you're not using it
, and then it's getting all overyou.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
It's just messy.
Yeah, you're pressing andyou're not using it.
All over you, it's just messy,yeah.
I mean, yeah, and that's onething in tile man, that's again,
it's one of the the finishings,right.
Uh, before you grout, you'rechecking your level, you're
making sure it looks good, butwhen you're done, if your tile
looks wonky, I mean, it's easyto tell when your tile is off.
(14:23):
One of the things that make adifference for me, and the
reason I look at corners andniches, is man, it's hard to cut
sometimes and that's where Isee those corners of niches.
Right, that's where I see themost mistakes.
Now we're going to move into theportion of the show where we
(14:44):
talk interior design.
We're going to bring in aninterior designer and we're
going to talk trending designand products.
Hope you enjoy, let's go.
Welcome back everybody.
We have Courtney with us againand she's one of our interior
designers.
May is going to be tile monthfor the Home Building and
(15:07):
Remodeling Show, and so we'regoing to kick it off with the
top five trends.
I don't know if they're the topfive, but five trends in tile
design today, and then one ofour audience members also had a
question about timeless design.
I guess they yeah.
If they want to remodel, theyonly want to do it once.
(15:28):
So they were looking for atimeless look, classic look.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
And timeless.
Really, it transcends throughmany, many things, depending on
the person, but timelessgenerally means it's very
monochromatic, and monochromaticjust means tone on tone when
you start adding in color.
Color a lot of times is whatpeople tend to think of when
they think of dated periods yougrew up with.
When you were a kid it was theturquoise and that mauve color.
(15:52):
We talked about this last timecranberries and greens.
Well, you really can't date acream or a white.
It is timeless.
So when I think of a timelesskitchen, I do think of something
that's a little more tone ontone, a little more
monochromatic.
However, you can have fun withthat too.
So if you're doing a backsplashtile, most people think subway.
Yes, absolutely that's timelessit is, but it's becoming so
(16:15):
trendy that it's not going tobecome timeless again for quite
some time, after this trendslows over.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
So trends tend to fade in and out is what I've
noticed.
Yes, okay, because when wefirst started seven years ago on
the remodeling side, we did abathroom that was all subway
from the floor to the shower.
We did a clawfoot tub.
They wanted a subway tilearound it and then really it's
(16:42):
been spotty.
But now recently, we're doingmore subway, but it's not just
the classic white as well.
Right, right.
Speaker 3 (16:51):
It's a little bit more tonal and then it has some
bright whites, a little ivoryand even a little bit richer of
a color.
You can also take what weconsider a boring classic and
elevate it.
Do a chevron backsplash.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Gotcha.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
It gives you a little more visual interest.
It's adding in pattern.
Which pattern is a trend that?
We're seeing come to the marketmore and more.
You can go for fun shapes, gowith an arabesque.
It does not have to be yoursimple elongated tile, even if
it's laid in a different pattern.
But if you really want to keepit classic, it is about keeping
it on that monochromatic sidewhere it fluctuates with trends.
(17:24):
You can elevate it with otherthings in the home.
Your decor on the countertopscan be color.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
You know, your artwork on the walls can be
color Basically.
Having a blank palette to workwith keeps it classic.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Well, I've seen people that will do a lot of
neutral.
Or they'll do the whitecabinets and the subway tile lot
of neutral.
Or they'll do the whitecabinets and the subway tile.
Maybe they'll use a darkergrout, but also they'll have
pops of color in theirdecorations that go on the
countertops or just somethingthat's a little bit different.
The island may be a differentcolor, a pop of blue or green,
(17:59):
hunter green or something likethat, just to kind of change it
up your hardware even yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I love hardware, so having fun with that that is so
simple and easy to switch outand change.
So if you're like you know whatI really like this at the
moment.
I'm not sure if I'm going tolike it five years down the road
.
Sure, but you loved it forthose five years.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
How hard is it to switch out?
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Absolutely.
So let's kick off tile monthappropriately and let's talk
about the number one trend thatyou're seeing, and these may not
be in order, but these are justfive trends that are popular,
just five trends that arepopping up.
Speaker 3 (18:34):
I'll touch on one of the first ones, that's the most
prevalent, is color Gotcha, andI heard it referred today as
dopamine colors, and I love that.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Dopamine.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Dopamine colors.
Dopamine is what your body getswhen it's happy.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
You know when something good's happening.
You're eating good food, you'rehaving a great conversation.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
So a Friday, not a Monday.
Today is Monday, that's right,exactly Okay.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
We're making it dopamine Monday.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
That's okay, all right.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
Color, lots of rich, saturated colors.
Right now, people are reallytaking it upon themselves to
live in their homes.
So we did touch on classic.
That's something that you knowyears down the road you're going
to sell and it's really notgoing to be something trendy,
but a lot of people are nowsaying you know, this is my home
.
I want to make it feel like me,yeah, not like what's just
trending.
So we're doing a lot of colorsaturation, a lot of color
(19:22):
drenching where your cabinetsand green is a very prevalent
color.
Sure, let's say there is areally soft, sagey green and
then the backsplash is about twoto three shades darker, but
still in that green family.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Oh, so you're actually blue in color on color,
okay, in the same palette, samefamily.
So, wow, okay.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
You see that too, with a lot of paint you're
taking and you're wrapping colorall the way around the room,
including the door, the frame,and across to the other side.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
So you don't mean light gray and dark gray.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
No, I don't.
Okay, and I love it, because ifyou're on social media now and
they have all these differentoutlets where people can reach
out and talk to each other,somebody says well, I was going
to do this gray floor with thisgray countertop.
The immediate reaction is no.
Speaker 1 (20:07):
Thanks for joining us today.
As always, we are grateful forour listeners and your continued
support.
Please subscribe to our YouTubechannel.
Follow us on social media viaFacebook, instagram and TikTok.
Get more info at our website,wwwthehomebuildingshowcom.
And, as always, remember who weare the Home Building and
(20:31):
Remodeling Show.
Bye.
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