Tile Intel: A Budget Remodel with Heath Seconds - Remodelista
This week, architect Ian Read from Medium Plenty evangelizes about Heath Ceramics tiles and gives us his tips on remodeling with the tiles–even on a budget, as he did with his own house in Oakland, CA, which he overhauled with his wife and business partner, interior designer Gretchen Krebs. With doing comes experience (Read installed all the tiles himself in his house), so we asked him for insider tips learned on the job. “It’s important to remember that Heath Ceramics tiles are handmade. Unlike a manufactured tile, the irregular nature of the tiles means that that there will be differences from piece to piece. You, your designer, and your installer need to understand and embrace the nature of the material or expect to be frustrated.” 1. Celebrate handmade tiles 2. Keep an open mind when selecting tiles “When it comes to selecting seconds and overstock tiles, prepare to be flexible. We never thought about brown hexagonal tiles for our master bathroom until we saw it available in a large quantity. Checking the website for changing availability is advised... ...but note that it’s only available directly out of Heath’s Sausalito store and stock can go quickly, so know how much you need beforehand–and make sure you include an amount for overage (additional tiles needed to make up for tile cuts or egregious flaws). When working with seconds, I would suggest buying 15 to 20 percent more.” 3. Take your time with tile placement and installation “The placement of the tiles requires more time than if you were working with manufactured tiles because irregular shapes translate into irregular spacing. Wedge spacers, a critical tool, make up for the lack of regularity in the tiles... ...but you also need to check your progress against a benchmark to ensure that the overall layout is even. And finally, when working with seconds or overstock tiles, there will be some pieces with irregularities that will not be to your liking; put these in more discrete locations.” The kitchen is comprised of a tiled backsplash made of Heath Ceramics seconds, blackened plate steel shelves, and an Ikea countertop and cabinets. Metal tabs welded to the back of the 3/16-inch blackened plate-steel shelves (fabricated by Chris French Metal) were fastened to the structural framing behind the wall to make the shelves appear as if they’re floating. Because the grout joint is the same thickness as the shelves, the shelves look like they slot neatly into the tiles. The glazing color of the tiles in Read’s kitchen is New Crystal Blue. The Aged Iron glazed hexagonal tiles that Read used in his master bath were overage from a large run for an office project. On Read’s first project working with Heath tiles, he was introduced to James “Ted” Telvert from Team Ted Tile, an installer who Heath frequently recommends to clients. “The main challenge with the hexagonals was getting the hang of laying out every other course, since they’re staggered. Once you get started, things start to fall into place,” Read says. In the guest bathroom, Read worked around not having enough 2 inch high white tiles (Linen, Antique White, and Chalk) by inserting a band of 3 inch subway tiles in Parchment. Read’s cat, Jack, sits on a concrete bathtub surround manufactured by Concreteworks Studio. A view of the backsplash wall in the kitchen before Read’s remodel. Read’s wife and business partner, designer Gretchen Krebs, pulls nails out of the floor framing of the guest bath. An architect with extensive hands-on construction experience, Read renovated most of the house on his own with Krebs. Over the years, nine and counting, we have remodeled the entire house, including raising it to add a floor at street level,” he says.