Tiling around fireplace.. need HELP!?

Question

ive never tiled anything before. i was thinking of replacing our old tiles around the fireplace and puttnig in slate ones. i am wondering if its a bigger project than it seems. will i have to remove the mantle to do it. is it harder to tile something on the wall or fireplace than the floor? should i just seek a professional or is it easy?thanks

Answer 1

This is a challenging project for a novice. For one thing, removing existing tiles or tiling over existing tiles is tricky. Tiling on a vertical surface is more difficult than a countertop or floor. Working with slate is more difficult than working with ceramic tile because it is not uniform and cannot be cut with a simple snap cutter, and slate is usually heavy. And because this is a fireplace surround you'll have to mix thinset mortar as an adhesive, rather than use premixed mastic.

The following video clip and description will give you an idea of what tiling on a wall is like. In your project you'd use thinset mortar instead of mastic but the basic process is the same.

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,...

Bottom line? Maybe this isn't the best project as a first project.