Installing Tile on a Wall as a Heat Shield for a Woodstove

In a previous post (see: How to install Tile Like a Pro - December 1, 2010) I described the process for installing tile as the heat shield for a woodstove.  However, in that post we provided only a picture of the tile on the floor.  By way of proving we actually did the tile on the wall, here is what the tile looked like on the wall  in mid-project.

What was different for the Wall versus the Floor? 

The process is pretty much the same, but here are a few diffences:
  • Gravity is working against you all the time.  Be patient -- use lots of tile spacers
  • While we used adhesive for both the floor and wall tiles generally adhesive is used only for the wall tiles.
  • We had to make a cut out for one tile.  For the floor we choose our tiles and pattern so that we did not have and cuts to make.  This was a pain because I needed to ask a friend to cut the tile and it took a few weekends before I got it back.
  • The molding is different for the wall tile.  It has to be more of an 'L'-shape to cover the side of the tile against the wall.
A few tips:
  • Be patient...
  • Make sure you create the appropriate space below the first row of tiles -- use lots of spaces.  You need this space when you grout.
;-)