Large format tile setting

[abernat]

I had a seriously out of plumb wall and tried to use the cardboard strips, and it was a nightmare. I should have just sistered new studs in. Ah, well, live and learn. 

And +1 on the cleanup... not that I would know about the grout saw... on 1" tile...

[MKepke]

Amateur here also but based on my one recent floor in 12sx24s vs a bunch of floors and walls in 12x12s, I'd say it is much harder to lay.

Repeating much of what others have said:

* Floors need to be flat, like 1/8" in 10' flat.

* Tiles need to be flat. There's a standard for the allowed warpage in tiles.I check the individual tiles and use the flattest ones for full tiles and the less flat ones for cut tiles. Also check variations in LxW between tiles.

* Use a tile levelling system. I bought a cheap one off Amazon. Worked great. The handtool made a huge difference ease of use. The cheap system was loads better than the QEP system available at Home Depot et al.

* Gotta use tools, materials and techniques specific to large format tiles, like 1/2" notched trowels, large format tile mortar, back buttering all tiles, if bricklaying stagger by 1/3 or less, etc.

I think that's most of it. The rest is standard tiling practice.

One more tip: I did my last couple of layouts in Sketchup using very accurate measurements. It made it easy to change the tile layout to optimize the look and minimize the # of cuts/waste. Another benefit: my cutting lists end up being very accurate.

-Mark