Has anyone ever tiled a table?

[babylonsister]

I have an outdoor table, 3 ft. x 5 ft., with a glass top I'd like to replace with tile. Is wonderboard a requirement for this, or is plywood enough of a base? We're also having problems figuring out what kind of braces to get to support the weight of the tile. All suggestions welcome! And thanks!

[Chalco]

1. Plywood is fine.

You just need to get grout that works with it. What do you mean by braces? Do you mean table legs? Or for the edging of the table?

You can use anything really because the tile will be set in the grout and that will hold the tile. Anything that works with the color of the tile.

[babylonsister]

4. Braces to hold the added weight of the tiles.

Thanks for your input!

[LiberalUprising]

2. Yes you will need to use Wonderboard,

Hardibacker or another backerboard product designed for use with ceramic tile. It is best to use 'thinset' as opposed to mastic (to set the tiles) with the backerboard. Thinset will dry quicker and more completly than mastic on backerboard. Be sure to clean the joints of excees thinset while it is still wet (a utility knife or putty knife works well) as it's hard to remove after it sets and if it is above the level of the tile, grout will not cover it. (You will have thinset color in the high spots)

Plywood will swell and warp, especially outdoors and cause cracking and falling out of the grout and possibly crack the tiles as well.

You may also want to use an exterior grade tile, these are freeze-thaw resistant and will hold up longer outside.

As far as supports, it depends how sturdy the existing table base is, you should be fine with the same one you had for the glass. Most table glass that I have seen is very thick and heavy.

I would do the top then see if the base will hold it, if not, then do some brainstorming, you could always build a new base if needed.

From what material is the table base made?

[babylonsister]

3. The base is metal. We're just

concerned about the weight, not wanting the plywood or wonderboard to dip in the middle. And for the record, Home Depot employee told me that plywood would be necessary because wonderboard is brittle. I know it's prone to swelling and warping, so am trying to figure out what would work best. Thanks for your input!

[LiberalUprising]

5. He's right, you will need to screw the backerboard to the plywood

If you use 3/4 inch plywood as a base you can go over it with 1/4 inch backerboard, 1/2 inch backerboard will work as well. Seal the underside of plywood with an exterior wood primer to reduce warping.

Or better yet, you could get a piece of countertop material (formica or simular material)
sand to rough it up and tile over it using mastic. Just be sure to seal the underside of formica with an exterior grade primer if you go this route.

This will keep it from sagging and give the proper support.

You could also run wood trim around the edges to finish it out.

[Stinky The Clown]

6. This could get involved, but here's my 2 pennies' worth

I have an old, all-welded tubular aluminum table and four chairs. They were very high end Florida stuff bought new maybe 20 or 25 years ago. I don't recall the name, but its one of the brands that would advertise in those high end decorator magazines. Tropitone, maybe? Anyways ......

It has a glass top that is held in place by the table rim and the legs. Unscrew it all and the top is then freed. I had thought about replacing the glass with tile. My plan was to make a sandwich for the top. 1/4" plywood of the same diameter as the glass. This would be held place just like the glass. Glued to the plywood would be a 1/4" sheet of backer board (smooth, like Hardiboard, not that crappy cement shit). The tile would then be thinset on the backer board. In the end, the tile would stand proud of the metal rim by about a half inch.

However, all of this would be too weak to support its own weight, so I was going to screw some 1-1/2" angle to the underside of the plywood to stiffen it.

In the end, this got so complicated that I decided to live with the glass! Besides, the table's legs already wobble. The tile's weight may make it way too unstable.

If I still want a tile table this summer, I'll just find some table legs, use 3/4" plywood and 1/4" backer and make my own table. Waaaaaaay simpler! So long as the plywood is sealed well with polyurethane before assembly, this will work fine and last a long time.

I saw a tile top table in a store not long ago. Made in Italy, it had a gorgeous mosaic top. The cost was nearly $3,000! Obviously too rich for a mere mortal like me. However, I looked it over really well. The table frame was wrought iron. The legs were welded to the rim. The rim had a flange at the bottom. Set into the rim, from the top and resting on the flange, was plywood. I don't know how thick. But the tile and plywood together was close to an inch and a half. This led me to think the plywood was probably 3/4". This allows for a thick mortar bed for the mosaic and allows the tile to be 1/4" thick. As heavy as this puppy was, I know there's a lot of cement/mortar in the top. This is kinda what I am now thinking of building. For what its worth, the plywood's exposed underside was raw wood. No poly on it at all.

[LiberalUprising]

7. Thanks for the reply, good points.

I see what you are sayingHusb2Sparkly, I was assuming the existing base had support in the middle, if not you may need to build a frame of some sort to achieve the rigidity needed, which may indeed be more trouble than it's worth. A 5 ft span will sag even using 3/4" plywood without some sort of frame or support under it.

[babylonsister]

8. You Folks Are Great! Thanks for

all the help! I've bought the tile already, so we'll be doing something. If I can, I'll take a pic so you can see the end result. But as they say, don't hold your breath! Hope to get this project done by the summer. Again, many thanks.
Ruth