Good-looking Glass: Use Recycled Glass for Kitchen and Bath Tile
(Page 2 of 4)
July/August 2002
By Joe Hurst-Wajsczuk
The beauty of glass comes at a price, however. Artisan-quality glass tiles start at about $20 to $30 per square foot. Comparatively, granite and marble cost about $15 per square foot, and good-quality standard tile can be had for as little as $4 per square foot. It is possible to introduce glass tiles into your design without breaking the bank by using them as accents or borders.
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Working with glass
Glass tiles need to be treated somewhat differently than their clay-bodied brethren. They’re significantly harder, which means you’ll need a wet saw or a diamond blade to trim tiles down to size (ceramic tiles are a cinch to score and snap). In addition, you must pay attention to the setting material. Standard gray-brown mastics and mortars will muddy the luminescent color that makes these tiles special. Manufacturers generally recommend using a light-colored adhesive. Remember that bubbles or other adhesive imperfections will show, so you’ll need to be extra careful during installation, or consider hiring a pro.
Glass tiles can also be used in ways you’d never think of using standard tile. Taking full advantage of its translucency, Bolton and other installers have epoxied tiles onto glass doors and mirrors, creating tiles that appear to float in space. Instead of attaching tiles onto walls, some designers have built walls around the tile. Creating backlit metal frames transforms simple tiles into stained-glass murals.
Hybrid glass tiles
Instead of building the tiles entirely from glass, several companies have patented ways of substituting recycled glass, an inexpensive raw material, for materials that would otherwise need to be manufactured or mined. The end result is an environmentally friendly product that’s competitive with conventional tile. One such company, Terra Green Technologies, mixes glass from automobile and airplane windshields with a ceramic base to create three lines of tile. Terra Green’s tiles contain 55 to 70 percent recycled glass (darker tiles require a larger proportion of clay). Although the tiles aren’t translucent, they still possess a glassy luster and are available for just $10 per square foot.
For an entirely different look, consider terrazzo. Coming this June, Wausau Tile will begin producing a new line of terrazzo tile products made up of glass chips instead of stone. According to Rodney Dombrowski, manager of the terra-paving division, choosing glass over stone was a win-win decision. “At $150 per ton, recycled glass costs less than stone chips,” he says. To substitute glass for stone, Wausau invented several new processes, but the end result is a product that’s more water resistant than most stone-based terrazzos. The twelve-by-twelve-inch square floor tiles, which contain 60 percent recycled material, are expected to cost about $8 to $10 per square foot, about the same price as standard terrazzo tile.