We start with a welded 16 gage square tube steel frame, The strongest in the industry. Others use galvanized trac material. It just will not hold up over the long hall.
Next we cover the frame with Hardi-backer. There are many other products on the market but none with the trac record of Hardi-board.
Then we tape and bed all of the corners using a commercial grade fiberglass mesh and flexbond mortar. A good flexbond mortar costs five times as much as regular cement but we feel it is the only way to build it right.
Next we cut out and tile the box again using the same flexbond mortar to stick the tile. This is very important if you don't use a flex mortar the expansion and contraction of outdoor exposure will cause the tile to seperate from the top. |
