Have you ever laid an interior brick floor in your home? I mean faux brick. Is it harder than square tile?

Question:If you have, please let me know how the difficultly level compares to regular tile. I want to put it in the kids' bathroom and would like to do it myself. Please be specific with your answer Thanks

Answers:
If, by "faux" brick, you mean something like "Z-brick," which is about 1/4" thick, forget it. The pieces can't be laid close enough to grout them up properly and they'll break down under use. Plus, trying to cut them in around the toilet will leave impossible small and brittle pieces.

If you mean, however, "pavers," that are about 1/2"-3/4" thick, you can do that -but with some gotcha's. Among which is cutting a radius in them to fit around the curved edges of the toilet. It can be done with a powerful enough sabre-saw with an abrasive bit -murderously slow and dusty- or a carefully applied small abrasive wheel to cut of many straight sections close enough to one another to give the appearance of a radius. OR, you can pull the toilet and reseat it on top of the brick. That way, the only cutting tool you'll need will be either a stone chisel and hammer or an abrasive blade in a circular or table saw or a wet saw. Grubby work no matter what. Regular tile is much easier.

Another factor is the sanitary challenge. Those pavers are porous and will soon become an apartment complex for all kinds of bacteria. So, they -and the grout lines between them- will need to be heavily sealed, which now gives you a maintenance headache.

I'm an experienced floor mechanic, and recommend that if what you want is a terra cotta look, then go with actual terra cotta tile, available in various shapes and sizes. Because it is actually a ceramic, it will do fine in the bathroom -once properly sealed.

I hope this helps.