The tile are installed and grouted. I won’t say there weren’t moments of exasperation, but now that it’s all behind me, I can sit back and enjoy the finished product. Many tile jobs are hurry up and wait. You wait for the thinset or mastic to dry. You wait for the grout to take a set before cleaning. But you have to hurry to get your thinset mortar down before it dries too much and the same with the grout. You hurry to find your laser when laying out your tiles. And then you wait and make others stay out of the area while the thinset and grout have time to cure.
I will keep today’s update brief as its Friday and I still have much work to complete before getting out of here for the weekend. I learned that it’s the little things that slow down a job. I had extension cords with bad grounds and a tile saw with a GFCI plug that required a ground. i could have installed a new ground rod and run separate wiring faster than trying to find where my dad stored his real extension cords. He hid them so I wouldn’t borrow them and mom wouldn’t use them on her weed-eaters and blowers, leaving the cords outside in the sun to deteriorate. I was two cases shy of having enough tiles to finish the job, but that was apparent before it became an issue. Same thing on the Hardiebacker board, I was two sheets shy. So another $100 to my original purchase and the total still was less than $1300.
The other surprise was that the old carpet that was ripped out to make room for the tile was glued in. I don’t know what glue dad used, but I can say it did not want to let go after many years of being under the carpet. What a pain it was to take out the pet-stained smelly old carpet. I was glad to see it go. I am not a fan of carpet or rugs but I am the exception in my family. The Andersen windows I installed back in 1987, I checked them and they were worth every penny we paid for them. They still look good and their casement opening operation still works smoothly.
If you are renting a tile saw, here is a tip, either lay your field tiles first then save your tile cutting for one day. Or if you use spacers, dry-fit the tiles and make your cuts then mark your tile placement to avoid confusion. A tile saw gives straight cuts time-after-time.
The only task I have left is to clean the glaze off of the tiles tonight. I will be using a tile glaze remover I picked up from Lowe’s. After that, I will treat the grout with a sealer made by Homax and also available at Lowe’s.
