The tile are installed and grouted. Â 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. Â 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. Â You hurry to find your laser when laying out your tiles. Â 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. Â What a pain it was to take out the pet-stained smelly old carpet. I was glad to see it go. Â I am not a fan of carpet or rugs but I am the exception in my family. Â 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.