Topic of Discussion Tile. Yes, this is THAT thread

[Herzog]

My house is already a mess.
View attachment 132931

Yea I’d head back out to the garage too.

 

[Marsh99]

I always like using my angle grinder with a tile blade for plunge cuts on air vents and to make small cuts.

RIDGID 4.5 in. Continuous Diamond Blade HD-CT45CP - The Home Depot

RIDGID Continuous Rim Diamond blades are engineered with top-grade industrial diamond for maximum cutting performance and superior blade life. With its high retention and uniform distribution of diamond

www.homedepot.com

 

[Hickey]

We have the diamond blade for the grinder and it kicks ass. The Hardi screws do not kick ass. You guys were right about that for sure. So we hit the Hone Depot just now to fix that.

 

[Hickey]

A little update on this misery. I guess I've not really updated it much. I don't like thinking about it. Progress has been crazy slow due to my schedule. Normally January is my slowest season at work, but covid has made it quite the opposite this year. I do have some good news though...

It turns out that we both underestimated the amount of labor this project would entail. I knew it would be a ton, but my wife thought we would be done by March. Originally, the deal I made was that we would use some of the tile project money to purchase Britney, and install the tile ourselves. But no working on Britney until the tile is done. I've been granted a reprieve, and my lovely wife has seen the error of her ways. We renegotiated and now we will dedicate all Saturdays to the tile project until it's done. Sundays are for church. Dirt church.

I can't spend every Sunday in the garage from now on, but I can spend some. And I can work on Britney.

Anyway... Here's some tile.

 

[Hickey]

The pattern is extremely time consuming. The smallest tiles are also thinner than the larger two sizes, so leveling is difficult. The spacers/shims are also a pain because of the pattern. They seem to force the tiles to twist after they've been set. I'm not really happy with a lot of these gaps, but the levels are acceptable.

The diamond blade on the grinder is a godsend. This is an 18" tile on a heater vent. I was super worried it would crack before the mortar cured.



With that diamond blade, I can even hit the edge of a cut tile to make it look like a factory edge.

 

[Hickey]

Most importantly, here's Britney's new belly button ring.

 

[N-Smooth]

Not sure if you know this trick or if it would be useful to you at all.

WITCHCRAFT!

 

[Cody]

I bet that guy is good at pool.

 

[Hickey]

We've started a little grouting. The pics aren't quite color correct, the grout has more of a gray tone than it appears.

 

[glockman]

I suggest not walking on the tile barefoot for a month. Not for the tile, but for your sanity. It's harder to feel the joints that are uneven with boots on.

 

[Hickey]

I suggest not walking on the tile barefoot for a month. Not for the tile, but for your sanity. It's harder to feel the joints that are uneven with boots on.

Too late for that. We've been doing that for over a month. You're right though, bare feet make those joints jump right out.

After watching several grouting vids on youtube, I feel a lot better about my uneven joints and grout lines that aren't exactly 1/8".

 

[Kevin B.]

I've always been a big fan of learning from the other guy, and this thread has been very educational. For example, I already knew that when "we" redo the bathroom I will not be doing the drywall, a lesson that I learned from my own damned self when we drywalled one of the bedrooms. But now I know that when "we" redo the bathroom I will not be doing the tile either, a lesson that I am pleased to have learned from Hickey.

 

[Hickey]

GROUT!
I think grouting is my favorite part of the job.

 

[RockChucker]

GROUT!
I think grouting is my favorite part of the job.

Because that means you’re almost done? 😆

 

[Hickey]

Because that means you’re almost done? 😆

Oh God no. This project has another 8 months in it.

 

[Kevin B.]

How?!

Because he spends a lot of time on the road and when he's home he makes up excuses to play with Brittney instead of doing tile?

 

[Hickey]

Because he spends a lot of time on the road and when he's home he makes up excuses to play with Brittney instead of doing tile?

That pretty much sums it up. When I leave for work early Monday morning, I don't come home until late Friday night. I spend a significant part of my weekends prepping for the next work week.

 

[Kevin B.]

I have never ever ever had a weekend that was too long.

 

[DAA]

And also because it's tile. The tile is strong but the flesh is weak. #doingtilesucksass.

- DAA

 

[Hickey]

This ****ing closet right here...