Topic of Discussion Tile. Yes, this is THAT thread

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
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.

FE85B330-AF58-47C8-9BA2-6F3FF4706A08.jpeg
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
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.

032DA127-F808-4471-AA29-215AD715DE2B.jpeg

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

glockman

I hate Jeep trucks
Location
Pleasant Grove
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

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
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.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
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.
 
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