Grouting

Grouting the first couple of rooms was fun - but now it's getting old.

Kids Bath - Tile

We had a little bit of a hard time agreeing on what tile should go in the kids bath. So we settled on white squares in a subway type pattern. This was super cheap - .50 sq ft. Originally we were going to just have a fiberglass tub/shower surround but the window in there disqualified that as an option. I like the look of the tile, but it would have been nice not to have to do the work at this point.

Ben precariously hanging over the edge while cutting tile.


Myself straddling the moat of gross water that had been left in the tub by the plumbers (Unfortunatly we drained this water prematurely and had to wet vac the downstairs bathroom shower and floor. It wasn't supposed to be drained)

Untiling and ungrouting.

He we are un-tiling our master bathroom. A few tiles were just not up to par and so instead of looking at it everyday we ordered new tiles and replaced three that bothered us. This task was complicated by the radiant heat (orange cable) we had installed previously. One wrong cut or swipe of the mallet and we could ruin the whole system.

And I don't have pictures of our first attempt at grouting but it didn't go well. Technically it was fine but we didn't like the color of the grout so we took it out. It was still wet when we did so but it wasn't fun.

Entry Tile

The entry tile is now complete. This one gave us a challenge in a number of ways. Our original plan was to have the tile pictured above with no border. Unfortunately since the inside tile is 18x18 squares and the outside tile is 12x 24 rectangular polished version of the same it made for a difficult layout. So we would have had a bunch of small cuts - more work for master tile cutter (and quickly tiring) Ben and visually unappealing. Realizing that we had an exact two inches on either side to fill I suggested a mosaic of some sort. It turned out to be a good idea although a little fancier than I oringinally envisioned and saved us some time.

We had to scramble to find mosaic tile in 24 hours as well as order additional field tile (for a second time) due to poor estimating and breakages. We hit up Home Depot, Contract Furnishing Mart and my favorite - Pental and the latter gave us what we were looking for at a surprisingly good rate for glass tile (anything under $20 a sqare ft, for glass tile seems to be a good deal). This particular glass bar configuration is called "bamboo pearl mosaic". The field tile is Tierra Sol Parmeso Dolmen.

Master Bath Tile

The master bath tile is in. Ben installed a radiant heat mat underneath which was challenging to work with but hopefully will be a real treat on the feet. The tile in here is Parc Olive Brushed 12 x 24 in a subway pattern spaced 1/16th of an inch.

Measure Twice, Cut Once

Downstairs Bath Tile

It's not the best picture but the first room tiled turned out great. The tile in here is Parc Noce Matte 12 x 24 in a subway pattern spaced 1/16th of an inch. Similar to the Master Bath selection.

Tiling Prep

Meet our new friend - ultra bright halogen utility light.

And our old friend Todd McA.

The support staff.


And other new friend - impact driver.


Put em all togther and you've got a great crew for putting down backerboard.

It's day one of our self-inflicted tiling job. If it were me I would have skipped all this backerboard stuff and just slapped some morter down. But that's why Ben is in charge. He did let me use his new impact driver and belt sander though. Two tools fairly high on the excitement scale.

We started at 6pm and left after midnight and that's only because we ran out of backerboard.

Miscellaneous Update

Four days ago they had to come fix some spots were the drywall joints and/or texture wasn't quite right.

Three days ago they painted the interior walls.

Two days ago they painted the ceilings.

Yesterday the HVAC guy came and relocated on of the uptake vents, it would have been under our entertainment center.

They started the mudpans to make the showers watertight today.

Tiles were delivered today so we are going to start on the floors.