I know! I feel like I've had so many teasers leading up to this moment, and I can't believe it's finally here.
But it is. We've laid the last wood look tile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The news isn't all good. Just look at my once normal-looking hand! Now it LITERALLY has 7 blisters and 4 cuts. It throbs at night and I have to take Advil and hold ice.
But worth it.
I mean, this time last week, it looked like this!:
Of course it will look totally different after all the boxes are unpacked, but it no longer feels like I'm working out of a dungeon.
The hardest part of any project is just getting started. For us, that included sweeping, vacuuming, and taking off any baseboards that we needed to. Stephen set out boxes of tile so we could mix it up. Sometimes the boxes aren't necessarily from the same batch in manufacturing, which could mean color variations.
When we were ready, it was my job to mix the mortar. Except I only have a picture of Stephen mixing it. And it's super cute.
To mix the thinset, you put water in the bucket, then put powder in the bucket, then mix it with a paddle mixer for 5 minutes, wait 10 minutes, and mix for 2 more minutes. And when you're done, it should be "peanut butter consistency"! After measuring out the water and powder for the first batch, and it was too watery, we just fudged it. It worked out way better. Also, I learned not to mix a whole 50lb bag at once. You can't use it all before it starts setting up in the bucket!
We chose to use unmodified thinset. Modified mortar has a latex additive, which gives a stronger bond to the surfaces, and is required in certain applications. But since we were installing ceramic over concrete, unmodified worked fine. Plus, it was cheaper (less than half the price) and it had great reviews. No problems so far!
While we were waiting on the thinset to "slake" (I don't know what that means, but it happens in the 10 minute waiting period) Stephen made cuts on his wet saw. This thing is awesome! It just requires a lot of cleaning. And it's very loud.
In addition to mixing it, my job was also to spread the thinset. For best adhesion for floor tile, float it on with the flat side of the trowel. Then use the notched side to create ridges. The goal is to get at least 80% contact of mortar with the tile.
Then Stephen would come behind me and set tile. It was a really good system!
These T-spacers are perfect for wood tile, since they allow you to offset like real wood planks.
And after 24 hours came the WORST part - grouting. See how much I love it?
And the WORST PART about grouting? You're not supposed to do grout clean up for a few more days - if you clean up too soon, the grout lightens up a LOT. Learned that the hard way! Then I read the directions on the Grout Boost. YouTube can teach you a lot, but it can't read directions for you.
But I've almost forgotten about my disabled hand and all the grout dust.
Dare I say it feels... cozy??
Except for the kitchen. But at least it no longer looks like this!
When it was all said and done, we used 45 of the 53 boxes we bought over several trips to Lowe's. As for the cost breakdown...
45 boxes of 11 tiles @ $1.78/tile - $881
6 bags of unmodified mortar @ $6/bag - $36
2 bags of charcoal sanded grout @ $14/bag - $28
2 jugs of Grout Boost @ $40/jug - $80
Tools (notched trowel, small trowel, grout float, spacers, bucket) - about $50
Total - $1,085
And that's where we are! I know this was kind of a boring post, but I wanted to share some of the nitty gritty with you. Next up? Kitchen tile? Well maybe! Except that we may be adding some cabinetry... so we will see.
Happy Monday!
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| posted by Emma |
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