Builders Share

Still on My Knees

The old patellas are holding out okay though I did feel an old twinge the other night while trying to clean the white haze of leftover grout from the new tiles.  I've been saved by an old pair of gardening knee pads but any thoughts of a career change to a tiler ends at the knee joint.

After letting the thinset cure for 48 hours, I was ready to grout the tiles.  I considered trying to tint the grout a little with some of paint that we're going to use on the walls but decided to play it straight and use unadulterated white.  I'm glad because the white grout is looking fine.

I'm also happy that my concerns about raised tiles in the previous post were largely for naught. You have to look pretty hard to see the imperfections.

The grouting has gone well except that I underestimated the amount I needed and had to stop halfway.  The box of grout provided instructions for estimating (14.5sqft per lb. for 4-1/2" tiles with 1/16" joints) but my math and translation calculations tend to come out in favor of saving me money, that is until I have to take another trip to the building supply with a stop at the filling station.

A couple things I learned along the way...

Non-sanded grout is for tiles with joints less than 1/8".  The folks at the hardware store didn't have an answer to my question of the difference between sanded and non-sanded.  As it turns out it says so right on the package but when the 6 year-old is bugging you to buy gumballs or the ridiculous screwdriver with the gooseneck light attachment, it's a little hard to read the fine print.

Use white thinset if you're going to grout with a white or a light color.  My gray thinset shows through the white grout in a couple of places but not so you'd notice without looking close.  If I hadn't been diligent about cleaning out the joints while the thinset was still wet, the dark color would have been a bigger problem.

As mentioned earlier, don't rush into the work with runny thinset.  When mixing the stuff, make sure it's stiff enough to support the weight of the tile, this will allow you to make adjustments to the tile height as needed.

If you're tiling over a radiant heating mat, use a floor leveler to cover the mat and create a smooth surface to start on.  There is just enough thickness to the heating wires to make it difficult to build up enough thinset to compensate.  This extra step, expense, and time, will save a lot of frustration when you start laying the tiles, and probably make for a more successful job all around

Once the grouting is done, I'll still have to seal it before I can get on with the next big step towards finishing the bathroom: installing window and door casings and bead board wainscoting.

handyman

Tiling Two

The tile work continues.  I've finished laying them all and am now waiting 24hours for the thin-set to cure so that I can add the grout.

The rest of the job of laying the tiles went pretty well with no panicky calls to experienced neighbors. I did run into a few problems, two of which were in my layout plan.

I decided to go against convention in laying out the tiles because the tiles are mosaic and I didn't need to be concerned about odd-sized tiles against the walls.  I was concerned, however, about the sight lines in the "walkable" area of the room.  It would be important to keep the grout lines parallel and perpendicular to the north wall that abuts the walkable area of the room.  The bathroom walls in this 18th century house are by no means square, so I want to make sure that any diverging grout lines (ones that start a half inch away from the wall and then 8 feet later disappear under it) are hidden by the toilet, tub, and vanity.  I figured if I started tiling along the north wall, I would be assured of a neat looking floor.

This plan worked well for the most part.  The problem came as I worked along the west wall that was not quite square with the north wall.  When one of the mats didn't fit square with the last one laid, I had to nip the edges of the tiles.  I shouldn't really call this a problem because it's just part of tiling, but I wasn't quite prepared to start nipping tiles at the same time that the thinest was ready and waiting.  It would have been better to have had the nipped mats ready for installation ahead of time.

The other layout problem came towards the end of the job when I wasn't able to maintain the spacing between some of the mats.  If I had been using tile spacers I might have seen the problem coming and been able to head it off, but I was eyeballing the job.  There's an eighth of an inch between each tile, and this is pretty easy to eyeball for laying the tiles but in the course of 10 feet, if you're off 1/32nd here and there, it adds up. I plan to use a light colored grout so I don't expect the error to be noticeable, if at all.

The other problem I ran into I'm afraid is more significant.

The radiant floor mat was difficult to tile over.  The thickness of the wires causes a perceptible rise in the tiles between the area of the floor that's heated and the area that's not.  The unheated area is, for the most part going to be covered by the vanity, tub and toilet, so what's perceptible in the empty room should go unnoticed later on.  However, there's one point, at the end of the heating mat run, where the wire is even thicker than the rest of the mat.  This point just happens to be right at the entrance to the bathroom, and here there is a small cluster of mosaic tiles that got bumped up.

I'm hoping that this small bump will be less noticeable after the work is grouted, and I have my fingers crossed that this imperfection doesn't lead to cracked grout or tiles.

If I had it to do over, I would've poured a layer of floor leveler over the entire floor to bury the radiant heat mat and create an even surface before starting to tile.  I had considered this originally but it would have cost another $50-$100 dollars extra and extended the job for another day. The instructions for the radiant floor mat are very detailed but they make no mention of the possibility of running into this problem.  Too bad for me.

Overall, I'm happy with my effort.  For a novice, I can't be disappointed with the results. The proof will be in how the it holds up over time.

handyman

DIY on the Killing Floor

The tiling has begun.  For several days I've been nervous.  I knew I had to get started on this task, and I had done all the study and how-to reading that I could reasonably do, but this is something I had never done before or even seen a demonstration; and it's the kind of thing that if you screw up badly, there's no easy way out.

Having plenty of experience in making mistakes on unfamiliar tasks, I had reason to be nervous.  Where errors in painting can be painted over, or errors in carpentry can be ripped out and redone, errors in a tile job would require either years of looking at a botched job or a major expense to redo after a messy demolition.  I'm a worrier. I can't help it.

I got all my tools together and mixed up a small batch of thinset.  I just want to get a feel for it and lay a few tiles to start.

The instructions say the thin-set should be the consistency of peanut butter or toothpaste, mine was the consistency of both on a 100 degree day.  It was runny.  I was afraid to make it too thick and have it set up too fast but I erred on the thin side and this created a problem.

As I started laying the mats of mosaic tiles, the thin-set oozed up through the grooves and started getting all over the top surface of the tiles.  I panicked a little.  How was I going to clean that stuff off?  What if it set up on top of the tiles, would I ever get it off then?

The first mat of tiles was a mess so I pulled it back up off the floor and tried to clean it off.  I was afraid, though, that the thin-set I had spread on the floor would start to set up while I was trying to clean off the messy tile so I called my wife Cybele and asked her to come clean it while I tried to lay down another.

I was more careful with the second, but the stuff still oozed up through. I cleaned out the grooves as best I could and wiped up most of the excess thin-set and then went about laying the next mat.  In the meantime Cybele had cleaned off the first mat. 

I told her to call my brother for advice as to this oozing problem.  He had laid mosaic tiles in his bathroom so I figured he had encountered this.  It didn't matter.  He wasn't home.

I kept cleaning out the tile grooves and wiping up the runny thin-set.  Then I remembered my neighbor Greg Gorman, a stained glass artist, does mosaic work as well.  "Honey, call Greg!"

Well Greg was out too.  With the phone cradled in my neck while my hands cleaned up oozing thinset, I chatted a bit with his wife hoping she may offer some insight.  Who knows, maybe she looked over his shoulder enough to know what I was confronted with.  She didnt'.  But soon Greg walked in the door and took the phone.  His advice was, clean the thin-set off the tiles.  Don't let it set up.  And keep the grooves clean for the grout. Well, this is what I figured but hearing someone with experience say it was helpful.  He also said not to worry about the runny thin-set; it would just take longer to dry was all.  And, oh yeah, read the cleanup instructions on the thin-set bag.  Ah! Yes! Read the instructions!  This I had done earlier but in my state of panic had forgotten.

Talking to Greg got me to calm down and just work at taking care of the few tiles I had laid down. When those were looking good, I spread a little more runny thin-set and laid down a few more tiles. 

There was only one more problem. The runny thin-set did not spread well over the radiant heat mat; nor did it seem to provide enough support to hold the mosaic tiles stably over the heating wires.  Some of the individual tiles were wobbly on top of the radiant heat mat and I was worried that there were voids in the thin-set.

I went to bed that evening a little worried that I'd have to perform some kind of repair on the tiles that seemed wobbly.  It was all for naught.  The morning proved that once the thin-set had set, the tiles in question were not wobbly.  It was only that the thin mix was misleading me.

So all that drama and only a few square feet of tile down.  But the worry is done. I've made my beginners errors and got my feet wet (and a little muddy) in the process.  I'm ready to get on with the rest of the job.

handyman

No Cold Feet

The clock is ticking on getting the upstairs bathroom in shape for guests that are due in August.  The house layout is such that to get to the downstairs bathroom (the only one currently), you must pass through the two office/guest rooms.  I'd like for that bathroom to be a private one for guests when they're staying, but that requires having the upstairs one functioning.

The rough plumbing for the upstairs bath was completed over a year ago, but before I can install the fixtures, I need to tile the floor.

At various intervals over the past year, I've done work towards preparing the floor for tiling.  I cleaned up the sub-floor by replacing some of the weaker planks with 3/4" plywood, and I leveled it as much as possible shimming here and there.  Around Christmas, I installed the Durock cement backer board and with help from my brother temporarily installed a toilet so there were two available in the house over the holidays.  (The toilet came back out when I was plastering the walls.)

Last week I installed an electric radiant heat mat so that our toes will stay warm in the winter.  This heat mat goes on top of the cement backer board and gets covered with thin set mortar when the tile is installed. It runs off a 120V circuit and has its own thermostat/timer to control its operation.

When I wired the upstairs, I hadn't planned on installing radiant heat in the bathroom so I needed to cut a hole in my newly plastered wall for the electrical box that houses the thermostat, and then fish wires through the wall from the floor up to the box.  I'll grab power from the bathroom's receptacle circuit that is protected by a 15amp breaker and a GFCI switch.  The circuit itself can actually handle 20amps but the radiant floor mat specifies no more than 15.

Once I had the box installed and the wires pulled, I layed out the mat and stapled it to the Durock to hold in place.  I then chiseled a trough in the Durock to route the wires from the base of the wall to the mat, and used hot glue to fill the trough and hold the wire in place.

Now, when the tiles arrive, I'll be ready to start mixing mortar.

handyman

Redo for Ramon

Just when Ramon thought it was safe to settle down in his room, we had him moved back out and sleeping with Mom and Dad.  The reason?  The floor needed fixing.

When I painted the floor in his room I made use of almost a gallon of leftover paint from our missteps in choosing a color for the master bedroom (see May 29, Color Wheel).  I knew I was taking a chance on it not working out because the paint was latex, matte finish, intended for the wall, but I figured "what the heck, it was going to look better than what was there so give it a try." 

The paint went on OK and two coats seemed to be enough, so after it was sufficiently dry, I called it done and went ahead with other things.  Well, after he moved in it became clear that the matte finish was just not going to work on the floor.  Dust and dirt clung to it so easily that the room just looked filthy all the time.

I figured I could paint it again with more latex but this time with a kind intended for the floor, or I could clear-coat it with a finish that was easier to keep clean.  I chose the latter.

He hadn't gotten too settled after moving in so there wasn't much to move out, and within a few days I had a couple of coats of high gloss, water-based urethane down.

We're ready to move again...

Swabbing the Deck

The other day I saw the tell-tale pickup trucks pulling up in front of my neighbor's house.  Large men in sleeveless t-shirts and baseball caps piled out and started setting up saw horses and power tools.  The contractor and his men had arrived.

I often wonder what my life would be like if I handed-off the many tasks of renovating my house to those worthy troops of contractors and sub-contractors who troll fields of the American Homeowner. I'd probably play a lot more with my son and be able to read novels without falling asleep from exhaustion. Or maybe I'd have to work just as much to earn the money needed to pay that army of carpenters, plumbers, and electricians that always seems necessary for even the smallest jobs in my neighborhood.  But enough what-ifs..

Having decided to paint the floor, we chose a color and decided to go with an oil paint.  The clerk at the building supply store informed us that if we were to use a latex, we'd have to rough up the surface and then prime it before painting.  Oil paint would take longer to dry but it would adhere well to the existing paint (most likely oil-based) and would probably wear better than the latex.  Oil paint it was.

Before getting down on my hands and knees with a brush though, I'd have to do a little cleaning.  This old floor has large gaps between the boards that have been collecting dirt and thin objects for more than a century.  I went at these cracks with the saw blade on my multi-tool and began pulling out dirt, hairpins, nails, and even a little necklace that I haven't cleaned up yet but may be gold.  I have my doubts though because I'm pretty sure that the financial status of the inhabitants of Chez Melendy over the years was such that they'd probably work pretty hard at freeing anything of value from a crack in the floor before giving up on it.  I've gutted this house and in the process I've found only treasures of sentimental value, not monetary.

Once the dirt was loosened and the shop vac sucked the cracks clean, I thought it might be a good idea to fill them with something to help prevent their collecting dirt all over again.  I read somewhere that hemp rope worked well for this purpose so I went about shoving rope down into the cracks.  This was time consuming and I started to think I might be creating more problems for myself with all the little strands of hemp that were fraying off the rope pieces as I pushed them in.  I decided to fill the first few cracks and then take a crack a painting to see how the rope took to the paint.  Well, I scrapped the crack-filling. The little rope hairs keep getting in the paint brush and I had to keep picking them out; also it took more paint than I cared to spend to coat the rope. 

One benefit of having the rope in the crack was that it covered any residual dirt that was down there.  When painting near the floor cracks that didn't have rope shoved in them I inevitably picked up small amounts of dust/dirt that would then get painted onto the floor.  I went back and poked and vacuumed them all again and but still had to be careful with the brushwork.

The finished product looked good, perhaps a little more patriotic then necessary but once the baseboard and trim is in place, the pink, white, and blueness of the room will be toned down some.

handyman