On Sunday morning, I told Paul that I almost titled my previous kitchen post We who are about to tile salute you. Because isn’t there something about tiling that calls to mind Roman gladiators? The Romans were known for their elegant mosaics, but the equation between tiling and fighting to the death in front of a cheering audience, well, that was the anxiety talking. Anyway, Paul was amused by my little play on words, so I thought that I’d let you in on the joke.
And while I’m sharing, here’s a photo of the tiling that we accomplished on Sunday afternoon. No, we did not finish even one side of the kitchen, but we made a fair amount of progress. And we know more now. Isn’t learning the most important part of any endeavor?
Lessons from the day:
- Thinset that appears to be the consistency of all-natural peanut butter in the bucket may not be the consistency of peanut butter on the wall. As Erin commented, knowing the consistency you want and being able to mix to that consistency are two very different things. I’m sure mixing grout will be just as much fun.
- Sometimes things don’t look better after you take a break. It was after a mid-afternoon break that I ripped out a section of rows 3 & 4 of the tile. I would have noticed those couple of crooked ribbed tiles behind the range for a long time, if not forever… and that’s something I knew about myself before Sunday. Mind you, the tilework I left up is not perfect, but we can live with it. And we really like the pattern, which is good.
- Wishing will not make it so. Despite my fervent wishes (and a few muttered imprecations), the tile that barely scraped behind the trim on the pot filler without any thinset on it still refused to fit nicely with thinset on its back. Add one more item to the plumber’s list.
I’m sure that there were more things that I learned, but perhaps I don’t yet know that I know them. There will be ample opportunity for reinforcement when we finish up the tiling.
Bob the Builder was back from his vacation today, and made visible progress. If he works efficiently, cracks the whip on the subs, and gets the inspections over soon, we’ll be moving back into our kitchen by Halloween… All Soul’s Day at the latest.
Thanks to everyone who left supportive comments in response to my anxious post. You’re all invited to the party when the kitchen is finished.
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12 responses so far ↓
I was going to leave a supportive comment earlier but had trouble posting, so I will now. It looks good. I especially like the row of smaller tiles. I see what you mean about it helping with the outlets.
I have done tile myself (just once) and it takes longer than you think it will. At least you don’t have much cutting to do. I laid my tiles out on point and I spent more time on the saw than I did working with the grout.
now me, i tiled the kitchen counter ten years ago. didn’t do any cutting. tiled the whole thing in multi-colored 2″ square sample tilesh which i got for $10 a box, well almost the whole ting. actually i never really finished it, ten years ago, and only got most of the long coutner so far. and didn’t get the grout in yet. but there’s always more where that came from and i’ll be getting more time any day now….
Excellent. Great job. I also like the choice to stick the thin row in the middle for variety and plug-wise. I so hear ya on the with v. without thinset problem. Been there. Re-done that.
Of course, I can’t wait to see the cats inspecting and posing on all of the new stuff
Additional lessons that we learned in our master bathroom that you may not need:
1) Applying enough pressure on tiles to mush down the thinset ridges is MUCH harder with larger tiles. The nice tile references we had showed folks installing 3×3 inch tiles. Ours were 13×13 inches, so needed perhaps 16 times as much pressure? If the thinset happens to get thick, the require pressure can become more than we were capable of exerting.
2) Thinset sitting in the bucket gets thicker over time. Although the instructions said that you should be able to work with it for about two hours, anything over about 30 minutes made it hard to use. Stirring vigorously helps somewhat, but is hard work, and doesn’t get the thinset back to quite as workable texture as it had earlier. Combine this fact with lesson #1 above, and you’ll properly guess that the first bit of tiling was Rather Difficult.
3) Colored grout seems like a good idea, but a consistent color is difficult. While it may look like all the same color when applied, it doesn’t necessarily end up the same color. I don’t know if this issue resulted fromthe way we wiped off the excess, if we failed to mix the grout sufficiently, or if something else went awry. The results leap out at us, but other folks seem to only notice the effect if we point it out to them. Having now joined the ranks of Those Who Have Installed Tile, I expect you’d notice. Then again, you probably had an eye for that sort of detail before your recent tile experiences.
It’s lovely, Kim, though I was hoping for something involving Theodora and her retinue.
Halloween? All Soul’s Day? No mention of the Reformation? We party like it’s 1517 over here.
The subway tiles are a splendid touch!
Those tiles are going to look fantastic, Kim. I love them.
lookeeeeng good!
Looks great from this side of the country.
Party? Snacks?
Homemade “blood orange” marmalade?
I love the subway type tiles. They are a favorite with me- and I’m a fool for ceramic tile.My mother worked in a fancy tile shop once, and I was always stopping in to paw the merchandise.
Many years ago, my husband and I re-did a tiny kitchen ourselves, reading to each other from how-to books as we went along. Everything was the cheapest we could get, because we were totally fundless. The only thing we had made was the countertop. We bought unfinished, un-assembled cabinets (birch). It took absolutely forever, as we had no idea what we were doing. I’d never do it again, (I was 24, and full of energy) but it really, in the end, looked very good.
The very most difficult thing we did, which pretty much drove Bill round the bend, was to buy tongue and groove wood for the ceiling. It had to be put up one board at a time- our necks hurt like crazy-especially his, as he did most of it- it did look great though. The galley kitchen looked sort of boat-like, cosy, but clean.
My favorite activity was putting up the tile backsplash. It was the only non-plain thing; we got a patterned tile on sale, and it was on a net backing- nine tiles formed one complete pattern, but the design was interlocking. It was just one shortish wall, but I felt absolutely brilliant when it was done. It was sort of magical.
Isn’t tile work fun?! When you get to the grouting, I have a float that will make things easier. Proper grout should be the thickness of fairly warm peanut butter, not the thickness of peanut butter that has been kept in the refrigerator. It works best if you mix it, then let it stand for 15 minutes before beginning to spread it out. This allows time for the stuff to hydrate completely, even though you think you have mixed it to within an inch of its life.
The second trick is that, once you have forced grout into all the spaces (45 degrees to the tile edges), *leave it alone* for at least a half hour. This gives it time to set up somewhat before you start wiping off the excess. Not to worry; you will be able to wipe grout off the tiles even a day later, though it will be harder. But if you start too soon, you will wipe more out of the joints than you wished to take off, and then will have to do it all over again.
The third trick is, after it is all finished and has dried for a couple of days, spray on sealer. This not only will prevent moisture absorbtion, but will keep parts of the grout from turning different colors later on. And it will not only keep water from being absorbed, but also will help keep grease and oil from being absorbed into the grout.
Finally, did you say *party*?
I LOVE your subway tile! The Florida house is, this very day being tiled. We are not doing it (we are not there!) but this post makes me anxious to see it next week. Good work, Kimberly! This is going to be a beautiful workspace very soon now.