Intro to Tiling: Tiling Gets Under Way at the Homestead

Neglected to this point has been our other choice of flooring and finishing. I covered our choice of wood flooring around the house and mentioned that the master bathroom and kitchen/cross-through would be tiled but to this point we have not discussed selections and installation at all.

While I first learnt to work with wood, to be honest, the next skill I picked up was tiling and I owe my nerve to dig in to the other half of F&H who grew up amongst ceramics in her "native land" of Portugal. The early days of F&H our efforts were far more focused on cosmetics and refurbishment of apartment/condos. It is actually what sent your humble author back to school for architecture and the reason why Claudia moved towards interior design. We spent a great deal of time working over apartments and rolling them. It was eye opening and a great deal of fun. It was where we discovered the open and yet unfilled niche for "the million dollar house for $500K". We were appalled at what passed for livable and we discovered that a little thought, some hard work, and a modest budget could yield a product worth many times its investment.

At a point in the near future I am going to get the way-back machine out and take us back to a time of 1.2 megapixel digital photos and show a couple earlier projects. But for now we shall discuss tiling.

As I mentioned, I cut my teeth on tiling because the interior design department agreed to show me how to lay out and mark tiles. This left me to figure out tile cutting, mortar/mastic, and grouting. I bought a cheapo Chinese wet saw (which of course did not last well and has now been supplanted by an MK Diamond saw) and we picked out a new tile for the kitchen we were then refurbing.Above is my Diamond wet saw. Made in the US (mostly) and while this is a smaller version, the choice of professionals) It took a bit of practice and it was wet work at first but the floor really impressed me. We laid out a grid on the floor starting in the center and worked to the edges and around objects. Corner and round cuts took time but I got the hang of it.

About 16 projects later we came to this project. Tile selection was slowed and laborious. We wanted just the right tiles. Today we cover the kitchen and guest bathroom. Next comes the master bathroom which I promise will be a treat (I have put a sneak-peek of the tile at the end of this post).

My first step was to put down tile backer board over the plywood sub floor in the kitchen and cross-through into the garage/barn. Backer board is a cement board which is screwed down and provided and rigid and mold resistant surface to apply tiles to, both for walls and floors.

Here is the backer board screwed down to the floor of the kitchen. The blue-grey tiles (with an ever so faint marble of rust in them) are pictured above. The next step was to lay out the grid. This room has a lot of cabinets and corners. In addition, the flooring runs out of the kitchen into the cross-through where it also covers the laundry room and pantry floors. We needed a strong, clean, straight line running from one end to the next.

Skipping a couple of steps for the moment, pictured above in the baseline of tiles running the longest distance of tile in the kitchen. If this line were off it would have horrible consequences visually from this perspective.

Once the line was established I mixed the mortar and we began tiling.

I sweep the mortar with a toothed float to leave a pattern of ridges. To make sure I have time and can reach across the area I tend to do about five to six tiles at a time.

I use these little spacers to maintain an accurate spacing along the floor. It also helps insure that the floor maintains a grid layout. Each tile is set into the mortar and then pressure is applied to set it and position it in relation to the others. The process is repeated across the floor. The corners go more slowly as do the edges. Each tile needs to be custom cut to fit and cut.

The color of the tiles should pick up the counters and the cabinets very well. It provides just the right amount of ceramic in an otherwise wooden room.

Once the floor was complete it set for 24 hours. Once the mortar was hardened it was time to grout. Regrettably I have no pictures of me grouting, only after photos. Suffice to say, grouting takes a touch of practice but is not too hard and the results tend to be very satisfying. Tiling plays funny games with your head. The first few tiles put down make you feel great and you begin to envision the completed floor. Then as you get half completed you feel like it will never end and you notice every single minute thing that might be done incorrectly. Next, as you are on your last tiles (typically the most complicated corners and cuts) you must resist the tendency to rush. Finally, with all the tiles down you feel satisfied but it looks terribly rough and incomplete with all the dark lines between the tiles. That last step, 24 hours later, where the grout goes in, makes all the difference and the floor explodes to life.

With the grout in place the kitchen floor was completed. Sometimes it is hard to get photos of everything and all steps. The upstairs bathroom is an example.

The guest bathroom has a 5'/1.52m Kohler Villager cast iron tub and wood flooring. This is a very simple but clean and elegant basic shower/bath tub. We chose 3"x6"/7.6 x 15.2cm "subway tiles in a sparkling white.

Because the tub is not as long as the wall it is placed on I constructed a seat/ledge at the end and covered it with backer board. To give it just a tweek of accent we decided to skip the stock house step of simply wallpapering the entire shower with white tile and make the seat stand out a touch. We chose a light marble with a nosing in a 6"x6"/15.2 x 15.2 cm size. I debated a solid slab of marble but we agreed that the using an actual tile allowed it to share grout lines with the rest of the surround. We liked that language a bit better. Here are the results. The lighting is not as good as I would have liked as it picks up the glare on the sparkling white tiles. Hope you get a good idea.

Here is the photo of the blend valve in the wall of 3" x "6 subway tiles.

The shower head fitting protruding through the tile above the blend valve.

Once the bathroom is complete with toilet and sink I will be able to get some nice pictures of the room and tub fully cleaned and hopefully have nicer pictures of the tiling. In the meantime, with things running along here I leave you with the master suite tiles. We picked a mosaic for the floor of the bathroom and shower and white marble subway tiles for the shower walls. This should prove interesting!