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

Comments

[Michelle Williams]

Thank you for this advice. I am getting up the nerve to put down hardwood flooring that I got from http://www.floormall.com in my kitchen. I actually removed the tile to do this. The floor leveler will help. I'll continue to take a look at your blog as I can use all the advice on flooring I can get. Thanks!