The Tile is IN!

That's right! The tile for the small bathroom is finally installed. It was a wicked learning experience... and one that should be improved upon in later attempts. The last step, sealing the grout, will be done in the next couple of days followed by a little bit of tweaking on the closet flange set-up, trim, paint, fixtures, closet door, medicine cabinet, electrical update... ugh.

The tile was a bear. We chose a 2" hex with 1" 'dot' pattern in all white ceramic glazed tile. I laid out the lines on the floor to line up and cut all the tiles prior to putting down the mortar bed, but what I missed was how to control the mortar as I spread it out. Right away, the chalk lines were covered up and gone within the first couple of strokes to get the mortar down. I had to do a "looks about right" approach as I matched up spacings and where the plumbing was located on the floor. The first bout of tiles went down that way. The next batch, me still struggling with the mortar, went down from the other end of the room, lining up with the sink drain. Uh oh... I'm just a hair too far over wit hthe first set of tiles... but it's too late, the mortar under those tiles had already began to set. I had to average the gaps on the tiles I had just laid to try and minimize the problem.

I finally go to the closet. It is narrow and deep, located underneath the main staircase of the house. What does that mean? Well, a very low ceiling and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. The average contractor would have a difficult time squeezing in to lay the tile nicely. Me? I am small enough to wiggle in and dexterous enough to spread the mortar and lay the tile. But it was no easy task none-the-less. By the end of the room, I got quite comfortable with spreading the mortar and laying the tile.

The slightly different spacing of the first few tiles made my wife leary about using the earth-tone grout chosen earlier for the project. We settled on doing the grout in white.

I began the grouting process, spreading the grout and pushing it into the spaces between the tiles. Most techniques I had read about spoke of driving the grout in diagonally but with hexagonal tile, this was a near impossibility. I did the best I could but still had problems getting even grout.

I also sponged as I went along to pick up much of the excess. I noticed when I did this, a lot more than I would like came up with the sponge. I later found out that I should have waited for it to set up a little firmer prior to the wipe down and should only go over an area once so not to remove too much material. Ah well, I did the best I could.

By the end, the white minimized any discrepancy in tile spacing to make the floor look very good. I noted to my wife that I pretty much had my nose in the tile and that the job was anything but perfect. She still liked the way it turned out.

A few hours later, I had to buff the tiles and the grout lines. Easy? I think not. I buffed every tile and tried to smooth as much of the grout as I possibly could. By the end of this step, my fingers were raw and angry. A near 2 hour ordeal. I have to remember to use white cloths for buffing as the gray and blue cloths I had were leaving little balls of lint that I had to clean off later.

I have been misting the tile for the last few days to let the mortar cure properly. Again, I will be applying the sealer in the next couple of days to bring this chapter of the small bathroom project to a close.