Our First Tile Project-Operation Home Impovement

Ah yes with the timeless beauty of tile the long lasting durability and peace of mind that tile can bring, not to mention its ability to increase the value of the home, who would not want this?  A modern look easy to clean and lasts forever, priceless. 

When we moved in to our home we were faced with dated tile.  It came in the shade of a peach or a pink hue that they had matched the walls and carpet up to.   

Tragic I know.

It may have been the thing to do some twenty years ago, but that time had passed and it was definitely time for an update.  Being the money conscious couple that we are (not knowing just how money conscious we were going to be willing to be) to save money we decided that we would go through  and tear out the carpet and remove the old existing tile ourselves and hire a professional to install the new tile and everything that goes along with that.  With us as busy as we are the thought of having a trained experienced professional who knew the ins and outs of tiling sounded like the logical way to go and we made plans to set aside the money for it to be done. 

We felt good about our decision and started looking when we had a couple of friends in the business who had done the floor boards for us, react in shock when they heard our plan, they went on to ask us "why would you pay to have it done when you can do just as good of a job?" Then came the insisting that we handle the installation of our own ceramic tile floor ourselves, because it would be a sin and down right wrong to pay someone to do it!  The very idea made them sick!  That is how easy it is they pushed, although push sounds nice, I think shoved is much more appropriate here. 

The lectures went on for days they said that paying for professional ceramic a tile installation job was priced outrageously when it is such an easy project to manage on your own, they exclaimed over and over!  The more they talked the more it sounded like we had our own remodeling project underway.  Apparently we were not nearly as busy as we thought we were!

That was sarcasm in case you missed that.

After undergoing much personal anguish, our guts twisting and churning we came to the agreement that we would instead hire them, and that they would do it and we expressed strongly we would help them as they talk us through it as they went along.  

It went on and on this love for tile, “the tile is your friend” he would say in this calm quiet voice with no tone what so ever, "once you get going you will want to do it all yourself".   “You’ll probably end up wanting to quit your job and a go into business for yourself. “   What they somehow conveniently forget is how they have been doing this for many years and know the automatic steps one needs to take and the key things you don’t want to overlook.  It is not like we were looking at a small project like doing a bathroom, we were doing the entire floor, something open for all to see any slight mistake is yours for the viewing and permanent to boot.

We must have been absent that day, we were not preset with this knowledge and so of course we proceeded with caution.   Let it be noted that the most carefully planned ceramic floor plan, a striking conceived idea, a precise designed look and feel, and the perfect ceramic tiles can mean absolutely nothing if installed incorrectly. 

So we had checked around at prices and various styles of tiles at different locations.  We found one that we liked for a pretty good price.  We were told to go to our local hardware store and buy some wonder board.  Sounded simple enough but when we had gotten there they had a couple to choose from, not knowing one from another we bought the more expensive Hardibacker Board.  Which wasn’t what he had told us to get but ended up working out possibly better at least I think?  Aw look our puppy dodge sneak peak!

When measuring you have to take into account the estimate of tiles needed plus some extra in the inevitable case of damage.  Figure a guesstimate of the amount of thin set, cement, grout and the tools needed to complete the task.  We found the center point of the floor snapped our lines and measured the length and with width of the area we were tiling to get our figures.

At first we rented a saw.  We didn’t want to take advantage of all their wisdom and then their tools to.  These guys are good at insisting/pushing, again they insisted and were so kind to let us use their tools instead of renting.  Are they something else or what! 

After making sure the sub floor was clean from any debris from day to day living we made sure it was smooth and particle free.  We did a practice run of how we wanted the tiles to look using the chalk lines we had snapped as our guide.  We were going with a brick pattern, we really liked the look.  After we got a feel for how the tiles looked laid down we were ready to begin.  The cement was mixed and with notched trowel in hand my Honey and the fellas began the application of mortar to the sub floor, with tile in the other hand one piece at a time they secured each one into place.

 The moment had come the tile was being laid.

Remember that whole thing about undergoing much personal anguish, our guts twisting and churning that part?  They boasted about how good of an eye my Honey had for everything he did, they had seen how much detail he put in all the other things he put his work into that he could not go wrong.  But still these were things he had worked on before things he had experience on!  After about the first three rows the wise ones decided that my Honey had the hang of it and he would be just fine to carry on without them and off to the garage they went to cut tiles. 

Who does that honestly!

The mortar was mixed and the the tiles were ready to be laid we could not stop now.  After installation of one area we allowed for the floor to cure overnight.  Due to our work schedules this sometimes happened over a few nights. 

So the tiles were set and had time to cure it was time for the grout it in to connect the tiles. The grout was mixed, our friend started and I ended up doing the middle and my honey would end up completing the project.  the process took a rubber grout float to work it into the joints, with some elbow and back action. 

After laying in the grout in between the gaps between the tiles we used a damp sponge to wipe off the excess grout.  This would take a lot of rinsing to get as much of the excess grout off and keep each tile cleaned.  Once finished the color of the grout had lightened we did not expect that so we had to buy a sealant with darkening in it to seal and darken the grout lines.

Before and during all of this we had done (my honey had done) extensive research trying to find out all things tile!  I must take a moment and give credit where credit is due.  I would like to thank my honey for his unplanned dedication to operation tile, his hard work and attention for detail along with his touch of perfection that transformed our floor into beautiful and all things perfect.

I would also like to thank the fellas that turned our worlds upside down and peeled our eyelids back open to see what we were capable of doing for ourselves.  And while it saved us a bundle of money upfront, the savings were offset from the therapy sessions needed to bring us back from the intense battles between the two of us that went on for extended periods of time often seeing as if no end was in sight!  Thank y'all so much, oh! And before I forget the bill for therapy is in the mail and I think they mentioned something about needing it to be paid in full!

But seriously, now that we have had a little time to let all the pain and suffering settle slightly, we are able to reflect on it all and it is just what we wanted.  Truly the way my honey brilliantly tied it all together, it would not have been right to us had we hired someone else to do it!