Days 3 and 4 of Tiling, Days 32 and 33 of the project.
More tile cutting. I installed the bottom row of tiles, a few of which needed an 1/8 of an inch taken off the bottom, and the tiles around the faucet and shower head.
I was in such a rush to get to the tiles around the faucet that I forgot the plan. I started measuring with a full tile in the corner of the tub, marked out the location of the large hole and spent an hour carefully nipping out four tiles. They fit perfectly. Then I realized that we had planned the front wall of the shower to start with a full tile on the outer edge and a cut tile in the corner. Unfortunately there is no way to move the hole in a tile a few inches left. I had to garbage them and start again. Lesson learned. Have a plan, and check it constantly.
I did get the tiles up though:
Holes cut
Time for more cutting.
Cutting and more cutting
Lesson: There was more chipping happening, so I read a bit more and learned that this can be a sign that the water level is low and the blade is heating up. I used a plant watering can to top up the reservoir every few cuts. No more chipping.
Did I mention that using a wet tile saw is messy? That’s not a shadow, that’s the part of me that’s wet through because of the spray coming off the saw. The tile is red adobe underneath, so the water is tinged red-pink. That stain is never coming out…
It's nice to be damp when it's below freezing...
That afternoon I did a count and realized that I was going to be a few tiles short (thanks to a few mistakes and the crummy blade in the saw). I also ran out of mortar with about 15% of the job left. Rona bound! While I was there I managed to find the dehumidistat that we’d been looking for.
Tip: Install a dehumidistat. It automatically turns that bathroom fan on when it’s above the set humidity and turns it off when the humidity drops. Lots of people use timers, but you never know how long it’s going to take to dry out, and people often forget to turn the timer on. The dehumidistat is totally automatic. No brainer.
While I was at Rona, I saw a large sign informing me that the tile that was on the shelf was all that there was. Rona is changing tile suppliers, so the stock they have is all they will ever have. I decided to pick up a box of 40, rather than just a few more. This way I’m sure to be able to finish the tub and have a stack left over to put away. If we ever have to do any plumbing work I want to be able to patch the repair with the same tile.
I saved some tile, though, because I needed some thin slivers and I was able to cut one off of each edge of a single tile.
Two cuts per tile
The tile is now finished. Looking at it, I think I’d describe the job like this: It turned out worse than I’d hoped, but better than I’d feared. There are some minor variations in the plane of the tiles (some are in a smidge further than others) and at the corners a couple of lines don’t meet up by about 1/16 of an inch. I’ll reserve judgement until after the grout and caulking are done.
Cost for this Post:
Two trips to Rona
$19.98 — Broan Humidistat
$39.99 — Bag of Mortar
$11.34 — 6 tiles (saw the sign, went home and discussed with Jennifer)
$75.60 — 40 tiles (came back to buy more)
$164.54 — Subtotal with Taxes
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