IKWYDLS 2012
By a stroke of good fortune, I get a 4-day weekend this Labor Day. I was not expecting that at all. So...
I started in on that backsplash. Last weekend we got the tiles and supplies. Among the supplies was a saw for cutting the tiles. It says it is a Wet/Dry tile saw, but the instructions clearly say to keep the blade wet. It is pretty cool. It's basically what I call a "Skil Saw" but that is a brand name for a powered hand saw. Here's a picture of one:
It made the job much easier than any of the non-powered options. It was also quite precise, which I appreciate. I was not able to cut the rounded corners around the sink, but everything else went well. I (of course) built a contraption for using it in the utility sink in the basement. I deliberately built that sink so that a standard garden hose could be attached at any time. The picture doesn't show it, but the saw has this tiny, cheap-ish water line with a garden hose attachment, so I was ready for that. But, I wanted a way to clamp the tiles down while cutting. Some pressure-treated lumber made a platform that sits over the top of the sink. I clamped the tiles between that surface and a 2x4 with woodworking clamps. The result was a firm grip on the tile with an ergonomic work height that discharged everything into the sink. Well, when the blade gets spinning, the water flies around pretty well, so I got a little wet over the entire process, but I was sweaty anyway.
The net result of all that effort today was I got all the tile laid out. It took 5 hours-- including the time to build the sink surface and read the saw instructions. The stones are glued to a mesh backing, so I was able to use small finishing nails to "pin" them up, place, measure, etc. At the end of day 1, it looks like this:
By a stroke of good fortune, I get a 4-day weekend this Labor Day. I was not expecting that at all. So...
It made the job much easier than any of the non-powered options. It was also quite precise, which I appreciate. I was not able to cut the rounded corners around the sink, but everything else went well. I (of course) built a contraption for using it in the utility sink in the basement. I deliberately built that sink so that a standard garden hose could be attached at any time. The picture doesn't show it, but the saw has this tiny, cheap-ish water line with a garden hose attachment, so I was ready for that. But, I wanted a way to clamp the tiles down while cutting. Some pressure-treated lumber made a platform that sits over the top of the sink. I clamped the tiles between that surface and a 2x4 with woodworking clamps. The result was a firm grip on the tile with an ergonomic work height that discharged everything into the sink. Well, when the blade gets spinning, the water flies around pretty well, so I got a little wet over the entire process, but I was sweaty anyway.
The net result of all that effort today was I got all the tile laid out. It took 5 hours-- including the time to build the sink surface and read the saw instructions. The stones are glued to a mesh backing, so I was able to use small finishing nails to "pin" them up, place, measure, etc. At the end of day 1, it looks like this:
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