IKWYDLS 2012
Today is Labor Day. Holiday! I decided to get to the mowing before it gets too hot outside. I got our lawn done and somewhere around half of the farm before I got rained out. Fine by me all around. We need rain.
Last night I sealed the tile. That is pretty simple-- I just used a paint brush and painted the stuff on, then wiped it down like the instructions said. More importantly, because I did that last night, today I can get the grout in.
Or so I thought...
Surprise! I have never used grout before-- because I have never done any tiling before. For one thing, I thought the little one pound tubs we bought were ready-to-use. Turns out they are just powder and I have to mix them. The instructions said to fill the tub to the inside edge with water and mix. Having never used grout before, I was expecting a consistency similar to, say, sheet rock/joint compound or even the mortar used to hang the tile-- something like peanut butter. What I got was very runny. Runny is hard to apply on a vertical wall. That first tub did not go very well.
Having mixed concrete (and stucco) before, I had an idea that the amount of water makes a big difference. On the second tub I used less. And, like concrete, the line between too little and too much is very thin. For the little one pound container (about pint size) I was adding mere drops at a time. But, I ended up with a much better mix on the remaining containers. Also, a grout float is basically a trowel with a pad stuck to it, so I was very comfortable with that tool.
Surprise number 2 is that we did not buy enough grout. I have the lower right "wing" left to do. I doubt that even had I mixed the first tub correctly I would have had enough. No big deal. We have leftover tile to return anyway. Quite a bit, actually. I was expecting the sheets to have more of a distinct pattern, so when I figured how many I needed I was trying to be careful about where the pattern would be from tile to tile and bought them based on that. There is no pattern. That's way easier to work with and uses less tile (and requires fewer cuts) because a scrap from here can go over there and vice versa. The money from the returned tile will pretty much cover the cost of the saw. Sweet.
Today is Labor Day. Holiday! I decided to get to the mowing before it gets too hot outside. I got our lawn done and somewhere around half of the farm before I got rained out. Fine by me all around. We need rain.
Last night I sealed the tile. That is pretty simple-- I just used a paint brush and painted the stuff on, then wiped it down like the instructions said. More importantly, because I did that last night, today I can get the grout in.
Or so I thought...
Surprise! I have never used grout before-- because I have never done any tiling before. For one thing, I thought the little one pound tubs we bought were ready-to-use. Turns out they are just powder and I have to mix them. The instructions said to fill the tub to the inside edge with water and mix. Having never used grout before, I was expecting a consistency similar to, say, sheet rock/joint compound or even the mortar used to hang the tile-- something like peanut butter. What I got was very runny. Runny is hard to apply on a vertical wall. That first tub did not go very well.
Having mixed concrete (and stucco) before, I had an idea that the amount of water makes a big difference. On the second tub I used less. And, like concrete, the line between too little and too much is very thin. For the little one pound container (about pint size) I was adding mere drops at a time. But, I ended up with a much better mix on the remaining containers. Also, a grout float is basically a trowel with a pad stuck to it, so I was very comfortable with that tool.
Surprise number 2 is that we did not buy enough grout. I have the lower right "wing" left to do. I doubt that even had I mixed the first tub correctly I would have had enough. No big deal. We have leftover tile to return anyway. Quite a bit, actually. I was expecting the sheets to have more of a distinct pattern, so when I figured how many I needed I was trying to be careful about where the pattern would be from tile to tile and bought them based on that. There is no pattern. That's way easier to work with and uses less tile (and requires fewer cuts) because a scrap from here can go over there and vice versa. The money from the returned tile will pretty much cover the cost of the saw. Sweet.
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