Straight or Diagonal Tile Pattern for Kitchen & Living Room (grout, color)
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I convinced my wife to not include accent tiles. For now, we are keeping the kitchen counter. We want to see how it looks after we complete the tiling and baseboarding the two rooms.
Thanks,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes
I don't think black diamonds will look good with your fireplace.
Furthermore, once you get your table and other furniture in the room, you'll only be able to see just a few diamonds---so it's best to avoid the sparcely scattered dimonds.
I started tiling yesterday at 7pm (Friday night). After 4 hours I managed to put down 9 tiles. Hope you pros don't laugh at this snail pace. It was more difficult than I thought. I used a 1/2 x 1/2 trowel putting thinset on the concrete and back buttered the tiles like many suggested. I went through 2 bags of 50 lbs thinset for 9 tiles. Wow.
It took a long time because I wanted every tile to be almost perfectly level and the grout line straight. I am using 1/8 grout size. Almost half an hour for each tile. At this rate, I might be done working this weekend and next weekend.
I still haven't bought a bridge saw or rent one yet. I will try to put down all uncut tiles this week before thinking about that next weekend.
I made a rookie mistake. I put the whole 50 lb thinset bag into a bucket and then poured water in. I think the burned a drill motor trying to mix it. Luckily I have a spare. I had to dig my arms into the bucket and pull up the dry thinset from the bottom. I was exhausted before tiling, Dumb!
Don't feel badly. When I started I did it ever-so-slowly and carefully, too... thought it would take me two months to tile an entire BR, floor and walls... once you get the hang of it, you get into a rhythm and it goes faster!
jimmybirdie: Welcome to the club! My first tile job long ago was a comedy. I made every mistake known to man. BUT, after all the pain and suffering it turned out okay. You learn by doing and will be very pleased with your achievement once you're finished.
You are wise to take your time and learn as you go, its pretty much like any other new project. I've done more than a few tile jobs over the years and can still get tied up laying out complicated geometric designs.
In cutting your tile, absolutely wear safety glasses, tile chips can hurt (been there). Also, if you are not accustomed to working on your knees, take frequent, short breaks. It will save you from feeling crippled when you're done.
Keep up the good work!!! Looks great for a rookie. Make sure to mix your thinset properly and achieve proper coverage... what setting materials are you using(thinset, grout)??
Hi Again every one and thanks for the encouragement,
I worked again on Saturday but couldn't do it on Sunday. I was so sore and decided to take a break. I don't know how the pros do it every day. I covered about 30% of the floor. Everything still looks good with consistent and straight grout., the only problem is that I went too far with the "back buttering" so the thinset thickness is about .35" instead of the recommended .25".
I am using Durabond D-20™ Porcelain Set, it is pre-mixed. I forgot the brand of the grout I bought but it is a 'bone' color.
Progress Report: I covered about 75% of the floor. Hope to finish everything by Sunday. I planned to finish this job in two weekends but I need another weekend because cutting the large tiles was very difficult with my small wet tile saw. Often I have to make a cut and then turn the tile around to make another cut and hope the cuts meet. There are some gaps between the tiles and the fire place because the bricks were not evenly installed. I put some stuffs on the wet tiles so I or the wife won't step on them.
Location: Finally made it to Florida and lovin' every minute!
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JB, it's going to be very nice. I'm glad you went diagonally. Very sharp. BTW, my husband did his first tile job a year ago and did the same thing you did. Once he got his act together, it went much more quickly.
Congrats and enjoy your floor.
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Looks great for a rookie. Make sure to mix your thinset properly and achieve proper coverage... what setting materials are you using(thinset, grout)??
