So tiling... Last year about this time, our hall bath gave out. We got a rather sudden initiation into homeownership. I wasn't very excited about puting white glass tile back on the walls or very interested in the plastic shower surrounds. I discovered a small, local tiling company that was amazingly encouraging and helpful in designing and planning. One of these days, I'll upload the pictures from that remodel. But for now, here are my photos and notes from the current master bath project.
We tore out the offending shower and the ewwwwwwww jetted tub. (we never could get all of the previous owners' funk out of the jets.) We removed the old toilet and purchased a glistening, white replacement. Finally, we removed the linoleum. When puting down flooring, it's important to clean everything possible off of the concrete. The bottom layer of linoleum is surprisingly easy to take up. Simply scrape up as much as possible with a metal putty knife and soak the rest with water. Generally, a little elbow grease and you're home free. I've noticed that in both of our remodels, the concrete around the toilet area has been malformed. I'm guessing that linoleum isn't sufficient to protect from...overspray. This meant that a little extra elbow grease was required to try to even out the concrete. I wasn't completely successful. However, a fair amount is camouflaged by the 1/2" of thinset that is required to lay the tiles. For the rest, I'll just say don't spend too much time examining with a level when you use my potty.
A tile wet saw is very important for a tiling project. They sell scoring tools and nipping tools. These DO NOT work for porcelain tiles. Just saying. I've included in the pictures some of my cuts for the toilet hole. You'll note that the cuts aren't in general very pretty. Turns out, you have about an inch to an inch and a half of leeway around the toilet drain hole that you can play with. This means that the toilet cut is fairly forgiving. It's a great place to learn how to make circular cuts before you reach the shower hardware.
I have included the tiled photo below. A few notes here, the rigid plastic tile spacers are much easier to use than the foam x's. The foam ones are great if you need to shim a little. If you have a decent surface and a straight line...go rigid. Whenever possible, hide cuts under baseboards or in corners. Whole tiles are used at the front of the toilet cubby and the cut tiles (more was cut than just the toilet drain hole) are placed at the back. Laying out the tiles before getting started can be a great help. Here, my round cuts are at the joints. This means that I don't have any awkward circles in the middle of tiles. Yay me.
I have to allow 24 hours to dry, pictures tomorrow from the grouting. All photos are courtesy of my iPhone. I'm so not taking my Canon into the construction zone!
(Oh by the way, notice the hideous pink carpet in the first couple of pictures? Can't wait to get rid of the carpet. Seriously, carpet in the bathroom?! eww.)
