Tiling All By Myself, Don't want to be. . .

So the first time we decided to tile I was intimidated but this time I was even more so if that is possible.  Chris was away and it needed to be done so I had to do it by myself and figure out how to cut a circle into what is essentially a rock.  I don't do well when there isn't someone there to get opinions from.  But I marched on and it was much MUCH more simple then I thought it would be.

Sweep off the durrock make sure there are no stray dirt or clumps of any kind

Make sure you have a wet saw with diamond blade waiting ready to roll, we got ours for like $50 when it was on sale.

With a space as small as our bathroom you can start on one side of the room and then move across to the other, in larger rooms you need to start in the middle and work out in quarters of the room.  I laid out all the tiles and measured out and marked all the tiles I would need to cut.

After cutting all the tiles to the right size I laid them all out again to make sure that they fit well then I pulled them up in lines and moved to mix the mortar.  The directions are on the bag you buy but basically mix and mix and mix.  You're better to go on the watery side then dry side... too dry and your tile won't stick... then again too wet and it won't stick either.  Basically it should be more wet then the texture of cookie dough but not as thin as egg nog?  I don't know if that helps

I found that doing different strokes was more fun then straight lines.  Online they said it was better for making the tile stick but nothing to prove it... so you can judge fro yourself.

When you place the tiles down evenly distribute some of your weight onto the tile so that it is fully pressed into the mortar.

Make sure to place spacers down around each tile to keep the spacing you want.

Jumping back to when you cut, cutting the circle with our wet saw is basically a long patient process.  You have to cut out sections and then use the blade to almost sand off the really uneven pieces.

When you are mixing the mortar and the grout I would suggest wearing a mask for the dust... not fun to breath in

I finished the whole project, working fairly slow, in about 3 hours.

Don't worry if the mortar got on the tile when it dries it will be easy enough to get off.  I used a plastic fork and a damp sponge and was done cleaning it off in less then 10 minutes.  But before trying to clean it off let it sit for at least 24 hours or your weight could mess up the tiles.

Almost there... 

By Rachel Abi

By Raleigh Wedding Photographer

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