Tuesday, February 19, 2013

tiles and tribulations

Not much to report, other than I now own duplicates of one too many tiling tools.  After buying another cement board cutter (only to find my original right where it was supposed to be when I got home) I thought my offering to the tool gods was taken care of.  Sadly, that wasn't the case, and I had to buy another tile nipper on the way home today (I sprung for the one that bragged about ergonomics and compound jaws - that'll teach my old one to hide when I need it).  The mesh backing the tiles were on was way too stretchy to get an accurate cut on my wet saw, not to mention the thought of getting my fingers that close to a very fast diamond blade was a bit disconcerting.  Other than the tiles that need to be cut for the threshold (only a few), I'm done except for sealing and grouting.

After staring at the mismatched tile sheets on the floor we did end up calling Home Depot.  Wonder of wonders customer service jumped right on it and refunded us 50%.  That, paired with being able to return extra materials (the first time in history we didn't need extras) and enormous discounts on both dryer pedestals means that we're actually UNDER budget.  I know, I should probably whisper that, I'm sure the house is already plotting how to make replacing the gas line as painful as possible . . .

Wait, you were only here for the pictures?  That'll show you . . .

2 comments:

  1. Hi- I also did a small hex tile floor in an old house (read as: crooked floors! Had a nice adventure with levelling cement, on top of backerboard that was never levelled 10 years ago when we first did that bathroom floor). I am SO GLAD I did not get the HD Merola tile. Consider the American Olean version next time you attempt it. There isn't the little bevel on the AO tiles that catches dirt and they look more vintage, but are not outrageous in price like the true repro ones at Subwaytile.com. Did you ever post a finished photo of your floor? I cannot imagine taking on a house that is a large as yours. You are going to be at it for a least 10 years, and then there is the stuff you will want to repeat after that......

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    1. The merola tile is actually rectified (no bevel), and I liked the antique white color - like so many things you get what you pay for though as far as mismatched colors and shatter prone tiles. Sadly this room just wasn't priority enough to buy better materials, and at least Home Depot refunded 50% for my trouble!

      No finished pics, because like everything else in this house, as soon as it was usable I moved on to the next emergency. I will probably finish up in a month or two, so stay tuned. As far as 10 years, it's probably more like 20. We found the worst house possible so we wouldn't run out of projects. But the beauty of a historic restoration is that once it's done the house will be good for another 100 years.

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