A few months ago, while my husband was out of town, I decided to undertake a pretty big project by myself……re-tile my bathroom floor. Thats right, the painted chevron is GONE (thank you Jesus).
I always planned to tile over the chevron, I just couldn’t find tile that I liked that was also within my budget. After searching and searching and searchingggg for the perfect tile, I finally decided to buy these 2″ square marble tiles from Home Depot (only like $2/sf) and an accent strip of multi-toned marble ($6/sf). I also got a tub of pre-mixed mastic (what holds the tile to the ground), a bag of grout, and grout sealer…all for $200 (she didn’t ring my tile up right….).
Here’s a quick “lesson” in how to tile and some pictures of my lovely new floor!! (apologies in advance for the crappy photo quality…hands were messy, so I resorted to using i phone pictures…)
Step 1: Call your plumber to over to take the toilet out. You can know more about Alliance Service Pros to get some plumbers over.
Step 2: Clean the floor so the tile has a good surface to adhere to.
Step 3: Lay the tile out to make sure you know exactly what you’re going to do and need. I initially laid this out with only 2 rows of the grey accent tile but ended up changing it to 3 rows of grey tile because the 3 rows were the same width as one marble tile (genius, right? -__- )
Step 4: Begin in the back of the room. Move the tile on the ground so you can put the mastic down (flip it upside down onto the adjacent tiles so you know exactly how it will go back together).
Step 5: Put the mastic down EVENLY in generous portions (not too thick, but the floor shouldn’t show through). Use a trowel to create grooves in the mastic that will create the suction that keeps the tiles in place.
Step 6: Place the tile gently and evenly onto the grooves and lightly press them down evenly. If you’re using bigger tiles, it’s important to make sure they’re all level!
Step 7: Wait 24-48 hours for the tiles to set before putting ANY weight on them.
Step 8: Grout. Mix the grout by closely following the directions.
Step 9: Work the grout into all seams in between tiles and around the edges of the room. You really have to get down and dirty because any air bubbles=cracked grout.
Step 10: Rinse and repeat.
Step 11: Stay off the tile until the grout dries (about 12 hours)
Step 12: Seal the grout…this will keep any white grout from staining!!
Step 13: Replace the shoe moulding.
Step 14: Take pictures of your hard work!!
This project was so “easy” for me that we decided to undertake tiling our kitchen floor next…..a much bigger project that I will share later!
XOXO