DIY Life

When my contractor recently asked how I wanted my new tub finished off, my immediate reply was: "Subway tile. Plain. White." Don't get me wrong. I'm fairly adventurous with color in the home, but I figure going conservative for anything difficult and expensive to upgrade – like tile – will earn me good karma with my home's future owners.

Fact is, a white tiled bathroom can always be decorated around. Unusual colors, patterns and textures cannot. At least, they are hard to disguise once they begin looking dated -- as this week's DIY Disasters slideshow, "Terrible Tile: the Bad and the Ugly," demonstrates!

With many tiles averaging anywhere from $2 to $9 per square foot for installation, this DIY trick will save you a pretty penny... literally.

Take a cue from The Standard Grill in New York City and cover your floors in pennies [heads-side-up, of course]. I'd use a dark grout to make the copper pop and think this would look smashing in a lovely stainless kitchen.

If you want to get really adventurous, add in a few international coins from your travels and play with the shapes/sizes of the pattern. For a kid's room, you could even try your hand at Ski-ball and tile an area of the floor with remaining Chuck E. Cheese gold coins.

What do you think --- tiling your floor with money? Fantastic or frivolous? And what happens when you drop your loose change on the floor? Eek!

If you are looking to give the perfect wedding gift, you can do it in style with the stenciled trivets I found over on Design*Sponge. Get out the spray paint and con-tact paper!

Derek and Lauren are back from vacation and decided to take a trip to the hardware store, where they purchased some 6" x 6" white tiles normally used in a kitchen or bathroom for a mere 45 cents each. To make the stenciled tiles, they printed the flower design directly onto the con-tact paper, applied the paper to the tile, and then cut out the design with an x-acto knife. A couple coats of spray paint and four rubber pads on the back of the tile completed the project.

I really think the trivets would really make a blushing bride happy. For that matter, I think they would make an awesome gift for anyone that loves to cook, me included. My husband is the artist in the family, so I think I should have him make some for me and his mom. Who would you make the lovely trivets for?

Have you been thinking about a bathroom or kitchen remodeling project? Good choice! These two rooms get used a lot -- they're both functional and intimate. And both of them feel right at home with tile, including ceramic, porcelain, and good, old-fashioned stone.

Begin your remodel with a demo

Some folks consider the demolition phase of the remodel to be the most fun. After all, it's an opportunity for a bit of justifiable violence. Be careful though; don't cut into any plumbing pipes or electrical circuits. If your home has a few years on it, the walls in your bathroom are most likely regular drywall or greenboard (water-resistant drywall.

Greenboard used to be the industry standard as the base for installing tile on, but now it's frowned upon. You'll want to get rid of it and replace it with backer board. This is a cement-fiber material that offers not only water-resistance, but also incredible stability.

This awesome Yoshi mosaic, by Craftster user anneandkita, was made for a university lab that studies video games. What could be more appropriate for that location than one of the stars of the Mario Brothers franchise?

Unlike most of his equally-recognizable brethren, Yoshi doesn't come from the 1980s; he made his debut in 1993's Super Mario World. Since then, though, he's become one of Nintendo's most beloved characters.

The pixelated look of old-school, low-res video games lends itself nicely to crafting: recognizable depictions can be made with a series of modular squares in the right colors. Any medium that uses elements with an equal height and width will work, so there are some especially fun things done in cross stitch, single crochet, perler beads, and square mosaic tiles.

If you'd like to try something like this, please join me after the break for some mosaic-making links and tips.

Sometimes finding the right flooring, not to mention which material will most suit your lifestyle, is very difficult -- especially these days, when there are hundreds of designs to choose from. Then there's the hassle of installing your new flooring: if you've never done it before, you may want to have an expert walk you through your first installation, to save yourself some hard feelings (and/or damaged tiles).

Laurie Crogan has designed floors for the rich, the famous, the poor, and just about anyone else who doesn't like "ordinary." Her beautiful artsy inlay floors are absolutely magnificent, jaw dropping to look at, and are well known around the world.

I am totally amazed by Laurie's work. I know there are a few (ok, more than a few) of you out there who are more than willing to create your own designs. Why settle for boring? If you aren't interested in installing your own cork, linoleum, or vinyl composition tile flooring, though, Laurie will do it for you. You will have a new floor that all your neighbors will be in awe of, and once again, you will be the talk of the town.

[via: Craft]

With thanks to Kelly Smith (DIY Life's Perpetual Remodeling Syndrome expert), I'm going to do a follow-up to his excellent post on floor tile, but change directions a bit, vertically to be exact. Let's look at the procedure for installing tile on a wall; in this case it was for a dorm bathroom, with the usual sinks, showers, etc. I had already done the rough electrical and plumbing and put in the sheet rock, concrete backer board, and bead board, so now the fun began. I frankly enjoyed myself because it was a lot less physically demanding than the aforementioned projects and I got to use my brain to do the necessary layout that would ensure a nice looking result.

But first, the gallery! It will help as an initial guide and you should refer to it at the parts of the project that require a bit of thought and planning.

Perpetual Remodeling Syndrome (PRS) is brought to you every Thursday by Kelly Smith, who is hopelessly afflicted with this home-altering ailment. Remodeling can be a never-ending and contagious illness, so read on, at your own risk. Don't say we didn't warn you.

For the past few years I've been involved in what I have come to call PRS (Perpetual Remodel Syndrome). Ahh, the joys of home ownership. Since I do enjoy doing home improvement, I feel it's a blessing that my subdivision has no home owner's association. I know the argument; it keeps the standards up. But at least here, there's only one tacky house out of a few hundred.

That being said, today's topic is laying interior ceramic tile floors. Laying tile on a porch or patio has its own considerations.

Mix the Mortar and Lay the Tile

I used mortar on my floor but there are other adhesives out there as well. Your choice. Spread the mortar or adhesive with the trowel evenly and begin laying the tile using the spacers. I like to lay about two rows of four full tiles on one chalk line and then cut and lay the borders. Then I do the same for the other line. Seat each tile by lightly rapping it with a rubber mallet.

Remember to spread the mortar slightly beyond where the tile will lay so there's no void. Voids cause tiles to crack at some time in your future, drawing displeasure from your spousal unit and casting a shadow of doubt over your impressive DIY skills. Don't go there.

All done? Clean up your tools and have an adult beverage of your choice.

Time to Grout!

Grouting is the fun part. I let the mortar dry for twenty four hours first. Mix the grout using the ribbon mixer again. I know you can buy it premixed, but that's cost-prohibitive for all but the smallest of projects. Start grouting where you started laying the tile if that worked well for you. Arm yourself with the sponge in a bucket of water.

First scoop some grout onto the float and work it in between the tiles (removing the spacers as you go). Then grab your sponge, wring it out, and start wiping the grout off the tile surface with a light touch, and forming the concave shape typical to grout lines. As the tiles dry off, you'll see a glaze on them. Don't worry about that now; you'll wipe it off with cheesecloth later.

Finally, after a day or so after the grout's dry, come back and apply a high-quality grout sealer. Other than nailing up the baseboard, your work here is done. As before, clean up your tools and enjoy an adult beverage. You've earned it!



Additional resources:
Laying a vinyl tile floor (This Old House)
Tile setting tools (The Tile Doctor)
Installing hardwood floor (Hometips)
Laying floor tile (Hammerzone)

Sure, there are lots of tutorials online about the right ways to tile a floor. But do they tell you the mistakes they made the first time they ever tiled? I think not; where would your vote of confidence be if they did that?

Well, for all you newbies out there, here's how we screwed up and what not to do when you take on your first floor tiling project.

Mortar, Mortar Everywhere

When mixing the mortar, don't forget to add that Super Flexible Additive stuff, or so "they" will tell you. We forgot, and so far, the tile is staying put. So OK, maybe the tile will crack in twenty years, but we have bigger problems than that to worry about. Read on . . .

Oh, but before we get to that, a rubber mallet would have come in handy to set the tiles into the mortar, but a good ol' bang with the fist really wasn't too shabby.

The rust-colored circa 1981 tile in the half bath is finally removed, all of your hard work chipping, yanking and pulling finally showing results. Now for the easy part -- laying your new tile, right?

Wrong. Just when you thought the hard part was over. You can't put down new tile when all that old adhesive is still clinging for dear life to the subfloor. It will be an uneven mess, and your new grout will not stand the test of time.

Well, fine. It can't be that hard to remove the adhesive. Just a quick scrape and the subfloor will be as good as new.

Wrong again. When something has been stuck to plywood for twenty-five years, it is going to be a challenge to get off. Sure, you could go to your local hardware store and grab a can of the super-smelly toxic goo that eats away at the adhesive, making a big gummy mess to be scraped away. And after your brain cells recover, you may even be able to admire your work.

Why not try your hair dryer instead? Really! The heat from the hair dryer helps to release the adhesive, making it much easier to scrape away from the subfloor. The result will be the smooth, even surface you want for laying the mortar or adhesive for the stylin' new tile you have picked out.

If you have ceramic tile and lighter-colored grout in your home, you've probably been to the place where you have to look at how dirty and stained that grout is. If that tile does not have some kind of sealer or protectant on it, activities like mopping and just walking on it (as in, tracking dirt in) will inevitably leave the grout lines in between those tiles dingy and dull.

What to do? Yes, there are commercial grout cleaners and even services that will professionally do this for you. There must be an easier way that takes not-so-much time and can be done with impressive results. How about a pair of household rubber gloves and some diluted hydrochloric acid?

Yes, that is a main component in grout cleaners, but instead of buying pricey and low-volume cleaners, buy a gallon of hydrochloric acid (be very careful with this stuff) and dilute to 1:10 or weaker. Get those gloves on and start working into that sand-based grout (yes, I've only tested this on standard sand-based, tinted grout). It's a little messy, but the results are grout lines that look brand new. Once you get it all cleaned up (the solution sits on the grout for about 10 minutes, then gets wiped up), then seal or even wax that tile floor if you're so inclined to prevent further grout stains.