The tile. It's in. No, it's not done. It will be grouted tonight, but then it will be too dark to take pictures, and I will be far to worn out anyway. I'm a bit triple booked, you see, and this tile thing had to be done today or wait until Halloween. I kid you not: the next free day we have is the weekend after Halloween.
Shoot me now.
So, we buckled down. We bought a smaller cold chisel and I got all up in there and got each "hole" perfectly scraped and sized to house a new tile. And, since every tile is a tad different, that meant I needed a system to remember what one went where and how it fit. Hence:
What? Don't all home improvers use a hot pink highlighter? Or is it just those of use with 5 year old assistants who were asked to "bring mama a marker?" JWH, this whole time, was off running 30 miles. 30. You read that right. His midlife crisis involves a 50 mile road race in a few weeks. Yeah. Better than a girlfriend, not as fun as a Porsche.
Anyway, the tiles above were numbered, as were their future homes:
See the little pink "4"? Yeah. So cute.
When JWH finally did get home, and express his sympathy over my mashed finger (ouch!) we hit it with the quick set. And, it was, actually, quick! In about 10 minutes we beheld this glory:
The fit of the tiles was so good in some places that we did not even need spacers, other spots we used them just in case things got a little droopy. And, while is is a bit discouraging to still have the 5 fish tiles, and this:
But, we did the best we could*, this project nearly killed us! I am glad to be rid of the sad sand dollar, the turtle playing volleyball and the 4 others which are slipping from my memory as we speak (see them here, and here), but dear god, do not try this one at home!
*We had such a hard time chipping out the tiles, and damaged some other, good, blue tiles in the process (one so badly it had to be removed and replaced), that we decided not to risk chipping out the hideous clam near the granite shelf. The spot was just too hard to get at, and the granite too expensive to replace if we damaged it, and the crease along there gets a lot of water pileup, so best not to mess with watever sealant or flashing situation is going on under there. Amiright?
Aside from the running, I also "chipped in" (ha ha) much of the early stages of destruction. Including destruction of 1 adjoining tile.
I back the missus on this one - not for the faint of heart.
Posted by: JWH | Monday, September 24, 2012 at 07:55 PM