Over the last year I've been slowly gathering the necessary supplies to get this project done - a tool here, some thin-set mortar there - a month at a time. I had finally finished checking everything off my shopping list and got right to work. There were a few things that came up I didn't know I'd need, but that's normal for me!
#1: Get the cement-board sub-floor to fit
If you imagine the grey subfloor pictured here as white tiles, then that's pretty much what the floor was like for a while. This room was small enough that I just needed two 4x6 sheets of cement board. It took a little time, but we got all the little angles and holes cut out and the pieces fit perfectly.
Here's the second half of the subfloor installed. Each piece of cement-board is laid down on a good layer of thin-set mortar, then screwed down into the plywood floor with special cement-board screws. I made sure the factory edge was the edge that went in the middle of the room, a hint given free-of-charge from the greatest uncle-in-law ever!
#2: lay down a good chalk line and start from the center
After trying figuring out the trigonometry of the bathroom's floor to formulate where I should have the center be, I quickly gave up when I noticed that not a single wall was 90 degrees to any other wall. I figured I'd go parallel with the mirror-side wall, since it's the 'main' wall. Once you've got your grid laid out, if any edge of the floor has less than half a tile-width, just move the grid away from that wall half a tile's width in distance. There's no way I can illustrate this properly, so here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zoMABNoVHU
As you're laying the tiles, if ANY thin-set mortar gets on the tile, wipe it off with a damp sponge immediately. It won't set up too fast or anything, but it's easy to just keep going and forget, then you really need to work to get it off the tile.
There! That's the first 'quadrant' of the room done! (it was the first one I did because it was the only one that didn't require any 'fancy cuts'. Doesn't it look GOOD?!!
Working my way into the room toward where the toilet sits, each remaining tile to be laid into this corner here will need a cut that takes more than just a 'tile snapper' which can make straight cuts only. I was going to start tackling 'L' shaped cuts and notched cuts.
Fortunately, where there's a will there's wiggle-room. At this point I still didn't have any tool for cutting a circle-shape, so I figured out how much of the floor the toilet will cover up, and for those areas I decided to be a little more lenient on the quality of cut I made.
I got every single tile down! -except for the ones that needed 'fancy cuts'. Those are next.
#3: Fancy Cuts
The tool I'd been using to snap the tiles in two was only able to make one straight cut along the entire length of the tile. To make an 'L' shaped cut, this tool is useless. To take a notch out of the side of a tile, it was more than useless.
I tried a 3/4" masonry drill bit so I could then go in from there with a special 'rod saw' blade made for tiles. The drill bit dug a little dimple into the surface of the tile, then the heat split the tile in half.
I tried a masonry jig-saw blade in my electric jig-saw. The blade started burning - literally turning black and red hot, then about half way up the second cut, heat split the tile.
I tried using the rod saw, and I would still be sawing away at it and be about 1/4" through. This reminded me of someone digging out of jail with a teaspoon.
I took all these tools back for store credit, and spent less on a wet saw. Yeah! Got the job done in seconds!
Power tools: sooooo refreshing! Here's all the 'fancy cuts' the room would need. In my right hand (stage left) on top is an 'L' shaped cut for the corner of the room with the inverted corner (to the left of the vanity). Under that is the cute little notch I made to allow for the toilet's water pipe. In my left hand (stage right), are the two tiles that would go around the air duct.
This is how the notches are made. Just a bunch of parallel cuts, then the little pieces just tap right out! Thanks to the wife for this action-packed shot.
And here's the floor with the tiles completed, all stuck down firmly into the thin-set mortar. Time for the next step...
#4: Grouting
After letting the thin-set mortar completely dry for about two days, and having made sure there is NO thin-set mortar drying ON the tiles, we are now ready to go in and grout. Grout is not only a noun, it's also a verb. I grouted the room with grout. If it were also the name of a location, then "Grout Grout grout." would be a complete sentence.
It looks messy but there's honestly no other way to make sure you've spread it in deeply enough to completely fill the valley between tiles. It's better to use a little extra grout and be sure. Plus, if the wife walks by and sees just how messy it is, it'll look EVEN BETTER when you're done!
Every 45 minutes to an hour, I'd have to come back in to sponge off the tiles to remove a little more grout. It was a balancing act between slowly getting the tiles clean, and not getting the grout lines too wet (this would over-saturate the cement in the grout mixture and the grout would dry crumbly), so I did this about 4 times over the remainder of the day.
Almost done here, there was just a little grout haze left on the tiles each time it dried up.
The grouting has all been wiped off the tiles, and is now going to cure for the next two days.
#4: Finishing touches
Reinstalled the threshold.
Installed wood trim around the floor, AND the toilet is back!
The best finishing touch: my new toilet handle!
After all this was done, I put down a bead of caulking along the bathtub edge of the floor, and it is now in tip-top working order. Next, is to replace the cruddy-looking shower surround. Maybe I'll tile it...
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