drywood
11-15-2006, 01:58 PM
Hi all!
Brian here. I have been a voyeur to this site for over a year, have gotten alot of advice and have used your advice many times over. Very informative.
I live in Sacramento, California. average temperature durring the summer about 80 to 110 and the average temp in the fall and winter about 55 - 70 degrees.
I live in a house that is about 9 years old, we bought it new. We picked out tile for the countertops, enrty way, kitchen, bathroom, guest bathroom and laundry room.
Last year we had the countertops retiled. My father did that job. An all around handyman, he's been doing remodels as far as I can remember. So for the countertops he compleated them in 3 days, I did the demolition, prep and clean up.....he did the what I call artwork.
Just in the last 2 weeks we just finished tiling the house with the exception of the bedrooms. I did all the prp work, removing the old tile, morter, carpet, pad, tack stips and base boards. Alot of work....nowhere near the work of setting the tile.
The prep work consisted of filling in all and any cracks in the concrete, sweeping and wiping down the floors, getting 50 cases of tile, 11 bags of morter and 5 boxes of unsanded grout.
We layed about 800 sq. ft of 18x18 tile with a grout line of 1/16 in approx. 7 days. We went with a non sanded "linen" color grout that I picked up at HD.
My tile setter "Father" set the tile in a way that I havent seen before. He said it was the way he was taught back in the day.....Im assuming the 60's or 70's? He would lay the tile out from one end of the house to the other and then to the sides etc. to get the layout. This took awhile, he said most would measure it, but he perfered this way. He chose the back of the house and worked in small 2 tile sets. He would mud the concrete, trowl, use a putty knife to wipe the edges and then mud the tile itself and place the tile. He would use a wine glass and slide the bottom of the glass over all the tiles he placed as he went to make sure they were all flat with each other.
He would stand on the tile being set, push down with his hands, use wedges or whatever to make sure it was set.
Kinda funny, I was there to help, but I felt like I was in the way most of the time. He would send me out for food, coffee and tools that I didnt have. Told me that is how I build my tools up. He used a very long level to make sure the floor remained level through out the project. At the end of a work day, He made sure I cleaned the tools while he kicked back and had a beer...that was fun.
He made some pretty impressive cuts, I inserted one.
The grout went well, he uses what looked like a pastry bag, that went quick, he said it helps on saving grout and makes the clean up easier. After grouting, he did the first wipe of the grout with a wet/squeezed out sponge. Then he showed me the way to wipe down the tiles to remove the extra grout. After wiping about 7 x, and scrubbing with pads I was able to remove all the haze from the tiles. Alot of work! Took me about 3 hours just to do the kitchen and dining room. The job turned out excelent!
The one thing that my dad could not answer is what is the best sealer for a unsanded grout?
I have done alot of searching and just can not find anything on unsanded grout sealing. I have no desire to shine the tile, I love the natural look. I just want to know the best sealer to use. And when I seal, do I use a sponge, brush or ? I hope this info was helpfull to you. Thanks for any and all replies!
Brian
If anyone want to see the countertop I'll uplod those too.
Brian here. I have been a voyeur to this site for over a year, have gotten alot of advice and have used your advice many times over. Very informative.
I live in Sacramento, California. average temperature durring the summer about 80 to 110 and the average temp in the fall and winter about 55 - 70 degrees.
I live in a house that is about 9 years old, we bought it new. We picked out tile for the countertops, enrty way, kitchen, bathroom, guest bathroom and laundry room.
Last year we had the countertops retiled. My father did that job. An all around handyman, he's been doing remodels as far as I can remember. So for the countertops he compleated them in 3 days, I did the demolition, prep and clean up.....he did the what I call artwork.
Just in the last 2 weeks we just finished tiling the house with the exception of the bedrooms. I did all the prp work, removing the old tile, morter, carpet, pad, tack stips and base boards. Alot of work....nowhere near the work of setting the tile.
The prep work consisted of filling in all and any cracks in the concrete, sweeping and wiping down the floors, getting 50 cases of tile, 11 bags of morter and 5 boxes of unsanded grout.
We layed about 800 sq. ft of 18x18 tile with a grout line of 1/16 in approx. 7 days. We went with a non sanded "linen" color grout that I picked up at HD.
My tile setter "Father" set the tile in a way that I havent seen before. He said it was the way he was taught back in the day.....Im assuming the 60's or 70's? He would lay the tile out from one end of the house to the other and then to the sides etc. to get the layout. This took awhile, he said most would measure it, but he perfered this way. He chose the back of the house and worked in small 2 tile sets. He would mud the concrete, trowl, use a putty knife to wipe the edges and then mud the tile itself and place the tile. He would use a wine glass and slide the bottom of the glass over all the tiles he placed as he went to make sure they were all flat with each other.
He would stand on the tile being set, push down with his hands, use wedges or whatever to make sure it was set.
Kinda funny, I was there to help, but I felt like I was in the way most of the time. He would send me out for food, coffee and tools that I didnt have. Told me that is how I build my tools up. He used a very long level to make sure the floor remained level through out the project. At the end of a work day, He made sure I cleaned the tools while he kicked back and had a beer...that was fun.
He made some pretty impressive cuts, I inserted one.
The grout went well, he uses what looked like a pastry bag, that went quick, he said it helps on saving grout and makes the clean up easier. After grouting, he did the first wipe of the grout with a wet/squeezed out sponge. Then he showed me the way to wipe down the tiles to remove the extra grout. After wiping about 7 x, and scrubbing with pads I was able to remove all the haze from the tiles. Alot of work! Took me about 3 hours just to do the kitchen and dining room. The job turned out excelent!
The one thing that my dad could not answer is what is the best sealer for a unsanded grout?
I have done alot of searching and just can not find anything on unsanded grout sealing. I have no desire to shine the tile, I love the natural look. I just want to know the best sealer to use. And when I seal, do I use a sponge, brush or ? I hope this info was helpfull to you. Thanks for any and all replies!
Brian
If anyone want to see the countertop I'll uplod those too.