Days 7-9 of the Drama Involving the Kitchen Floor

This should NOT be viewed as a “How to Tile” post. If anything, it is a “How Not to Tile” post. We are not professionals. This was the first tile job for both of us. Hopefully, our story will provide amusement and the attitude of “Hey, if they can do it, anyone can!” However, unless you are a professional, experienced amateur or a masochist, I recommend that you hire someone to do the work for you. You can read about Days 1-3 and Days 4-6, if you missed those posts.

Day 7: Friday, March 22

I started by pulling out all of the spacers, so that our kitchen floor no longer looks like a mini ceramic Arlington.

Once the spacers were removed, I did the slide test on the floor. That means that I shuffled my feet around to make sure that they did not catch on any corners or edges. The floor passed the test and made me happy. Then, we cleaned any mortar that had squished up between the tiles. Crème was curious as ever.

There are handy little tools for this; they made the job easy. It can also be used to threaten a cat. After she drove Douglas to display violence we had to lock her in the bedroom for her own protection.

Douglas “Junior” stopped by just after we finished cleaning the mortar from between the tiles. He wanted to help with the project. You can imagine how much I protested that. He helped Douglas “Senior” grout the tile.

The grout went in smoothly. I enjoyed taking pictures and not having to get back down on the floor.

Then, we had some drinks, chatted and waited for the grout to set. The label said to give it about twenty minutes. I decided to give my Douglas a break for the next part, and worked with Junior to clean the grout off of the tiles. We did this three times, giving the grout about twenty minutes between each pass.

Next next step was to clean the grout haze off of the tiles with cheesecloth. Crème corrected my technique.

Can you see the pattern that was left on this tile?

That was all we could do on the floor, so we went to Home Depot to pick out baseboards. From there we went out to dinner and had a relaxing evening.

Day 8: Saturday, March 23

Douglas decided on Friday night that we was going to run a half marathon in the morning. Do you not love that he is in such good shape that he can just run that distance without any preparation at all? I hope that you could read the sarcasm in my voice for that last sentence. The fact that he is in such good condition makes me feel lazy and out of shape but not enough to actually do anything about it.

Since he was off running, I went in the New York City to visit a friend. Alfredo Salazar, was in New York City for the Art Expo at Pier 92.

Alfredo is from Venezuela, and this was his first time in the United States. He is a talented artist. It was great to be able to hang out with him and see his new work. I enjoyed the break from my floor.

While I was gone, Douglas started the trim work. We bought baseboard that was already primed, so he gave it one coat of paint. I love his ingenious rack.

When I arrived home, he was trimming the first three walls.

He nailed them all in by hand. I may be the only wife in the world that wants to buy power tools and is told “we don’t need them” by her husband.

That evening, we stopped all work to watch the finals of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament. I grew up in a wrestling family, and since this was one of the few years that I did not attend the tournament, I had to conform with watching it on t.v. My alma maters did well at the tournament. Penn State, where I got my Master’s degree, won for the third year in a row with two National Champions. The University of Oklahoma, my undergraduate school, finished twelfth with one National Champion. However, the most exciting match of the night belonged to Kyle Dake of Cornell, who made history as the first wrestler to ever win four championships at four different weight classes. My brother is his assistant coach. Here is a picture of the t.v. where they are in the tunnel waiting for his match to begin.

Here is Kyle hugging his coaches at the end of the match. I am proud of him and also my brother and his other coaches.

Day 9: Sunday, March 24

Douglas worked on the trim, while I cleaned the house. He had to make a lot of cuts to fit the baseboards under the cabinets.

My mom and her husband came over for a while to see the floor. It was great to spend some time with them. After they left, we got back to work. We still needed to seal the grout, but first I needed to sweep the floor. You can see that I am rocking my Oklahoma wrestling t-shirt.

Sealing was easy. We just had to paint the sealant onto the grout and wipe off the excess with paper towels. This should keep our hard work free from stains.

We have other plans for this week, so the final shots of the completed project with all of the appliances will have to wait a couple of weeks. I just hope that we do finish everything up in a short time. I know that final details have a way of dragging on for years since they do not have the urgency of principal parts of the project. Keep your fingers crossed for us. In the meantime, here is one last look at the floor.

Remember what that corner used to look like?  I am sooooooooo happy that my floor does not look like this anymore.

Happy Homemaking!