Tiling (22-Jan)

So, although we'd been prepping for it for a few days before, on Tue 22-Jan-2008, we finished the tiles. I wasn't expecting it to be noisy, so I started them after work. Unfortunately, in order to set the tiles in place, they suggest that you whack them with a mallet, which is, perhaps not surprisingly, noisy.

So we checked with our neighbours to ensure that it was ok that we continue despite the noise, after the noise limit (7pm). It mostly went well, other than one tile that cracked as we tried to set it, and required a last minute replacement. We were also not able to get the first two tiles completely level, as I probably used a little too much mortar on those. It's also surprisingly difficult to lift a tile from mortar to put it down. It's suggested that you periodically lay a tile then lift it up to check coverage of the mortar, but that's difficult to do when it feels like it's being held down by super-powered suction cups.

Still, all things considered, I'm happy with the results. This is the tiles laid, in mortar, no grout, with tile spacers.

Here's a closeup of a tile spacer in position between four of our tiles:

And finally, my loving wife, with mortar on her knees, threatening to step on the tiles before they're set.

This post is a little late, but I've been busy doing the work instead of posting about it.