ORC Week 6 What We Learned About Tiling

If you’ve been following along, week 5 of the Spring 2020 One Room Challenge was cancelled to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor’s deaths. I took the time off to check my privilege and start the process of learning from and supporting the Black community. This will be a marathon, not a sprint, but anti-racist resources are plentiful and there has never been a better time to start than now. Black Lives Matter.

We are back this week with a post detailing what we learned about tiling as a couple of newbies. Spoiler alert- we learned a LOT. All the YouTube videos in the world couldn’t have prepared us for actually getting down and dirty with tiling, but they certainly helped! This is not going to be a step-by-step tutorial since there are plenty of better resources on the internet than me, but I will share the details we learned about tiling that weren’t included in how-to videos.

If you’re thinking about attempting a DIY tile project, I highly suggest watching multiple videos. Get specific with it too. Search for the style of tile you are installing because tiling a shower with 12 x 12 sheets of tile is quite different than 4 x 4 pieces. Also be sure to include the type of tile you are using. We installed ceramic tiles in our shower, so all the following tips pertain to glazed ceramic tiles. If you’re curious about what type of tile to use for your project, Home Depot has a solid list of pros and cons here. Now let’s get into what we learned about tiling!

Tip #1

Start the project as early in the day as possible. We estimated that it would take us one day to complete the project and it ended up taking almost two full days. As with most home renovations, it will take you longer than expected. It is a lot of work to set up the materials you need for tiling, so give yourself plenty of time to prep. We didn’t factor prep time in and as a result, we didn’t start tiling until 2pm the first day. So much wasted time!

Tip #2

Measure your tiles by hand. Don’t blindly trust the size on the box. You want to guess how I know this?! We bought 4 x 4″ tiles. Simple right? Well, Colin did all his math based on a 4 x 4″ tile and 3/16 space. We put up the first few rows and things were going smoothly. Once we got to the final two rows, I realized that the tiles were not going to fit and we would need to cut the top row. Which is also the row that is most visible. It wasn’t an option. It would look horrible. Colin was in disbelief that his math was wrong (he’s an engineer and a perfectionist). I was silently freaking out as the thinset began drying. He checked the math again. It should have been working. After measuring the wall for about the 47th time, we measured the tiles…3 3/4″. Well, shit. We went into a frenzy pulling the tiles off the wall before the thinset dried and he quickly recalculated everything. Luckily we caught the error early and could still salvage the tiles and the cement board. But lesson LEARNED, people.

Tip #3

Invest in knee pads. That’s all. Thank me later.

Tip #4

If you are using a border, tile the corners first. I’m kicking myself for this one. We did not think about how the tile would meet at the corner and as a result, it looks a little sloppy. Watch videos to learn how to get a smooth transition at curves!

Tip #5

Try to scrape out as much thinset between tiles as possible on the day you tile. It is much harder to get out after it sets. It will be the last thing you want to do after tiling all day, but believe me it’s worth the extra half hour. We used a piece of wood that Colin had cut the the exact size of the space between tiles to smoosh out the extra thinset. If you don’t do it that day, you will be stuck using a pick to scrape it out.

Tip #6

Don’t buy the tiny white x-shaped spacers. They are GARBAGE. If one doesn’t fall out immediately, it will fall out if you so much as breathe near it later. Save yourself a lot of frustration and invest in slightly better tile spacers. Don’t buy these. Do buy these.

Week 6 Checklist Update

1. Demo Bathroom
2. Replace plumbing ($$$$ yuck!)
3. Move electric
4. Install overhead light and fan
5. Lay plywood floor over subfloor
6. Acquire all bathroom fixtures
7. Move pocket door from kitchen to bathroom
8. Build wet bed for walk in shower
9. Waterproof shower
10. Install, tape, and sand dry wall
11. Tile shower
12. Prime walls and ceiling
13. Install hardi board on floor
14. Tile floors
15. Build and stain new vanity in same style as old vanity
16. Make Roman shade for window
17. Install and paint window trim
18. Paint walls and ceiling
19. Hook up water in sink, toilet, and shower
20. Install sconce, fixtures, decor, etc.
21. Photograph space and edit pictures

That’s it for what we learned about tiling! Despite the hard work and mistakes made, I am so happy we tackled this project. Our budget most likely would have doubled if we had someone do all the tile work. And that doesn’t even include the work Colin did to build and waterproof the shower and wet bed! Yeah, he did that all himself. He also dry walled, taped, and sanded the whole bathroom. MVP of this project for sure. LOVE YOU! Anyways, I hope these little tips will help when you decide to embark on a DIY tiling adventure! As always, thank you for reading and be sure to check out the other fabulous designers in this season’s One Room Challenge.