Bathroom Day 4: The Tiling Begins

At this point in the renovation we were a day behind our planned schedule. The time it took for the plumber had caused us to shift our tiling from Friday to Saturday.

So we got out the wet tile saw and our trowels and set to work. The system was I would lay the tile and my husband would run up and down to make cuts. This worked well but took a lot longer than planned. Although the area was only 50 square feet, there were angled walls, a window, a shelf and the fixtures to tile around. This meant lots and lots of cuts and little pieces. We worked all day and returned after dinner to complete the walls.

By this time it was around 8:30 and we had been working for over 10 hours. We decided to just plow through and finish the floor tiling so we would be on schedule for grouting. I mean it was just 45 square feet of floor and the tiles were large 12x48 so how hard could it be?

We started mixing the mortar and laid a couple of tiles. When I grabbed the trowel to apply for the third tile, I realized the mortar was setting in the bucket! Assuming we mixed it wrong, we added more water and mixed it again. And it dried again. So more water and more mixing. Finally we gave up. 20 minutes after mixing the mortar it was dried rock solid in the bucket.

Frustrated we called it a day and planned to hit up Depot for new mortar in the morning before trying again.

And now we know: do not buy fast drying mortar even if the Home Depot tile guy recommends it. Apparently in researching after the fact it is not recommended for first timers. Although who could tile 60 square feet in 20 minutes? I think even a pro would have problems.