This week, I took a break from all of the projects at home to help with renovations on a friend's new home. It was such a welcome break! Sometimes you just need to walk away from the daily grind and do something new.
My friend hired a general contractor to update her place before she moved in and he was way behind in finishing things up. I don't remember if I offered or if she asked but I was happy to jump in and help move things along. I know all too well how tough it can be to keep up with good progress when working alone.
I started off working on a small project that came to a halt and had to be reworked in order to finish it. With new flooring installed, one closet door was suddenly too tall to fit back in place so the contractor asked me to cut into the floor to sink the floor hardware piece low enough for the door to clear the opening. I wish I had taken pictures of the process because it was a quick and easy way to fix a frustrating problem. I had a chance to use an oscillating tool for the first time in order to cut into the floor. I've been wanting to buy one since it can be used for so many different projects. There was a bit of a learning curve trying to figure out exactly how it cuts and how to hold and move it properly but I got there in the end.
The blade moves side to side so you can cut straight down or forward, depending on how you hold it. Or you can angle it to cut sideways a bit.
The next day that I showed up to help, I tried my hand at grouting for the first time. The contractor mixed the grout while explaining what he was doing. He has been an excellent teacher for me and I'm grateful. Then he talked me through the work of laying the grout. It's quite a process. I worked on the floor tiles and they just happen to be an intricate pattern which made it more complicated. With each line, you pull the grout in a chevron pattern until you get to the end.
Then you go back to the beginning of the line and, while holding the "float" at a 45 degree angle, you drag the grout back along the line to make it nice and tidy.
The third step helps to make wiping down the tiles much easier. Once you work on a small area, you need to drip or spray some water over your work and then pull the excess grout off of the tiles you've worked by angling the float at a 45 degree angle again and pulling toward where you need to work next. You have to be careful to pull along the grout lines instead of across them. This is where an intricate pattern can be very tricky.
The more excess grout you can pull off of the tiles during this part of the process, the easier it is to clean the tiles at the end. Here's a section that I wiped as much as I could and it's now dry. The last step is to wipe it clean.
Here's a section that is completely finished. It's so pretty!
I haven't learned enough about how to tile and grout but I've gotten some practice in and I feel confident that it is something I will do on my own one day.
Now where's my pry bar?
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