In my travels across the often-barren Interwebs I stumble upon some cool, useful sites once in a while that are worth more than just a quick link on some list somewhere that will sit and collect dust on some old page, in some forgotten directory, on a wheezing, sputtering old server in the broom closet of an abandoned junior college where the doors are boarded over and the windows have been covered with old newspapers and plastic sheeting.

So, with that being said, I found this site called DIY Guides, and I think it’s worth a visit. Right now many of the articles are about things like repairing plaster walls, wallpaper removal and repair, etc., so if you’re doing a project involving either of those two things, check it out for sure. The articles are pretty easy to follow and written for DIY folk like me and you.

Cheers!

Since the upgrade to WordPress 2.3.3 I have added some spam blocking tools.  I have also cleared out the 15,000+ comments awaiting moderation…all of which were spam.  The impetus behind getting caught up with the comments is I am working on a new project and documenting it here on the DIY Blog.  It’s a surf guitar based on a Fender Stratocaster design.  So for the near term, this blog will focus less on pure home improvement stuff, and more on DIY art and related projects.

I am really excited to start this guitar project.  I plan on capturing most of the process on my new Mini-DV camera as well.  Anyway, please send a comment if you’d like because the flood gates have opened again!  I’d love to hear what everyone has to say about these projects and/or answer any questions you may have.  Thanks for stopping back in!

I apologize for the weirdness around the DIY Blog lately. I have been doing some updates like upgrading to WordPress 2.3.3 from 2.3.1, and changing themes. This is not a simple process because the last iteration of the blog had a bunch of plugins and formatting that I added to the template. So, please be patient–ironic because I haven’t dropped a regular post for about six months anyway–as I finalize the upgrade to the new version of the DIY Blog.

If anyone has any suggestions on improvements, features to add, etc., please let me know – spartacus27 (at) gmail.com. Thanks!

This is a third post in the “cleaning the slate before we seal it” odyssey. Hopefully someone will find this to be useful information, because as I said before, there isn’t a whole lot of reliable, up-to-date information on this step of the process out there. That being said, I am happy to be the guinea pig here.

So we got the TileLab grout and tile cleaner product. Well as you may, or may not, know, slate tile is very, very porous. If you just spray this cleaner onto said tile, it will just soak it right up. You can’t even get the rag or sponge onto it quick enough before it just finds every last hole and pore to sneak into. Here’s my idea…and it is untested at this point.

Wash all of the tiles with a very mild soap and warm water, probably with the same type of sponge we’ll be using to clean off the excess grout. Something like this for example…

Tile grout sponge

Then after the tiles have been thoroughly cleansed with the mildly soapy water, then rinsed with clean water, we’ll wait for them to dry.  Just for clarification, this step is going to happen at least four or five days after we laid all of the tiles and the adhesive has totally set.  Then when the tiles are free of most of the visible dust, mud, etc., we’ll spray a bunch of the TileLab cleaner onto a sponge, and go in there to scrub the tiles down.  Hopefully this will get any remaining gunk that the soap and water didn’t get to.

Probably going to test this theory over the weekend, so I’ll get back to the blog next week with a full report.  Until then, enjoy your weekend, and if you’re in the Northen half of the country, try to stay warm!

UPDATED from earlier today

We rented the saw, cut all of the tile, and had them all set in place within four hours. The saw was returned, we went to eat at Bob Evans, and all was good! I was quite surprised that everything went as smoothly as it did. Although we did not actually clean the tiles yet, I did buy a product for it. We’ll get them cleaned probably Tuesday night, after the new tiles have had two days to totally set up and dry. The tile cleaner I bought:

“Tilelab Grout and Tile Cleaner” is a nonabrasive, citrus-based cleaner safe enough for everyday use.

Developed without harsh chemicals or fumes, it removes grease, stains dirt, mold, mildew and soap scum from any ceramic tile or grout. Wipes off without rinsing and leave a fresh citrus scent.

I will talk about how this product performed later, as a separate product review.  It was reasonably priced, and I had read some good things about it on a DIY forum that I frequently check out.  Anyway, just wanted to write up a quick followup to the post from this morning.  Success with the tile saw!  Huzzah!  Bob Evans’ cinnamon pancakes, Huzzah!

No one really tells you this part of the process I am seeing…at least not if you do a Google search. So since I am scheming to do just that very thing this afternoon, I thought I would share how I plan to do it. Of course right now it’s the morning, and I am researching the options online, so I won’t know until I come back and update later this evening.

Until then though, I have seen many hints on cleaning slate tile, but I think that they mostly refer to cleaning slate flooring after it has been grouted, sealed, etc. So this doesn’t really help me very much right now. I have heard that simply warm water is the best thing, especially since slate is so porous. That sounds logical, because if you throw any kind of general cleanser or chemical product at it before it has been sealed, then that tile will just soak it up like good pancakes soak up gallons of syrup.

The idea is to get the tile as good and clean as you possibly can before you start to apply any sealer or enhancer. You don’t want to have dirt, dust, grit, or any other foreign objects on the surface. I’m stopping by the local home store today anyway to rent the tile saw, so I will ask them as well. By the way, the best saw to cut slate tile is a diamond blade saw with water. This way you cut right through it with a very sharp blade and you get less chipping.

I’ll post an update later about exactly what I decided to use to clean the slate tile before I sealed it, and any other fun stories from all the cuttin’ and whatnot.

We’re just about at the stage where we need to seal the slate tile in the bathroom. We’re going to rent a wet saw this weekend to make all of the final cuts, and then we’ll be done laying the slate tile. After we let the adhesive dry for a couple of days, probably around next Wednesday, then we’ll go in there to seal them up.

I’ve been looking over a lot of stuff on the web about what types of sealer to use, how many times you should seal your slate, then should you seal the grout too? There are different opinions out there for sure. Here is a link to the Surface Finder at the Aqua Mix website. It helps you pick one of their home-grade sealing products based on what type of tile or stone surface you’re working with.

I’ve pretty much decided that I am going to put three coats of sealer on our slate tiles. I will wait one day at least between coats. Then I will grout using a dark gray color mortar. Then after that dries for a week, I will go back and use a grout-sealer to do just that, seal the grout, making it water resistant and hardening it further. Of course I’ll keep writing about how it goes, and whether or not I actually stick to this plan.

By the way, I also got a good deal on a mini DV camcorder, so I plan on creating video content for this site as well. I am still behind on getting my photos organized and labeled, but I am pretty excited about putting some video up. Hopefully I will be able to integrate into my future tutorials as well. Take care!

As you can see, I decided to update the theme for the DIY Blog. It took awhile to get it just right, but I think it looks cool. It’s certainly more stylish then the previous theme. I also think that it adds usability as well because there is less clutter, offers direct access to the categories, has clearer post formatting, and is in a generally more pleasing color pallette.

Let me know what you think. If you have problems with it, if you don’t like it, if you can think of additional things I can do to make it better–please add comments if you’re so inclined–thank you!

So far I’ve posted more in January than I had in the previous three months combined I think. I am back in the DIY spirit again, and I want to make 2007 a very productive year. I also want to be able to share more of my journey with you, so that’s why I am making more of an effort to update and revise this blog. Thanks for coming by!

I have been talking about all sorts of projects, using all sorts of consumable products and tools. Well, Northern Tool doesn’t do this very often, but they are offering free shipping on UPS Ground orders over $150. Now, if you’re buying any decent power tools, or construction equipment and supplies, then you’re probably going to hit this threshold pretty easily.

They have a wide range of products including –

This store is great because you can get just about everything you need in one place.  It is especially useful if you have any commercial interests or work as a contractor because they have high-end equipment and a larger variety of products that most companies overlook.  So check Northern Tools and Equipment out, you won’t be disappointed.

Hints on Laying Slate Tile

Basically these are hints and tips that you can reference for most types of tile, but we happen to be using Indian slate tile in our bathroom remodel currently.

• You’ll use a lot of tile adhesive, even in a small space, so if you have any more than 65-75 sqaure feet to cover, I recommend getting the five gallon bucket of adhesive. If you have under 75 square feet you can probably get two or three, one gallon buckets.
• Before you lay down your tile adhesive, make a general plan of where you want your tiles to go. This is mostly important when using slate tile because of the irregularity in the pattern and colors. What I did was take them all out of the boxes and stacked them in another area according to general hues and colors. I also separated the really cool, interesting tiles into the ‘A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’ piles. This helps when you are placing the tiles into a pleasing arrangement.
• Lay a few rows at a time, and try not to work yourself into a corner! It’s just like painting a floor in that way…leave yourself a way out.
• It’s best to wait at least one day, prefferably two, before walking on set tiles. Even after two days try not to twist your feet when walking. Take slow, gentle steps and pickup and place your feet straight up and down. Tiles can shift even after quite dry.
• After you’re done laying tile for the day, or for a specific area, wipe off the excess tile adhesive around the edges of your finished area. If this extra stuff dries it can be a pain to remove later.

More to come!