We were able to grout the tiles in the bathroom today. Then we started the arduous process of cleaning those tiles. It’s a good thing we sealed the slate first, because if we hadn’t put two coats of that AquaMix sealer and enhancer down, then trying to take the excess grout off would have been nearly impossible.

As it was, it was still very difficult. My fingers look like I was climbing a tree made of barbed-wire. I’ll come back and go through the whole list of steps we went through to grout the tiles, but for now I thought I would just drop in and give this brief update. I can’t seem to sleep and, my fingertips are still numb so it’s a great time to type!

I also got my new digital SLR camera this week and used it this weekend. Wow! I am so happy with it. It makes my old camera look like a 19th centure pirate eyeglass compared to my new Hubble telescope. I think it will really enhance the quality of the images you’ll see here on the blog. Granted, there aren’t a whole lot of images at the moment anyway, but that will change.

The charcoal-colored, sanded grout is in place. We’ve gone over it twice with a sponge and water. We’re waiting for the grout lines themselves to cure for another 24 hours before we go back and make one more pass with the sponge and water. I still need to go back with one more coat of glaze to get just the right finish on the walls. We’ll throw the final touches on the plumbing, re-install the toilet, stain, cut, and install the poplar trim and half-round pieces. Pick out and purchase a new mirror and light fixture, install those bad boys, and we’re done! Ha!

Such a small list. Oh well. It looks better everytime we spend a few hours in there, so it’s always worth it. My better half is at the end of her patience though and it truly is taking longer than we expected. This bathroom is not only the most expensive project yet, it also is the most frustrating and time consuming overall…for me that just means I will enjoy it that much more.

Take care, everybody!

Ok–it took awhile.  And yes, awhile is probably an understatement.  But we finally found the right product to clean our new slate tile floor before we put on the sealer.  Here’s what happened…

We got the right product for this type of tile.  First I bought the TileLab Grout and Tile Cleaner in the spray bottle.  Well that turned out to be the wrong formula for slate tile.  I have no doubt that this TileLab product is good, but it just wasn’t the right stuff for the ultra-porous slate tile we have.  So back to our home supply store where we found a new cleaning product that did the job.

First we used our wet-dry vac to sweep up all of the loose dust and particules.  Then we went around and used a wet rag to quickly clean off the top surface of the slate tiles.  It was time to break out the professional cleaner: The tile cleaner tells you to dilute it out to one cup of cleaner to three gallons of warm water.  Then we just used the solution as you would on any other solid surface floor…with a rag and a sponge we applied it, worked it around, then wiped it dry.  Once an hour or two had passed we felt that it had dried completely.  The tiles looked great and they were already a darker, richer color.  They were ready to seal!

To seal the tiles we’re using AquaMix Sealer and Enhancer.  It is a product that deepens and enhances the colors of your slate or stone tile, as it seals it against moisture, mildew, and other hazards of daily use.  The first coat is down and it just keeps looking better, and better.  Pictures will follow soon!  Especially since I got a new Canon Digital Rebel XT coming in the mail soon…and I am really excited to bring it to bare on the DIY Blog!

Have a good week everybody!  Stay warm…we’re in the middle of a terrific snow storm right now.  I’d say we’re getting somewhere near two feet of snow along with drifting and whatnot.  It’s white as far as the eye can see out there.

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!

Hi Folks. I just opened a Flickr account the other day and I finally uploaded the first set of photos. It’s the set that we took while removing the toilet in the master bathroom. It was one of the first steps we did in preparing for the bathroom remodel. Basically we took the toilet out and moved it to the other side of the room, then we took out the vanity, the shower, and surrounding drywall. Then while we worked on the other areas of the bathroom, and framed and drywalled the new wall, we had set the toilet on the floor where the shower used to be.

Anyway, here’s the link to the How to Remove a Toilet set of photos. Go check ‘em out. I have been working on my long-overdue tutorials, and this is a taste of what the photos will look like for all of those projects. Thanks!

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!