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I still have at least a day's work. I have many more tiles to cut -- because I insisted on doing azulejos on part of the floor -- that kelp thing. Wisely, I have used geometrics to confine the kelp thing to a narrow stripe leading out from the kitchen door, but it's still a murderously tedious thing to do, cutting and fitting all those little bits of tile. I have taken advantage of large tiles wherever I thought it possible.
One good thing: I have more tile than I thought I had, which means two things: I don't have to go buy more, and I have more slack in choosing the colors.
One bad thing: it is not, really, possible, to make up for the different thicknesses of tile by varying the amount of mortar you stick under them. It's called thinset for a reason.
Another bad thing: the 1/8-inch tiles we put on the bathroom floor, several of which were lifted and damaged when the back room floor was lifted, are obsolete, that is no longer made and no longer available. The nice fellow found some that don't match, and we only need to actually replace a couple of them, since he spent a couple of hours grinding the mortar off the backs of them (he also ground his fingers).
Another bad thing: I mixed up way too much mortar yesterday, in a fit of stupid optimism. A good thing: new modern day mortar with polymers in it seems to keep much much better. I put a wet rag on top and I think I will be able to stir it up and use it today.
And yet one more good thing: I have mastered the tile saw to a much greater degree. I'm getting an even bigger mess of water all over, but I'm getting better results.
I'm not going to complain about my hands, not about the throbbing pain last night, or the steady, sleep-destroying pain in the wee hours of the morning, or the jillion tiny cuts from handling tiny grains of glass from the tile glazing.
But I am going to chortle about the fact that when I sit down to write again, I think I will be able to write the next two chapters in one fell swoop -- I've had a lot of time to think.
One good thing: I have more tile than I thought I had, which means two things: I don't have to go buy more, and I have more slack in choosing the colors.
One bad thing: it is not, really, possible, to make up for the different thicknesses of tile by varying the amount of mortar you stick under them. It's called thinset for a reason.
Another bad thing: the 1/8-inch tiles we put on the bathroom floor, several of which were lifted and damaged when the back room floor was lifted, are obsolete, that is no longer made and no longer available. The nice fellow found some that don't match, and we only need to actually replace a couple of them, since he spent a couple of hours grinding the mortar off the backs of them (he also ground his fingers).
Another bad thing: I mixed up way too much mortar yesterday, in a fit of stupid optimism. A good thing: new modern day mortar with polymers in it seems to keep much much better. I put a wet rag on top and I think I will be able to stir it up and use it today.
And yet one more good thing: I have mastered the tile saw to a much greater degree. I'm getting an even bigger mess of water all over, but I'm getting better results.
I'm not going to complain about my hands, not about the throbbing pain last night, or the steady, sleep-destroying pain in the wee hours of the morning, or the jillion tiny cuts from handling tiny grains of glass from the tile glazing.
But I am going to chortle about the fact that when I sit down to write again, I think I will be able to write the next two chapters in one fell swoop -- I've had a lot of time to think.