Work continued last week on the main floor in the Loft.

Giving the mortar more than a week to set up, we had pulled out all the spacers, cleaned any mortar off the face of the tiles and also cleared out excess mortar from the joints.  Then the tiles were washed up and prepared for application of the caulk at the expansion joints and the grout between the tiles.

Grouting is more of a process of wiping off than wiping on!  Once you’ve gotten the mixture made up and applied in such a fashion that it fills the joint spaces, then you have multiple phases of sponging it in, smoothing it and then getting the surfaces of the tiles clean.  Getting the surface of the tiles clean took three rounds of sponging it off and then getting a clean bucket of water to do it all again!  This is especially challenging in a house with running water only on the basement level.  Lots of trips up and down two flights of stairs and then working on your knees can really wear you out!  Here’s the alcove between the two East bedrooms.  Wipe on, Wipe off, like Mr. Miyagi said!

Once the alcove was done, then it was time to do the bathroom.  The dark green that you see surrounding the floor tile is a waterproofing “system” that was applied a few weeks prior to tiling.  This creates a waterproof “bowl” under the tile to protect the sub-flooring and prevent any leaks from getting through to the structure.  More about this in another post.  We will be applying the same materials on the floor of the screen porch prior to tile installation as well.

Then onward to the main part of the floor.

Final rinse and there you have it!

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