The Thick Grey Line

It's been a couple of weeks since our last bathroom update, but the good news is that we've checked off two more unbelievably tedious and time-consuming steps in getting this bath and shower ready for use.  The grouting and the removing of the grout haze has been finished!

Here's the surround tiled and ready to go:

Tile-tastic.

We decided to use sanded grout because it was recommended based on the size of the spaces between tiles- we used 1/8" spacers when tiling.  Non-sanded grout is recommended for smaller grout lines.  We also considered epoxy grout because it's supposed to be more watertight and stain resistant than traditional grout, but the fact that it's WAY more expensive than sanded grout, it's not available in our local hardware and box stores, and is considered stickier than regular grout (and therefore more difficult to apply) made us decide that plain ol' sanded grout was the way to go for this project.  We wanted to use grey grout, and were aiming for something very light grey, almost silvery.  What we ended up with was a color called "Delorean Gray"- a lightish grey with no brown tones whatsoever that's available at pretty much every Home Depot on the planet.

Here's what I learned about grouting by doing this project.
1- It's really really REALLY easy.  Smoosh grout into lines.  Wipe lines with damp sponge.  Ta-da!
2- It's really really REALLY messy.  Even with putting liner in the tub, I still spent a significant amount of time scraping dried-up grout bits that fell off my float and onto the tub.
3- It requires a lot of visual concentration and hand/arm stamina but no brain power.  Hence sore muscles.
4- It goes a million times slower than you think it will.  I think by the time all was said and done I had spent about 14 cumulative hours standing in that tub, grouting.

And here's what it looked like after those 14 cumulative hours.

That's looking more finished!

One problem.  We chose the grey grout to do two things- break up the giant swath of white that wraps around our bathroom (between the tub/shower, toilet, vanity, and beadboard, it's a lot of white in there), and keep the grout from looking dingy.  We didn't consider that using grey grout would leave a very noticeable haze on our white subway tile.

Hello, haze.

From what I understand, grout haze is a pretty common thing.  Ours might more accurately be called grout haze plus schmutz.

Exhibit A.

To quote Jimmy Fallon and Channing Tatum, "EW!"

So to remove said grout haze plus schmutz, I had a party and invited a gallon of water, a clean sponge, an old rag, a nylon brush, and this stuff, which essentially etches the junk to the point where you can wipe or scrub it off of ceramic tiles:

Schmutz remover.

Worst party ever.  Sure, the schmutz and haze came off the subway tile, but only with extensive scrubbing and wiping and scraping.  And to keep from damaging the grout that was where we wanted it, each tile had to be scrubbed and wiped and scraped individually.  This part took approximately another 12 cumulative hours to complete.

But oh, the results were worth it.  Excuse me while I go pet the pretty tiles.

Clean lines. (Poor photo editing)

Finished bullnose edge.

Interior corner, lookin' sharp.

Lookin' mighty fine.  Ignore the nasty drywall, if you please.

Look at that shine!!  So pretty.

Overall, I think the grey ended up a little darker than I had envisioned, but I'm still plenty happy with the effect of grey on white, and would've gone the same route if I had it to do over again.  We are getting so close now!  I can finally see the light at the end of the five-month-long bathroom-reno tunnel!!

The Set Up

"Bound and determined not to post again until I've finished titling"...  literally translated to mean "It will take me an entire month to finish the tiling process so I hope someone -anyone- remembers I have a blog by the time I get to posting on it again."

So why did it take a whole month for us to get this bad boy tiled?  Things that slowed our progress with tiling:

1)  Our cement board was not installed exactly level.  The seams where certain boards meet were not flush, meaning that every time we'd tile over a seam, we'd end up with a row of tiles that wouldn't hang perfectly flush, so we'd have to let our work set for about 24 hours before adding more tile weight on top of it.

2)  We opted to get a cheapie manual tile saw for this process.  It was so cheapie that I couldn't cut tiles successfully on my own, so both Steve and I had to be home and available to work on the tiling for us to make any progress.  He cut and smoothed the tiles, I gooped on the thinset and set the tiles.  By the time we had finished two walls, the blade of our tile saw was starting to dull, making the process of tile cutting even more difficult and slow-moving.  I can tell you that the tile saw will be deposited directly into our garbage can as soon as we stick a fork in this project.  If we ever do another large-scale tiling project, we'll be springing for a more efficient tile saw, thankyouverymuch.

3)  Steve and I have both suffered massive colds over the last month.  Nobody feels like tiling when your sinuses are on the verge of exploding.

4)  We announced to our family and friends that we are expecting!  Our little nugget is due on August 8th, and we are very excited to meet him or her (expect a slew of getting-the-nursery-ready posts once this bathroom is put back together!), but baby has been putting a strain on my energy levels.  Much of my evenings in January were spent coming home from work, sitting down for just a minute, and then waking up two hours later.  Whoops.

So if you're planning on taking on a tiling project, make sure your cement board is installed level, invest in a decent quality tile saw, don't get sick, and don't get pregnant.  :)

Enough with the excuses, let's get to the photos!  Be warned- my photo progression feels a little like the way you counted as a kid: "One, two, skip a few, ninety-nine, one hundred!"

First two rows.  I got less messy with the thinset once I got the hang of applying it.

We used 1/8" T spacers to help keep everything square and even.

Prepare to fast forward... here we are, a few weeks later:

All tiled!

I'm still a little incredulous we got the tiles to line up squarely in the corners.

Steve figured out how to tile around the exposed plumbing.

Even the little "bump-out" turned out pretty cool looking.

So now that the tiling's done, we'll be moving on to grout!  I am so ready to be done with this project and have a functional bathroom back!!

Seal of Approval

Once again, things are progressing slower than we anticipated.  But people, that is what happens when you DIY.  You hit bumps in the road, things take longer than you expected... you just have to roll with it.

Our latest bump in the road came when I was refreshing myself on tiling how-tos on the good ol' interwebs the morning after I last posted.  One of the tutorials I was watching referred to a vapor barrier.  I wondered what that meant, so I googled it, and discovered that these bathroom reno newbies left out a major step in waterproofing a tub surrournd.  Normally, plastic sheeting (otherwise known as a vapor barrier) would be installed behind the cement board because neither tile nor grout nor cement board nor greenboard are waterproof-- just water-resistant.  I panicked.  Then I told Steve and he panicked.  Would we really have to rip out all of that cement board, only to throw it out, buy more, and re-install it over some plastic sheeting??  I did some research on the interwebs, and it seemed that we had one other option.  There are certain products that are considered vapor barriers that you can "install" over cement board.

One trip to Home Depot later, and we came home with a 1 gallon bucket of a product called Red Gard.  It's a goopy concoction that you essentially trowel or brush or roll onto cement board, and it dries to a rubbery, waterproof finish.  Best of all, you can still tile over it!

First I used some joint compound to smooth over every seam and nail hole in the cement board so that the Red Gard would have a nice even surface to cling to and we wouldn't end up with gaps it wouldn't be able to seal.

Patched.

After 24 hours of dry time, I broke out the Red Gard.  It should be noted that this stuff stinks to high heaven.  I used a respirator, kept the fan in the bathroom on at all times, and kept fans in the rest of the house running to remove any fumes that might escape the bathroom.  Definitely use a respirator, or expect that your nose and throat will smell like ammonia for the next three days.  The viscosity was really odd- it was a lot like pudding.  Not quite solid enough to trowel on, not quite liquid enough to really be able to paint or roll with easily.  I ended up using a mixture of techniques- I'd dampen the cement board with a large sponge like the directions said, then trowel a big glop onto the lid from the bucket, and then use a brush to slather it on (I made sure to use a brush I wouldn't be heartbroken about in case it needed to be chucked afterward).  The nice thing about Red Gard is that when you apply it, it's the most obnoxious Barbie hot pink you can imagine, but it dries a reddish magenta, so you never have to wonder if it's dry enough for a second or third coat.  All of the cement board got two coats of Red Gard, and the seams where leaks seemed most likely (like our little bump-out to protect the oddly-fitted pipe) were given three coats just to be safe.

Our tub surround briefly matched the color scheme of Barbie's mansion.

And then I just left it like that for a week.

Ugly AND smelly!  Exactly what we wanted! (But thankfully waterproof!!)

And then, one day, I finally had the time and energy to start the tile work.

Sneak peek!

At this point, I'm quite a bit further along in my tiling adventure, but I'm bound and determined not to post again until I have tiled the whole surround.  Maybe that will motivate me to get it done faster??