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Crafts
By Donna Flood

Amateur Lays Tile


This picture is of  the tile floor of the air-lock entry way. The north entrance and living room at that entrance was always cold in the winter time when icy blasts came in the front door with whoever was visiting.  This air lock Rod, my husband, built has given us  a wonderfully warm living room.  The glass on the walls of this airlocked runway provides us still, with a view and this is nice. The only thing unhappy with it was the bare cement floor.

We knew very little about laying tile so everything we did was a first time experience. There was a bathroom we had paid to have tiled so we did know just a little about it, at least that it was costly.  This is the way we did this which is in no way the tile people worked.

The first thing to do is seal the tile with Saltillo Tile Sealer, Satin Finish. The instructions say it lasts up to three years. It  drys fast, in  about thirty minutes.  After it is dry we used one of those super glues in a chalk gun. There are a number of different ones that will withstand weather, even. If you use a small slated board to set down between the tiles it will keep them in a uniform place in an exact way. Because you have coated the tile with the sealer you can now push the grout down between these tiles. Let the grout dry 48 hours. You then can simply take a big sponge with water and wipe it off the tile.

Since we were not going to rent a special saw for tile and because we wanted a little more decoration we simply applied the grout along the edges beside the tile and the wall. We then broke tile in pieces and pressed  them into the grout in a random design at these edges. Be sure these broken pieces have been sealed as well. The seal keeps the grout from sticking to the tile.

In 48 hours wipe that off with a wet sponge like you did the other tile   You now have a tile floor without paying someone big bucks to do it for you or having to rent a saw  to cut the tile. I love the floor with the little decorative edge around it.

It  still is work and if you aren't willing to experiment on a large area like this start with an old inn table top or something smaller.  After the work is finished the  Sealer product recommends several coats.  I said "we" but actually Rod did most of the work. My part was mostly the wiping of the grout off the tile and the initial glueing of it to the floor.


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