SYNRGYdesign

We had decided to take out all the original linoleum in the house and replace it with tile.  We have done tile work before in our old house so we knew it was something we could do and had all the tools already for it.  Once we got all the old floor removed, installed backer board on the floors and red guarded it completely we were ready to do the tile work.We had picked out a tile that we could get easily at the local hardware store.  We wanted something that was neutral in color and had a little bit of a texture to it.  We had a tight budget for the floors so we did not want to go on the expensive side.  We decided on a tile that came in 3 different sizes - 16 inch, 12 inch and 6 inch.  This allowed us to create a pattern on the floor using the 16 inch and the 6 inch.  We chose the 12 inch for the walls of the showers without any pattern.  We like to have very few different types of flooring finishes so that they were not competing with some of the other finishes around the house.After having done most of the kitchen and mud room for the past few weekends I can definitely say that you need to have good knee pads.  Also a good set of gloves help a lot.  I did not have the knee pads for the first few weekends of doing the tile work.  But after wearing done a pair of jeans at the knee I decided it was time to get some good knee pads. It makes a big difference.Do all the tiles first that does not require cutting.  This might be a little hard if you have a pattern but you just have to start somewhere.    Once you set in all the tiles that do not need cutting then you can work on the ones that do need cutting.  If you are doing a pattern it would be good to layout the pattern with the tile first.  This helps in two ways.  It gets the pattern down so you can see it before you start putting the thinset down.  Second it helps you to bring all the tiles in so that you have it all there in place ready to go when you do have the thinset mixed.If you place the tiles on the thinset and then start to cut the other tiles you will find it is easier to work this way since you are not afraid of moving tiles that have not dried yet.  Dry fit the cut tiles and then once you get done with all the cutting then you can lift up the tiles and start putting the thinset. 

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