Laundry Room Upgrade - Part 3

Once the subfloor preparation was complete, it was time to get the tiling done.  I don't have much experience tiling, and the tiling that I have done has been pretty frustrating, but I had high hopes for this job.  After spending a lot of time getting the subfloor nice and flat I figured that this job would go smoothly.

Well, it did.  Mostly.  Before I started I had to run out to Home Hardware to get some tile edging.  Three pieces of 8' tile edging for $50.  Once I got home I pulled the two 50 pound bags of thinset mortar out of the car that I'd bought the other day.  Read the instructions to make sure I knew what I was doing and found that I'd bought the wrong thinset.  I had unmodified thinset, which the instructions said not to use with porcelain tiles - and I'm putting down 13" porcelain tiles.  Argh.  Back to Home Hardware to buy three bags of poly-modified thinset, which they only have in 25 pound bags for $20 each, vs the 50 pound bag of unmodified I got earlier for $16 each.  Double Argh.

After mixing up the thinset, I started laying tiles.  I mixed the first batch of thinset a little thick, but the remainder went down no problem.  I think this job ended up taking me three hours.  I could have gone faster if I had someone to help mix the mortar, but I'm glad I got it finished.

Here's the completed job - a nice smooth, unbroken floor (inspector Oscar checks it out).  Hmm, wasn't there a vent there somewhere.  Oops.

After the tiles dried for a couple of days I did the grouting.  Well, first I cut out two cracked tiles and the third tile that covered the vent.  The grouting took longer than I thought it would.  First, the grout we had was the color of, well, brown.  So of to Home Depot to pick up some new grout.  After getting started late (again), it took me about 45 minutes to put the grout down.  I cleaned up my tools and got back to the floor to sponge off the excess grout. 

I must have waited too long to clean off the grout, because I had to scrub the floor for another hour and a half to get off all the grout.  That was the opposite of fun.  As you can see, inspector Oscar is always close at hand to make sure I am doing quality work.

Here's the completed floor.  I still need to make up a crawlspace cover.

Here's the new vent hole.  I tried plunge cutting the porcelain tile with a 4" diamond blade on an angle grinder but could not get the hole cut without breaking the tile.  After three tries I gave up and went with the below instead.