This means we had to decide what type of floor we were going to install in the laundry room. After a few discussions - we finally settled on Saltillo tile. I shall now share with you the reasons we chose this particular flooring AND why we have decided to install it ourselves:
REASONS FOR CHOOSING SALTILLO TILE:
1) The groovy colors go well with terra cotta walls.
2) It's cheap.
3) It's a handmade product - and I like handmade products.
4) They're nice and imperfect and will therefore be a bit forgiving of a less-than-perfect installation.
5) We can't afford a Spanish Villa - so this is the next best thing.
6) Our church works with a mission in Saltillo, Mexico and we want to go someday when the kids are older... In the meantime, we thought we'd show some support by purchasing the city's export.
7) I keep hearing they are nearly impossible to install, totally impossible to maintain if you actually get them installed, and prone to all sorts of problems.
Okay - that last one there was actually a subconscious sort of reason... I'm sure it played a major role in the decision-making process, nonetheless.
REASONS FOR INSTALLING SALTILLO TILE OURSELVES
1) We want to be able to say "I did that" when it's all over.
2) Saltillo tile installation is not cheap.
3) See reason #7 above.
With our minds made up - Dave purchased 9 boxes of Saltillo tile and we stacked them in the laundry room. Next, I started browsing the internet for information on how to install Saltillo tile. There are four schools of thought when it comes to this stuff, apparently. The first believes, quite frankly, that no one should ever under any circumstances use Saltillo tile. The second is what we will call the 'pre-sealers' - the third we'll dub the 'soakers' - and the fourth is the most faithful group who believes that there is no wrong way to install Saltillo tile.
Obviously, we had already discounted the first group .. and I'm a bit skeptical about the fourth group... So I narrowed down my research between the pre-sealers and the soakers. Here's an overview:
The pre-sealers say that saltillo is so porous that if you turn on a faucet within 20 feet of the stuff when it is unsealed it will raise your water bill. In addition, the water in the wet tile will cause lime deposits to rise to the surface and result in a nasty abberation known as 'efflorescence". This white residue on the surface of the tile is so unsightly and difficult to deal with that people are forced to spend thousands of dollars on a $600 floor to have it repaired. And that's just clean water. They also state that an unsealed saltillo tile will suck the water out of your mortar and grout so fast it will turn to powder before your eyes. The suggestion is to purchase only pre-sealed tiles (which cost twice as much) or have them pre-sealed by a professional (which costs about three times as much).
On the other hand, the soakers say that pre-sealing these tiles is an act of evil. They say that the sealer will only make efflorescence worse by trapping moisture beneath the tiles. They believe that you should soak the tiles thoroughly in clean water right before installation... set them in a wet mortar bed and then soak the whole thing again with a garden hose. Then you should wait five or six days for the whole mess to dry so the mortar cures. Once that's done you need to hose it all down again and grout. The concept is that if the tiles are already soaking wet they won't be able to absorb any more moisture and all will be well with the world. This is a cheaper and possibly more dependable method of installation -- but by my estimation it would take approximately one month to install 90 square feet of tile. I'm not going without my washer and dryer that long again.
We finally decided on something like a combination of the two (perhaps drawing from the 'can't go wrong' school of thought as well). We are going to lightly pre-seal our tiles so that we do not destroy them with mortar stains when we lay them... Once the mortar has set we're going to apply a couple more coats of sealer and let that dry thoroughly before we grout. If we survive the grouting and cleanup we will be home-free and able to seal the whole thing to our hearts' content... or at least I think so.
Saturday had us heading to Biloxi to the Home Depot for sealer, mortar and grout. The drive wasn't so bad and the kids were all pretty pleasant -- mostly because we didn't tell them where we were going. When we pulled up in the big orange box parking lot the groaning started....
Did I mention that the place was as packed as was to be expected in a hurricane-ravaged area?Do you have any idea how many different types of grout and mortar and floor sealers there are out there? The grout was easy enough -- there were four big bags that said quite clearly: Saltillo Grout. The sealer was pretty simple too as I had spent so long researching the different brands of sealers I could actually quote the various companies' sales pitches when I saw the bottles. Mortar was a problem. I am the first to admit that I don't know a darned thing about mortar. We tried to get one of those Home Depot people to assist us... You know, "You can do it. We can help"? You can.. but will you? A couple hours later we grabbed a few bags of the prettiest bag of thinset and headed for the checkout.. On the way past the tile - Dave picked up an extra box of Saltillo -- just in case.. And then I noticed a sticker on the side that said 'This box contains animal prints'. WOO! I want animal prints....
(For those unfamiliar with the uh.. 'rustic' nature of this tile... Sometimes stray animals will walk across the saltillo as it is lying in the sun to dry. Obviously, these stray animals leave paw prints. Now - remember there are no 'defects' in Saltillo tile.. only enhancements... And they say it's good luck to have a couple paw prints on your Saltillo floor. )
If only we had known that the silly boxes were labelled!! I would have paw prints all over the laundry room! (Uh.. Wait - maybe it's good that we didn't know before...) Dave was sweet enough to let me dig around for another paw-print-labelled box before we left though... (And once we got home with it all we were glad that he did... We had an awful lot of broken tiles in the other boxes and would have come up quite short without the extras.)
Dave says a quiet prayer thanking God that we were out of the store and the kids were in the car.
And so the rest of our weekend was planned for us. We spread out drop-cloths in the dining room and started laying out tile for cleaning and pre-sealing. I should mention that these tiles weigh about five pounds each... meaning it only makes sense to move one tile at a time. A hundred tiles later and you have definitely done some work....
Here it is - almost Monday morning and I have finally gotten the last of the tiles ready for the floor. Tomorrow (maybe) we could move the washer and dryer out and get the floor ready for the tiles. For now though -- I need a big break (and a back brace).
2 comments:
It is midnight and I decided to read your newest post before going to bed. Your insturctions were presented so well,I think I can install the "stuff" now. Was an enjoyable read as usual. Where did you get that sense of humor?
Can I sleep in the laundry room when I come to visit?
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