Grouted and caulked

Here is the updated pictures the tile is grouted, caulked and we got to take down all the plastic and admire it. The next and last hurdle is the floor. Wish us luck.

Grout Finished

I finished grouting the counter top and back splash last night. It was a lot more work than I had anticipated. Over all the Epoxy grout was not difficult to work with, but the float is heavier than a standard grout float so by the end of Monday my hands just hurt, but the counter top was done.

The back splash was more of a pain because there was not as much room to work the grout in with the float. I ended up just using my fingers to press the grout in then I finished up with the float to clean the excess of the tile. That worked pretty well and I was able to finish up the back splash last night.

Freezing the grout does lengthen it's cure time so I used a bucket of ice water while i worked to give myself more time to grout and wash. I even froze the leftovers from Mondays work and used them on Tuesday and while the grout was a little thicker it applied nearly the same. Visually there is no difference between the epoxy grout that i froze over night and the batch that I made fresh which is very handy as the pot life the the grout is only around an hour at 70 degrees F room temperature.

Pictures to come.

Continuing our slow limp to the finish

Today we did make some good forward progress with the tile we're at about 90% right now should only be another hour tomorrow to get the rest of it laid. We would have been finished today but Chris installed the new lights today and the thought of tripping over one another while we occupied the same space on totally different projects was not pleasing.

The new lights are the Quimby from Rejuvenation. When we pulled them from the box originally I was not pleased with them they were not quite what I expected. Because the wire on the fixture is exposed they use lamp wire to run through chain and up to the electrical box. When they arrived the lamp wire was pulled very tight so tight that it kinked the chain and made the fixture appear crooked. They also have a ground wire running from the box down to the light itself. It is inconspicuous now that they are hung but down at eye level it was a bit displeasing. We adjusted the cord and tinkered with them a bit and they are hanging much straighter now. After seeing them properly mounted I think that they really work and I cannot imagine having anything else in their place.


I also had some concerns that they would not be bright enough it seems that almost all kitchens will have a center light in addition to the pendants. However they seem to be fine we will also have lights on the stove hood and will most likely add a small undercabinet light to the corner closest to the sink.

Here is an updated shot of the tile. Tomorrow morning's tiling will consist of adding bull nose pieces to the edges and the addition of 2 rows of tile below counter top level in the stove area once those areas are finished up we will be ready for grout. We are scheduled to have visitors next weekend so it is unlikely grout will be applied so the tile project will probably carry on for at least 2 more weekends. In the meantime I will be starting to sand up the floor.

Tile Progress

Well the counter top is all stuck down and we are at about 40% on the back splash tile. We still need to do the other 60% of the back splash plus grout to complete the project. Chris and I are working as a team on this I do the layout, he does the cutting, and I apply the tile and then he will finish up with grout.

We pre-laid out all the tile but the first sink side got all discombobulated in the process of sticking the tiles down with the thin set so approximately 20 tiles had to be re-cut. The second side we only had to re-cut about 6 tiles so we did improve dramatically. Anyways on to the pics