Anyways, Ryan was struggling to think of a good Christmas gift for his mom Mary and I recalled that she always mentioned (every time we were up there) that she would love to rip the linoleum out of her guest bath and put tile instead. Since the guest bathroom is so small, I suggested that we should tile it for her for Christmas. Then Ryan volunteered us to also do the master bathroom and the entry way and closet. It ended up being a lot of tile but it should make a dramatic improvement for her house. Now the only linoleum left to replace is in the kitchen and under the washer/dryer. Maybe we’ll do those for Christmas and her birthday this year. Here’s what her old linoleum looked like, it really wasn’t bad, just not as nice as tile.
Next, you use adhesive (thinset or mastic) and a trowel to lay an even layer of adhesive. Ryan would put down the tiles (with plastic spacers between them to maintain an even grout line) and apply even pressure to make sure they are all level. As we got to the corners, I would measure the needed pieces and use the wet saw to cut the tiles we need. Having one person lay the tile and one cut really speeds up the work and make sure the person laying the tile doesn’t have to go back and forth to the tile saw all the time. You keep doing this until all the tiles are down and then you just have to wait until the adhesive dries (24 – 72 hours). You can tell if it’s not dry because if you start applying any pressure to the tiles they will shift or you will hear the adhesive “crackling” underneath it. Here’s a picture of the guest bathroom with tile but no grout:
Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the tile after the grout went in. We used a light sand colored grout that really tied the tile together and made it look even better than the photos above. Maybe I’ll remember to take a few the next time we’re up there…