Tile is Down, Next Up: Grout!

It's taken a couple of hours over a few nights this week, but the tile in the kitchen dining area is finally down and waiting for grout. Previously, I posted that I had finished all the full-size tiles and only needed to do the tiles which needed trimming. Anybody who's done tile knows that these tiles take the longest. Tonight, I finished cutting them and mixed up some thinset to stick them down. Here is the small hallway leading to the basement, back door, and half-bath (the same half-bath which I tiled a few months back). As you can see, I'm using larger tiles laid straight instead of on a diagonal for the flooring. The edge by the stairs is a full-width edge trim, perfect for the top of the stairs.




While the tile cuts around the basement stairs were easy (almost all 90 degree cuts), the cuts between the kitchen and living room were all at an angle. Here is where I started today, with all the full-size pieces glued down. To make a straight line over 7 tiles, I set full-size pieces in place and used a laser line to guide me. Surprisingly enough, it actually worked very well, Some of the tile spacing needed to be tweaked a little to make sure everything lined up properly, but it's not enough to make it noticeable.




To make a finished edge between the tile and carpet (yes, that skid-mark brown carpet will be replaced in the near future) I used a tile edge which gets stuck down with the tile. Once I replace the carpet and have a new tack-strip to hold the carpet, the aluminum edge will show about 1/8" profile - fine with me. Click on the pics for larger images.