One of the reasons we went to visit Josh and Elizabeth in Beacon, an hour or so north of the City, was so I could set some tile for them, and show them the ropes, so they could do it for themselves later.
They had sheet-rocked a small area with some water hookups, with the intent to create a laundry room. They had bought and borrowed all of the necessary tools and materials; 12x12 tiles, 2x2 tiles, thin-set mortar, trowels, a sealant type os material I'd never used, a wet saw, and Mastic, an adhesive agent that I never used before but knew about.
I set about putting the sealant down (start with a layer of thin-set on the ground, then the sealant paper-like fabric, then thin-set on top of it and go from there with the tile), then showed Josh how to make the cuts with the wet saw. Then I got to work. I tiled the floor, which, for being so small, sure kicked my ass. No knee-pads left my kneecaps feeling like they were bruised, while the up and down played havoc on my knee muscles and lower back. You know, just a day of manual labor/construction aches and pains.
Then we used the Mastic coming up the walls, putting the ceramic up with the glue. After getting the wall set up with the protruding corner, with the grout lines lining up, I was assed out and cashed in simultaneously. I was done and useless for the rest of the day, and Josh and Elizabeth finished up the wall, which was still plenty of work. Here are some pictures; I'm putting the sealant down, some more working, and the newly finished work, without grout, which they'll do today or tomorrow.
It was nice to feel useful again.
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