What is in those big boxes?
The tile is done and it turned out great in the end.
This tile floor is the third one I have done and it posed new and different problems. Like previous floors I started by placing a layer of cement board on the floor with thin set mortar and a mess of special flooring screws.
That looks nice
Then I laid the tile in an alternating row pattern across the floor. Everything was fine until I got to the first seam and found it had a ridge that caused the tile to rock like a see-saw. In the end I had to hand scrape all the seams until the tile lay flat. This turned a two-day project into a four-day one.
Over the hump and laying tile
For some reason the concrete board did not lay flat on all the seams. One of the reasons for installing the board in the first place is that it evens out the floor and makes a flat surface to work on. For those who know, yes I used enough screws in each board spaced properly, and yes I scraped the subfloor very well.
Anyway after the kitchen, powder room and laundry had tile I went back and added the grout and Katherine went back and cleaned the tile, then the house, then the tile and then the house again. That mortar and grout dust gets everywhere.
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide 
Hard work, but worth it right.
Very nice Greg, now I know who to call next time we tile.
Impressive results but what an incredible effort. You will take a lot of satisfaction knowing you made it right, even though it was so involved. The cleaning sounds endless.
It looks fantastic. And I am super impressed that you did it yourself! Katherine is a lucky woman; she married a good cook and a handyman. 🙂
Cheers. Looking good…how rewarding.
Am very impressed – was your room perfectly squared….the ones we do never seem to be!
Not even close, hence the staggered tiles. That pattern is more forgiving.
A good plan!
*wonders why it didn’t lay flat*
It looks great!
Great job! But hard work! 🙂
Your new floor looks great, Greg and Katherine!
All I can say is that I am impressed by all your talents! Food, Drink and Floors. Like the tiles.
I, too, am sooo very impressed that you did the tile work yourself. Sorry about the problems. “Ain’t” life just like that sometimes? You new kitchen is going to be wonderful. It’s a lot of fun to see your progress.
Wouldn’t it be easier to use self-levelling concrete instead of cement boards? But I appreciate how you managed to deal with the floating seams, although it must have produced most of the dust which really gets everywhere.
Good advice for next time!