The tile redo went pretty well.................we thought.
We thought everything looked fine and dandy the day before but when we turned on the vent hood light it looked like two drunk people tiled that wall. What on earth? We couldn't have done a worse job if we had tried.
After several hours of online research I figured some things out.
*First, subway tile is the devil. Unless you have a perfectly straight and level wall it will have tons of lippage. That's the word that means the tiles won't be flush with each other. The wall behind the stove is bowed and we knew it and thought we could fix it with the mastic. Nope.
*Second, we picked the wrong grout size. You will always have tons of noticeable lippage with only a 1/16 spacer. Of course that's the one I picked.
*Then I picked the wrong layout. You can't do a 50/50 layout if you've got any wall wobble since tile are thicker in the middle. I was supposed to do a 30/70 which I can't even imagine trying to figure out.
*AND FINALLY, you ALWAYS have to install your overhead lighting BEFORE you tile so you don't get the nasty surprise we got. What to do, what to do.....? We should tear it all out and redo the drywall like we did in the bathroom but right now we've got even more problems to figure out....
We also noticed that our fancy new quartz counter top doesn't meet the tile on that same naughty wall. It's a half inch away. Now that's an ugly mess. How did we not see that? A half inch caulk line will look pretty awful in the food prep area. I'm going to have to put pencil trim right on top of the other tile and I hate it but it's either that or rip it all out too. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh. We seem to be going from bad to worse with no end in sight.
In the meantime this is how we are living. My microwave is sitting on my buffet which are both in the only clear corner of the living room. That's it for meals. It's been brutal so we are not in the mood for ripping anything out at the moment. It's been a tense few days around here.
AND....to make things even worse. I played yarn chicken with Dog Star and LOST. All I have is the neck ribbing left and now I have to wait for some more yarn which you know won't match.
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I don't know what to say. I grimaced through your entire post. I guess I could say what my kids say to me when I get upset about things. "First world problems Mom. First world problems" So I guess that's what I'll say to you. And I'll also pray for you both, that things go better for you next round.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy
Well, that stinks. So what to do. Waiting a few days is always a good option. The pencil tile looks fine and will solve that problem. I would say don't use the vent light but that's not helpful. I don't think I would rip it out, though!
ReplyDeleteFor now, don't turn on those overhead lights above the stove. Then it looks fine!
ReplyDeleteI feel you - I got my livingroom walls mudded, and primed, and thought tehy looked SOOOOOO good... until I got the paint on them and the light hits certain spots just the right way. GRRRRR.
ReplyDeleteI decided I can live with it... I'm not a professional and we can't afford a professional so we get what we get - it still looks miles better than when we moved in!
I would probably rip it out and go with a decorative larger tile in that area...and use a level on each tile. The pencil tile looks fine or you can put something in front of that area all the time:) Uffda and you ran out of yarn too. Hope some of your next projects turn out.
ReplyDeleteI chose slate tile for my kitchen backsplash...slate is always uneven...more mud less mud and a level all the time and it looks pretty good. I am so glad I could not afford slate tile for the floor:)