The String Line Method for Perfectly Straight Tile Rows Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. The homeowner thought I was crazy, but once that tile…
The ‘Sponge Test’ for Checking Tile Sealer Effectiveness Look, I have seen every bargain-bin bottle of sealer that comes through those sliding doors at the big-box centers. They are mostly water and hope. Most homeowners, and quite a few rookie installers who should know better, treat tile sealing like an afterthought. They think a quick…
Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. That job taught me that shortcuts in the wet zone are even more dangerous than a bouncy subfloor in…
The Cardboard Template Trick for Complex Tile Cuts and Professional Floor Leveling Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. That is the reality of the trade….
Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. That is the reality of professional flooring. If the foundation is trash, the finish is trash. You can buy…
The invisible physics of the mallet strike The rubber mallet mistake that breaks tile corners occurs when an installer strikes a tile over a hollow spot or air pocket in the thin-set mortar. This creates a cantilever effect where the impact energy has no substrate to absorb the force, causing the brittle ceramic or porcelain…
The smell of WD-40 and fresh oak dust follows me everywhere. It is the scent of twenty five years on my knees, crawling across every conceivable type of subfloor from cracked concrete slabs to rotting plywood. Most homeowners think a floor is just something pretty you walk on. They see a showroom and pick a…
I am standing here with the scent of WD-40 and oak dust clinging to my work shirt, looking at yet another shower floor that was doomed from the day the framing went up. Most people think a crack in the corner grout is just a cosmetic annoyance. They buy a tube of cheap caulk and…
Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. That job was a nightmare because the previous contractor thought he could compensate for a half-inch variance using nothing…
Most guys skip the leveling compound. They think the underlayment will hide the dip. It won’t. I spent three days grinding concrete on a job last month just so the floor wouldn’t click like a castanet. That job was in a humid basement in Tampa, and the slab was sweating more than a marathon runner….
