Mistake #2 - Bathroom Floor

The floor in the bathroom had been an issue from the start, first we had to decide what the material was that was on there currently and if it was safe to rip up then figure out what was underneath it and if it was in good enough shape to leave down or if it too had to be replaced. The tile that I picked out for the bathroom was absolutely perfect, like all other decision with this project I knew the minute I saw it that I wanted it. It was a beautiful ¼” hexagonal tile in white with black in there. This tile wasn't completely period appropriate (c 1942) but it was very close and more importantly it was something that I really loved.



Tile is much thinner than we had originally anticipated

 We ended up having to rip the floor down to bare beams and went back and forth on what size backer board to use in there, our gut told us to use the thicker one but there was the worry that would be a small weird lip between the bathroom floor and hallway plus I wanted to put down radiant heat in that room which required a mat with coils to go down under the tile. I won't even tell you how many times I was sent back to Home Depot to exchange the backerboard for the other size, ok I will tell you 3 seperare times plus that stuff is heavy to be pulling in and out of the car and into the store and then from the store back  into the car, etc.. and it was 15 degrees outside that night, not that that really has anything to do with anything I just wanted to complain. We ended up using the thinner backer board against our better judgment and trying to make up the difference by using more thinset to build it up. We were about halfway done with the floor when we realized that this wasn’t going to work, between the thinset being so thick and the coils of the heating mat the small tiles  did not dry evenly. 

What we found when the floor was taken up



New backerboard is put down

  The decision was made to rip out what we had done already and start over. This required another trip back to Home Depot to purchase more backer board (the correct size this time), we had to throw away the heating coil, and wait almost 2 weeks for more tile to come in, of course it was special order from the east coast and ran into some weather delays.

2nd time is a charm

The 2^nd time it went in beautifully and looks wonderful, I was however informed by the Forman that the radiant heat wasn’t going to work and if I wanted heat in there that he would buy me a small radiator. I’m glad I decided to stay with the tile and I will absolutely appreciate how even the floor is every time I walk on it. Plus as long as I am trying to be positive about this experience the delay in the bathroom gave me some extra time and I was able to strip the kitchen cabinets down to bare wood before re-painting them.

Finished Project