Saturday, July 31, 2010

Mortaring 100731

  1. Mixed up one or two scoops of SpeedSet mortar to about the consistency of peanut butter.  (Turned out that one scoop was enough to cement 20-24 facing tiles.)
  2. Using the back side of the small trowel, spread a thin layer of mortar on the concrete.
  3. Using the small end of the blue silicone spatula, applied a dollop of mortar about 1" thick near the center of each tile in a strip that was pre-joined with blue painter's tape.
  4. Attached the strip to the edge tile, using the strapping tape applied to the top of the strip.
  5. Lightly tapped each tile with the butt of the trowel handle.
  6. When the mortar was set just enough to hold the tile in place, cut the strip of painter's tape with the box-cutter so I could make slight adjustments to the position of each tile.

Installed 76 tiles today, and learned that by the time the mortar's gone off enough to hold the tile, I can only adjust in one plane---I can't adjust front to back without removing it and re-mortaring.  After I removed the tape completely, I found a few tiles that "dip" on one side or corner, and I'm hoping I can disguise this with grout.  If not, I'll be forced to pop them off and re-mortar them (grrrr). 

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