Sunday, July 1, 2007

Tile Update: Tut Tut, Looks Like Rain...

We got up and got out onto the back porch before 7AM this morning, hoping to beat the sun that would surely be pounding on our backs as we finished with the tile. By most accounts, doing the grout is the easy part of the whole process. Sure, it's a messy business, but other than watching my wife crawl around on her hands and knees with a grout sponge, I didn't think I'd have to get involved.

Important Note: If you go with a 1/8 inch grout line, you have to use a grout tool to get all the excess thin-set from in between so you will have some space to put the grout. I did not realize this when I insisted that we go with a 1/8 inch grout line instead of a normal sized gap. Hmmm. Quite a dilemma.

So, there I was on my butt (my knees are shot and crawling on them is a NO-GO), with a grout tool trying to stay several rows ahead of my wife and she did the easy part.

Things were going quite smoothly, considering that we were both rather sore from yesterday's tile laying. With only a few breaks for coffee and to mix more grout, we were well within reach of finishing before the sun and the heat would come for us.

After doing the sponge-off to get most of the leftover grout, we thought it would be a perfect time to go do our Sunday HEB Plus ritual, then come home and bust out the mop and finish things up.

As my wife was doing some last minute touch-ups, I ran upstairs to take a shower and get ready. When I got out, I was surprised to hear what sounded just like rain, but there was no possibility of that since I could see through the light in the windows that it was already sunny. On top of that, if it really were raining, surely my wife would be screaming up a storm (no pun intended).

Intrigued, I thought perhaps I should investigate further, like actually looking through the curtains and out the window. Yep, full sun. And yep, that sound was rain!

I ran downstairs to find my wife sitting happily in front of the computer playing Solitaire while our freshly grouted tile was getting a nice soaking. I yelled, "It's raining!" to which she promptly responded, "Yeah. Right." and continued with her game of solitaire.

In the process of grabbing the electric fan (still plugged in and running), my new drill and circular saw (both very much soaked), and a boom box (still blasting Jack-FM), I got completely drenched.

And then the rain stopped.

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