I woke up early and decided to start sealing and washing the tiles because although it was on my to-do list from the previous evening I spent so much time making a life size pattern template. The cardboard was so thick and my knife blade was so dull (ironically called a Box Cutter) Finally I upgraded to Jym's knife and was able to squeeze out all the pieces I needed but they are so rough and so my original idea to trace around each piece will not really work since its not really exact. My tape job also sucked as I could not find any duct tape and used shoddy packing tape which quickly failed. So my grand template idea will be more of a guide than anything.
I am using a bottle of water in a basin with a microfiber cloth to wipe down all the tiles individually and then when they dry I seal them all by hand. This will help with the grouting. Travertine is super porous so if you don't pre-seal you will have more effort to get the grout off the tile. It is more work to do each one first but it will be better than having to do it all afterward. and we can always reseal later if we feel we need to.
Honestly I have to say that standing there in the early light of the day alone in the silence with my tiny work table and one tile at a time was rather cathartic. Until Jym woke up. He "forgot" that HE suggested we get up and get started early and was now distressed that I was doing that. I reminded him that it was his idea and also that I did not wake him or make him do anything. So he went outside to enjoy his morning coffee and hopefully dial it down a notch. We had a long day ahead.
Hand washing the tiles to get the debris off of them was almost an act of reverence for me...like washing the feet of a king. It is not lost on me that every single tile is a one-of-a-kind masterpiece created deep inside the earth. There is no other tile exactly like the one in my hand. And occasionally the fantastic colors and patterns make an extraordinary piece of art. As I pull them out of the crate you just never know what you will get. I am becoming intimately acquainted with each tile and its unique coloring. It reminded me why we chose Travertine. There is no other look like natural stone
for its intense beauty. It is unmatched. The fake ceramic printed tiles can mimic patterns and colors but they will never match the true depth and one-of-a-kind feel of the real thing.
Then after washing each tile I would seal it. We are using a matte sealer. I used an enhancer in my foyer for the slate we did and it darkens the tile drastically. It also gives it a wet look. I am not a fan of that. Jym wanted to do the enhancer but I felt it would darken the tile beyond what we want. The tile is already darker than what I would have liked but the whiter tile was more pricey and with the travertine you just get whatever was quarried at that time so its all hit or miss. I feel that the matte sealer still brings out the coloring and patterning on the tile but without darkening it. It also gives it a more natural stone look and not the wet look.
For me the downsides of travertine in a project like this are many when it comes to the work you put in vs the work on say a porcelain tile. First of all Travertine is a natural stone so its cut is not exact. It thickness is not exact. With factory tile you get that all-the-same precision. But for me that is where the beauty is. For Jym that is NOT where the beauty is as he panics too much about it being exact and perfectly aligned and level. It is so much more difficult to level and straighten and its a constant battle to keep the floor from going sideways due to the slightly off cuts.
The coloring is also hit or miss. Because the stones are usually crated as they are quarried you could get a few that look the same in coloring and then BAM its all different so when you lay a floor you need to make sure to sort out the pieces and mix and match them so you vary the color over the entire floor and don't end up with patches of dark etc.
The stone is also porous so you have to be careful what touches it. If you use a dark mortar the color can permeate the tile and darken your tile even though its underneath. So we made sure to buy a white mortar to hopefully avoid that happening. We are also only sealing the TOP of the tile since the sides and bottom need to adhere to the mortar and grout and if you seal them they won't stick right (issue I had in the foyer with my slate which I was unaware of until the grout started to crumble and not stick.
Natural stone is also more easily breakable before its laid although we were pleasantly surprised at how FEW were broken in shipment. If you think about it most of these stones are quarried in like Turkey so they make it out of the earth and all the way here and then to my house over numerous speed bumps. LOL. So bravo for the delivery being so good.
We are also adding a PATTERN to the mix which is a complicated mess. I don't know how pros do it. We have to constantly look at the pattern and make sure we are laying the right tile. At first I thought I would grid it out but here's the interesting thing...when you lay the mortar the lines are UNDERNEATH IT so although slightly helpful initially I do not think we will continue with this process.
I thought today would go smoother since we have a big area all ready to go but it did not. We attempted to do a chalk line and realized the chalk dispenser did not include CHALK. So this time Jym went to Lowes. I continued my washing and sealing which also involved uncrating the tiles and carrying them in from the garage and then stacking them in appropriate piles. I made a big tarp area on the far side of the room where I am organizing the tiles by size (we have 4 sizes in the pattern) and by "wow" vs "meh". The "wow" tiles go into areas more likely to be seen" and the "meh" tiles are for under the couch etc. I also have an "omg" pile in the hallway which are for the fantastic stars of the show which will go in high traffic areas for me to appreciate every day. Another downside when it comes to speed of install. Also something I would not trust someone else to do for me, so another reason we are doing this on our own. I am super picky. LOL
I think Jym was agitated before the day even began but it only got worse when we tried to grid out the chalk lines. I think we did OK with the first 2 lines but then Jym suggested we start laying out tiles with spacers and work our way all the way to the back of the room then start mortar there. I didn't love this idea and suggested just grid out more chalk lines from the original so we could start at least further back. He did not agree. I have issues with viewing YouTube videos and taking them as gospel. Jym watched a lot of videos prior to this, many with conflicting views and instead of thinking for himself he often gets wrapped up in worry and fear that we will do something wrong. For me I understand there are reasons why people say to do things a certain way. I am also aware I don't really care about many of those reasons. I think at one point we were arguing over the videos that say you have to find the exact middle of the room and start there. NO. First of all FINDING some "exact" middle for us is not realistic due to how the area is laid out. Second of all I ignored this advice in the foyer (again we argued over the same thing) and we did just fine.
I understand needing things to be "square" and if you don't find some square point then laying out tiles, for example, against a wall line might actually leave you with a slow steady off line due to the walls not REALLY being square. So fine. Once we measured and had our square lines why not just make more lines from those lines and then start wherever the hell I want to?? It is not realistic for us to start in the center. I also don't care about "cuts" on one side vs the other. I felt that if we laid out the pattern (the pattern is complicated so in my opinion you won't even know you started it in the center or not) so that the end tile in the pattern lined up with the wall we would be able to avoid cuts on that wall and "cut" the number of "cuts" down by HALF! Plus the tiles we are using are all made to fit together so where you might need a 16x16 in the pattern you would need an 8x16 to fill the hole along the wall and Hey! I HAVE an 8x16 tile and no one knows I didn't cut the 16x16 to make it! It works on so many levels. He finally agreed to MY way. (don't they always) and we laid another chalk line in line with the original but this time the width of the end tile plus the expansion gap and BAM we have alignment.
We then laid out a series of tiles there (I picked up all the original tiles we laid down...ugh) and then after we had 15 laid out we flipped them and numbered them and then wrote the number on the floor and traced their outline. It seemed genius at first and probably was to start but going forward it is WAY too much work to lay it all out ahead. I think now that we have a base and more idea of how we are both working timing wise I think we can just grab and go.
After we had the 15 starter tiles laid out and numbered Jym went to watch 27 more videos on mixing mortar. He mentioned that he was scared to start this. I could tell he was not in a good place all morning and was obviously procrastinating the start of the actual tile laying. I told him that when he gets afraid to just hum the theme song to Laverne & Shirley in his head (Doin' it our way...). He asked what a schlemiel is. I told him its HIM. LOL.
He returned from his mortar assessment more agitated than when he left to read up on it and then insisted we had to mix the whole bag because there was no way to measure it out otherwise. He is a very all or nothing thinker when he gets in his bipolar swings let me tell you. No way to think through the problem sometimes. Which is I guess why he has me to say "WRONG". I told him to only do a third of the bag with a third of the water. Well turns out their measurements suck and also you should probably put the mix in slowly and not all at once. Jym was trying to do it alone and started to have a meltdown. "No fighting, only love" went right out the window let me tell you. He was screaming that he ruined everything. OMG. Its just mortar. If its lumpy, add water. If its too soupy add more mortar mix. If you get it all over something wash it off. I am pretty sure I said (or least THOUGHT) "Damn it! I will just do it my damn self" at some point. I mean seriously. And the hell with the measurements on the bag. Not even reasonably close. So I stood out there on the back deck with a pitcher of water and Jym mixed while I added water to the "ruined" batch which quickly became NOT ruined as we simply added water and stirred.
Then we noticed that there was something falling from the drill into the bucket. We had purchased a corded drill for this as our battery powered Makita was not the appropriate tool and we would have burned that up. Jym was literally standing right next to our house mixing and he kept lifting the drill and so the mortar would splatter all over the house. This is an example of how I CAN maintain my composure and not lose my mind as I said NOTHING. Eventually I think he realized what was happening and stepped away from the wall a bit. We finally got the peanut butter consistency they talk about and now had to lay down the 15 tiles. But not before he insisted he had ruined his new drill. (He had not and realized later he had something in wrong and fixed it)
I am pretty sure we are using too much mortar as that half bag was almost all when we finished with the 15 tiles. At that rate I think we will surely run out. But in all truthfulness I worry about the tiles cracking. Travertine is not a level tile and has many holes especially on its underside. It is crucial to butter the back and fill in all those holes so that there are less pockets of air which can cause cracks. So I was buttering and Jym was on the floor laying the mortar. He also was putting in the spacers and leveling and so I was moving my end along faster. That is why I am pretty sure that I can navigate the pattern and pull the necessary tiles while he does all of that going forward. We will be a well oiled machine by next week.
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