White & Blue Hex Tile Installed At The Beach House

We had another progress-filled week at the beach house thanks to clocking over 40 hours of tiling across four days to at last finish all of the tile (well, nearly all of the tile).

Simply like last week’s especially-sized post on trim, doors, and tile, we made a video to show you folks all the good stuff that is happening over there – including two other not-tile-related milestones.

Note: If you are reading in a feed reader, you might have to click through to the post to see the player.

We tiled the floors and shower pans by zooming in and out for two 2-day trips and tackling them together, but we knew knocking out EIGHT shower walls would be no speedy task. Our kids had stayed with their grandparents on those previous 48 hour trips, but we chose to bring them (and the dog!) for this trip since school has not began here yet and we thought we’d turn it into a lively little vacation before back-to-school stuff begins. A friend offered us a place to sleep in town (she was going to be gone and merely asked us to water her plants, which was ideal timing and I watered those plants SO WELL you folks). So we arrived last Wednesday without a ticking babysitting clock or a rising hotel bill to worry about. And some serious tiling got DONE.

It turned into me mostly wrangling the kids and the dog around Cape Charles while John did as much tiling as his thinest-riddled hands could muster. I certainly felt a little guilty having lively with the kids while he toiled away, but another option we debated was me and the kids staying home and him simply going to the beach house alone for a few days to concentrate and get things done… but I liked this plan better because I’d be nearby if he passed out from exhaustion or hoped me to drop by with ice cream (which I also did SO WELL you folks).

We ended up staying in Cape Charles until Sunday morning, and left with 2 of the 3 bathrooms fully tiled (and the third around 90% there). Meaning they are ready for grout, and on the verge of getting toilets and sinks set too, which is extra exciting because we also OFFICIALLY HAVE RUNNING WATER! It is all hooked up, and I even turned on the hose bib in the video. Because we are still nerding out about the fact that we at last have water, glorious water, that goes from the street to our house (more on that saga here if you are not caught up, and in fact this podcast explains everything more deeply – because this whole water saga has been SO MUCH DRAMA). So it is truly truly pleasant to be fully through that whole debacle and to know that when we install toilets, they will in fact flush.

(we used this basketweave tile, this slate-like porcelian tile, and this long subway tile)

The downstairs bathroom is the most classic of the three, and since it also has the tallest ceilings (9 feet downstairs, upstairs is 8 feet) we used these oversized 4 x 16″ subway tiles on all three walls. It was the first of the three showers we tackled, and the large wall tiles made it go a bit faster than setting normal 3 x 6″ subway tiles. Inspired and excited – should perhaps make the shower bath next time?

We used the same wall tiles upstairs in the en-suite bathroom too, which went even faster because it is only two walls (the third will be a glass pane) and the ceilings are a foot shorter. The large scale white wall tiles pair truly nicely with the small scale hex pattern on the floor, so we cannot wait to see it all grouted.

(we used this black & white hex tile, but replaced the black pattern with these blue tiles and the same long subway wall tiles)

The thing that ate up a crazy amount of time in here was tiling the curb, since it wrapped around two sides and required some mitering to get a clean looking corner. There was even some face-timing so John and I could plan it together while I was back at the house for nap time. Some people use slabs of marble or granite to top these “curbs”, but we thought it best to keep it plain in here and simply continue our wall tiles along them. We trimmed some bullnose tiles in half to create sort of a pencil border around the edges and then laid full wall tiles everywhere else.

This room is likely our go-to, especially because it’ll have the original clawfoot tub in here too eventually.

And here is the hall bathroom all tiled…. except for a little bit of one wall and the curb around the front of the shower floor. John ran out of thinset (and energy) so we are headed back in a few days to finish it up together.

(we used this floor tile, this white hex tile, this classic subway, and this blue patterned tile along the back wall)

That blank sliver on the bottom of that wall that looks like it is missing a row of tile is because you want to set your first row off the ground so that you can make sure it is level. You do not want to trust that your floor is level and simply follow the floor with that first row of tile (especially in a shower where the pan or tub is meant to slope towards the drain) because it could mean a fully crooked row of tile that is more and more obviously crooked as you work your way up the wall.

So you mark a level line on the wall and then screw in a piece of scrap wood (see arrow) for that first row to rest on. Once everything is set above it, you simply remove the wood and add the last row of tile – shaving down the tiles as necessary to fit against the floor.

Update: got a few questions about screwing through a waterproof membrane. Since we used the Schluter/Kerdi system behind these tiles, we simply used Kerdi Fix, which is sort of like silicone caulk. You dab that into the screw holes, let it dry, and then simply thinset and tile right over that and it is all waterproof and sealed.

Oh, and that blue tile on the back wall in fact comes in 13 x 13″ squares – even though it looks like plenty of smaller square tiles. It did take some planning to make sure we placed them in a randomized way. The 13 x 13″ squares are not all alike, but without being careful you could end up with the same tile designs all touching one another, so it is smart to place them somewhat thoughtfully as you go, simply so one area does not feel weirdly cloned or clumped with all of the same patterns hitting in the same spot.

The other pointer for laying these is to offset them as you build each row (I drew boxes around the big tiles in the shot above so you can see what we mean). We have seen some installs of this design where it is reeeally obvious where the seams are between the big tiles because they are not spaced the same way that the 9 little tiles are within each tile. It kinda ruins the illusion, so offsetting them helped to make sure the spacing was correct all the way up.

This shower is looking somewhat busy right now compared to the other two, which are simpler/safer tile choices, but once it is all grouted we hope it’ll be strong (fingers crossed). We are using fairly low-contrast grout on every wall in here, so the dark lines you see now will not be nearly as prominent once we have grouted. Grout color can majorly change how much you notice the shapes/lines of a tile (for example, this is white hex floor with dark grout versus one with light grout). So yeah, we think in the end this shower will be interesting and layered, hopefully without being too nuts in there. And if it sucks, we can simply retile it. HAHAHAHAHAHA NEVER.

We are not trying to kid ourselves into thinking that grouting will be swift or painless, but we are SO EXCITED to see the final result – even if it means multiple trips again to spread grout, remove haze, etc. SOMEDAY WE WILL BE DONE TILING AND YOU SHALL HEAR MY VICTORY CRY ACROSS THE LAND!

Also, the pocket doors in the back bedroom are up in all of their chippy and imperfectly striking glory. We got asked a few times why we hung the doors if we have to take them off and seal them or paint them (we are leaving the chippy ones chippy, but have to remove any flaking paint and seal them for safety’s sake), and the answer is simply that we hoped to complete the whole house’s trim, and trim cannot be hung around doors until the doors are set and hung. So it is much easier to pop the doors off after they are hung (you simply remove two pins and off they come) than to hold up the whole trim process, which holds up the trim caulking and painting process, which holds up the floor refinishing process, etc.

And as you saw in the video – tile was not the only progress we made last week: more trim went up, the A/C is in fact all installed and done (but I explain why it cannot be turned on yet – d’oh!) and for anyone who in fact comes here for the lovely sight that is water flowing out of a hose bib, that is covered in the video too. You are welcome.

Psst- if you want to catch up on all of the other beach house updates we have shared, here ya go:

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