Bathroom Reno Day 13

I got home around 5pm. I finished grouting at around 8pm. Why did it take so long? Well, I spent a good hour looking for my float. I swear I brought it upstairs just for this purpose a while ago. Could I find it? No. But I looked and looked. Just out of principle, I refused to buy another one so instead I called Paul and then drove across town to borrow his. I got home and then got started. I forgot what a big, stinking mess grouting walls can be. When I did the backsplash in the kitchen last year, I ended up just using my gloved hand. In the end, this is what I basically did tonight as well - despite the float drama. I'll tell you one thing, gravity is not my friend when it comes to grouting vertical surfaces. I look forward to grouting the floor; at least it can't slop all over everywhere. I think it took me just as long to clean up as it did to grout.

I had big designs on finishing the rest of the Ditra installation tonight too. I did finagle it last night to make the piece I had bought work. Then I mixed up my first batch of thinset. Here's the thing: I'm usually lazy and just buy the pre-mixed stuff but Herr Schluter says, "Nein!" when it comes to pre-mixed. So, I followed the directions on the package. Uh, yeah. Big mess. I think I got about half of the package of the thinset to actually turn out. The rest is now an ugly testament to my lack of skills in this area. I will try again in the morning, this time only mixing a small amount at a time (shout-out to Sarah for telling me how to do it correctly).

I'll see how I feel about cleaning off the grout haze around midnight. Doubtful though. I'll have to let it wait until the morning. Then, tomorrow, the rest of the Ditra can be laid and I can start thinking about tiling the floor. I have a feeling with all the twists and turns in that room it will take some pondering to do it correctly. I'll feel lucky if I start laying any tile tomorrow. It would be nice to get the tile down tomorrow and then grout on Saturday and then get the toilet and sink in on Sunday. The trim et cetera can wait. We'll see what awaits me.