Saturday, May 9, 2015

Tile -ophiles


Yesterday, our WWOOFing intern Kelly and I began tiling the floor of the new commercial kitchen.
This photo gives you a little better idea of the scope of this project.
We got this far yesterday.  Because it will be a certified kitchen we have to use quarry tile. The tiles have been  gathered over the past year and a half from Craigslist sellers and the ReUse Center, so we have to creatively patchwork some areas  because we do not have enough of any one type of tile. The red borders will not show because  they will be underneath equipment, but I think they look kind of cool.
Kelly and I laid tiles all day today, from before 9 a.m. until after 6 p.m. We wore gel kneepads, which helped immensely, alternating with sitting upon overturned 5-gallon buckets. Kelly learned to use the wet saw to cut tiles. She is a great tile setter, very precise.
We are now about 3/4  completed with the kitchen, not counting sealing and grouting. We will have to use an epoxy grout for the commercial kitchen, which we have been warned is very unpleasant to work with.
While we laid tile, Rog was framing up walls in the adjacent area where the wood-fired oven, storage room and restroom will be. Those are the rooms we will be tiling next.  Can’t wait.

3 comments:

Marcia said...

I didn't realize how much of a DIY project this was. Thank goodness for WWOOFers.

Susan said...

It's a rather slow-going (until now; the push is on!) DIY project because we are trying to accomplish an incredibly expensive feat on a very modest budget.We are deeply grateful to our WWOOFers and many friends who frequently have volunteered to work on our endless projects!

gz said...

looks good! yes,that expoxy grout is nasty stuff...gloves and masks at the ready.