Retiling the kitchen floor

Ben and I have just finished our latest do-it-yourself: re-tiling our kitchen floor. We removed the tile that the previous owners had installed, which used to be bright white ceramic tile, and replaced it with slate tile. Here are some pictures detailing our endeavor.


Okay, this is actually our foyer, but it has the same tile as the stuff we ripped out of the kitchen. Notice that the grout is dark; it is actually supposed to be white, like the tiles.


We ripped out the old tiles and 2 layers of linoleum. It was pretty disgusting. This is the underlying cement.

We used thinset and screws to secure Hardibacker cement boards to the underlying floor so that we'd have a smooth surface to work with. We also started laying out some tiles so we could see what pieces we'd need to cut.


Ben with his trusty hammer.


Me showing off a new tile.


The tiling process itself was quite messy and involved a lot of goopy thinset. Ben also became a pro at using our new tile saw. However, since it was a wet saw, every cut would send a spray of cold water and soggy tile dust right at his middle. We both looked pretty gross.

Here, the tiles are setting. The gray things along the edges are the tile spacers.

Next, we grouted the tiles, which was also quite mesy. Here they are, freshly grouted, waiting to dry.

After the grout was dry, we applied a sealer so that water, dirt, and other wet things would soak into the tiles and grout as little as possible. Then we put the appliances back and re-installed the quarter-round by the baseboards. Here it is, ALL FINISHED!!!