Out on the tiles

Lately, there has been little excuse not to tackle some loose ends of a DIY nature around the house. One such niggle has been the floor tiles in the kitchen/utility. The sound made each time a cat stepped on a loose corner was a regular reminder that some were no longer secure.

Using a toilet plunger as a makeshift tester, I discovered that a total of 20 tiles (in sections of 2, 4 and 14) were in need of attention.

Perhaps I should have opted for the "quick-fix" - a few dabs of some wonder glue. However, the existing tile cement was very brittle, so it seemed only right to remove it all and re-do it properly. How hard could it be ?

As usual, I had underestimated the great complexity of all-things-DIY. So many different tile adhesives, with only the merest clues at what the real and important differences might be. The wrong kind of notches on trowels. The difficulty of measuring a "thick and creamy consistency" for the cement mixture.

However, the re-fixing of the smaller sections seemed to go smoothly. I was going along well with the 14-tile section when, with 2 left, I found I was 2mm out at the end of the row. These porcelain tiles are rock-hard so 2mm might as well have been 2 feet. No way were the last two going in, and the rest of the tiles were too firmly fixed to budge.

It was a major conundrum !

In the end, the least-worst option seemed to be to take up all 12 tiles and start again. At this point, I was hoping for the quantum theory of glue to work in my favour. That's where you want glue to be unbreakable when you want the thing to hold together, but for it to be easily unstuck when you want to pull it apart !

No such luck, although it could have been worse. Just about 6 hours to chip away all the new-old cement and do the whole thing from scratch !

The finished tiles can now be viewed on location in Bedford.