October will mark a notable milestone for my work at Belleview – gas will be hooked up, hot water will be running, and a washer/dryer will be installed. All of the plumbing for this is already complete, but the final step was to tile the floor in the mudroom before the washer/dryer arrives next week.
It all started with this uncoupling membrane called Schluter-DITRA. This was adhered to the plywood subfloor with thinset and provides several functions including providing a layer that can shift without cracking the adhesive or floor tiles. It’s a fairly straightforward and simple install that provides a lot of real value to the finished floor.
After the membrane, the floor tile can be immediately installed even before the uncoupling layer has fully set. I’m using 12″ x 12″ tiles with a 1/8″ space and “leave in” spacers so I can grout without pulling out the spacers.
In a larger room, the first full tile should be in the middle of the room. However, I chose to start in a corner because this way nearly all the cut tiles will be under appliances or furniture, or behind the door. There will be a bench in the lower left corner of this photo when we finish the renovation.
The (semi-)finished product after most of the grout work was completed. After this photo, I did the grout at the door frame to finish off the visible work and some minor touch up will be needed next week.
It is normally advised to do flooring after the drywall is installed, but I opted to do this first so the washer/dryer only needs to be moved within the room to finish other work. Therefore, I’ve caulked the gaps around the perimeter for waterproofing and the drywall will ultimately cover those gaps, so they will not be visible.
Now on to the gas connection and appliance install next week!