Remind me how to finish the grout on my tile?

qoncept

Tonight I'm going to start laying tile in my basement and hopefully I'll be ready to grout on Friday. I understand how to do the grout (I've done tile a few times before) but the basement is a much bigger job (about 600aq ft) and the time concerns me.

On the other jobs I've done (100-150sq ft each) by the time I finished floating grout in to the joints, I could go back to where I started and it was ready to sponge. This time I'm figuring floating the grout in will probably take a couple hours.

Will the grout where I started be too dry at this point? Should I stop, say, half way and hit it?

oh'mike

If you are not an octopus---only do about 100 to 150 square foot at a time----

Two really experienced workers could do 600 SF in one shot but that would be a killer morning--

Better slower and safer for you---Mike---

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New members: Adding your location to your profile helps in many ways.--M--

qoncept

I found a couple more floats in the garage so hopefully I can find enough guys to do this in one shot, then. If not, how do I want to end a section? What I can see happening is leaving the grout a bit tapered where I stop and when I go back over it it'll be a bit thin and easy to chip. Is that a real concern or am I overthinking it? Thanks for the input.

I started laying the tile last night and now I have no idea when I'm going to get to the grout. I think toward the end I was probably laying a tile a minute. All told I layed 90 tiles in a little over 2 hours. Is that pretty normal? Just trying to get an idea.

Sephora

90 tiles in 2 hours is great.

We just did 150 sq ft...with some cuts. I have a post below with pics.

We did the whole floor in 2 days....laid about less than half one day and finished the rest plus cuts in another day.

I first day it took us about 4 hours and then second day about 8-9...but again the measuring/cutting takes time.

qoncept

Yeah, I haven't made any cuts yet. The finished side of the basement is basically a big rectangle minus the stairwell. 90 tiles is what one bag of mortar would cover. Kind of sucks because if I want to do more I have to do twice as much to finish off a second batch of mortar. The plan is to do 2 tonight, 2 tomorrow and then I should be to the point where I have a border to finish of Saturday where I'll be cutting pretty much every tile. I have help commited for grout Sunday and I absolutely hate doing grout, so I really want to be ready by then. Saturdays are tough during football season though.

Sephora

Wow I used just about 2 bags on about 150 sq ft....I must have been laying it on thick! LOL

qoncept

How much you use depends on the notch in your trowel. I think I'll probably go a bit thicker with the rest of it. You are right on pace for the 8 bags the calculator told me I'd need.