Tiling in Jersey

Craig spent 11 days on the east coast in Ocean City, NJ, working with several family members to tile some floors at two rental properties for the folks. Cousin Ryan was the first partner on the job. He helped with all the prep, putting down the cement backer boards, transporting the tile (each floor was almost 400 sq ft!), planning the layout (yeah, geometry), and designing the border tiles. We even got him to lay a few

field tiles before he had to leave.

Then, Ryan's brother, Edward came down to finish up the tiling! He and I worked out a good system: I spread the thin set adhesive and he set the tile -- it was a work of art! Really a beautiful job.

Mom came down half-way through to help out, too. For the first couple of days, she helped on a variety of tasks, but it was on the last day, she really shined...

There was no way we would finish the floor with the pace we had and the sheer size of the floor. Mom decided to hop in and work on the edges. She geared up and took charge of the tile cutting wet saw. She did all of the cuts that let our tile floor look amazing as it met up with the walls! She even accomplished the very difficult job of working the tile to fit around the AC floor vents. Very fancy!

We even had some great visits with Rosie and the family! She is growing faster than a sunflower and was a bright spot in our days. Cindy and John treated us to some wonderful meals, too -- much appreciated breaks and visits.


In the end, we had a good time. The upstairs unit was finished by a tile pro in OC -- there was simply no way for us to finish it all in the time we had. Basically, the job was straightforward, but with so much space, it took many hours to demo, lay backer board, plan the tile, lay tile, and cut tile. It was lots of fun and good experience, too. Can't wait to tile our bathroom or Aunt Nancy's kitchen!

Thanks to Julie for giving me such support and encouragement about the task. And to encourage me to go out there for almost two weeks to work on this job. It would not have happened without the very hard work of Ryan, Edward, and Mom Gordon. Thanks!

Craig