What Tile Did I Choose for My Closet??

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I found Riad Tile online and fell in love with their tile! I picked a couple tiles and went and picked it up from their location in Dallas as you can see above. Riad Tile sponsored this project by gifting me my closet and bathroom tile and I’m very thankful for them and their tile is wonderful! I’ve laid tile one time for a friend’s backsplash and I loved it! So I was super excited about this project! Then I had to stop by one of my other favorite stores for the mortar, uncoupling membrane, trowel, sponges, knee pads, a mixer drill attachment, a float and some buckets.

I chose to use uncoupling membrane here because I’ve seen others use it and when I looked into it I thought it would be perfect for this space! Uncoupling membrane is supposed to act as a moisture barrier and is waterproof, it also helps with leveling the space you’re working on, and helps prevent your tile from cracking if your foundation cracks. Our builder kitchen tile is cracked in our kitchen because our cement slab is most likely cracked underneath and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen with this tile. The way you lay this down is pretty much the same as tile, you use mortar. But first, I had to prep the space by vacuuming it and removing any debris, the worst part.

I first cut it down to size with regular scissors and dry fit it. Once I knew I had the right size we mixed the mortar.

From what I’ve seen from other DIYer on instagram, you DO NOT want to use premixed mortar with this uncoupling membrane because it needs oxygen to dry instead of drying from a chemical reaction like the kind you have to mix yourself. Someone on Instagram waited several days before walking on her new tile and as soon as she did they started cracking because she used premixed mortar and it never dried because her tiles were large so she had to remove it all and start over! Tyler helped me mix it, I bought this corded drill so I wouldn’t ruin my good Milwaukee battery operated drill. This is the drill mixer attachment I used.

Update: Looking back I should have bought this mixer instead. This is what I have now and it makes mixing mortar and grout a million times easier!

Then I sprayed my concrete slab with water before putting mortar on it. This helps prevent the concrete from sucking out all the moisture from the mortar too quickly which can cause the mortar to crack and not be as strong. As you can see below, I almost forgot, I put a big blob of mortar down before I remembered the water.

Then I covered the floor in mortar and ran trowel marks in it so the uncoupling membrane would stick well.

Once the mortar was covering the area where the uncoupling membrane would go (when I dry fit the membrane I also marked with a sharpie where it ended so I knew how far to mortar), I laid it down and pushed it down everywhere to make sure it was stuck down well.

I measured my next piece and dry fit that as well and then started putting down the mortar.

And then laid the next piece of the membrane.

You want to make sure you push down over the entire piece to make sure it’s all down. I was using a grout float to put pressure all over it as well as walking all over it. When using uncoupling membrane you can tile as soon as the membrane is down, you don’t have to wait on the mortar to dry, but I didn’t have a tile saw yet so I did end up waiting a few days.

I ran to Home Depot to buy a tile saw, I was going to buy the $60 wet saw because I didn’t want to spend a whole lot, but Tyler gave me a gift card and told me to get the nice one because he’s sure I’ll use it more and we might as well not go too cheap. And let me tell you, it was so worth it! Tyler set it up for me because he’s #TheBestHusbandEver!

I got to work laying the tile, and this is a back breaking job! You definitely want knee pads, but I’m not sure there is any getting around bending down and laying tile on the floor and then having to run back and forth from the wet saw. My back was soooo sore and tight after this! I chose this white hexagon ceramic tile, it’s great because you don’t have to seal it! It also comes in black and lots of different patterns and shapes!

I would add a row of mortar, lay the middle tiles, cut and lay the edges and so on.

I did back butter these tiles. Not sure if it was necessary or not, I know they do this with large tiles. But I wanted to make sure this tile was stuck to the ground well and done right. This is my first time laying floor tile and I wanted it to be perfect. Back buttering is where you put mortar on the back of the tile as well as the ground and put those trowel lines in both so it sticks really well.

I used these spacers that are supposed to help with spacing and also keep your tiles level when you use the yellow pieces.

The way I’d put these spacers on is mortar the ground, mortar the back of the tile and then place the spacers on the tile, flip it upside down and lay it. Here’s a dry example below.

My spacing definitely wasn’t perfect. Id say these hexagon tiles aren’t the easiest when it comes to spacing. But I still love them! One thing I didn’t have for this project that I wish I did was a laser level to make it easier to keep the tile straight.

I didn’t tile all the way up to the bathroom tile because I plan on ripping all the old tile out and continuing the white hexagon tile all the way through the bathroom. So I stopped a little short of the bathroom to leave room to remove the old tile.

My review on this wet saw…I LOVE IT! The cheaper one I didn’t end up purchasing didn’t have a sliding piece so I would have had to push the tiles through the saw myself and hope I did it straight. This one has a moving piece to where you set your tile on it at the back and the entire thing moves to cut the tile easier and straighter. Also, I didn’t use the blade that came with it, I used a diamond blade specifically made for ceramic tile.

After 24 hours I went and kicked off the spacers between the tiles to prepare for grout.

I recruited Mia to help me because there was A LOT of spacers!

Then for the hardest part….choosing a grout color! I chose Light Almond and tested it out in the corner of the closet. I used grout that I had to mix myself because it was cheaper, but you can buy the premixed grout for this.

Before it was dry I liked it. It lightens up a lot once it dries.

But once it was all the way dry, it looked less beige and more yellow. So I went searching for another color and landed on Driftwood.

I picked up the grout and got to work. First, I had to remove the almond grout as much as I could because it didn’t work to just put the driftwood over the almond. Then I’d use the float to rub the grout in between the tiles and then use a sponge and water to wipe the excess away. I was using a regular sponge at first and then I switched to a microfiber one and it worked SOOO much better!