Hey friends,

I've tiled a bit further around the bathroom walls this week. I'll pick out a few of the most involved bits.

A happy coincidence of the layout I chose has meant that most of the cut-outs are on the edge of my tiles rather than in the centre. The same should be true of the shower valve when I get to it. If they weren't, for the larger or non circular holes I'd need a steady hand on the angle grinder to create them.

I'll still need at least one size of diamond holesaw for the radiator pipes but this has made things easier.

The first window come out great:

Of course, it wasn't square when I started so the way I did it was to shine a laser line (level would work too) to show me where the most protruding bit was. Below is my laser on the other window - the top and bottom of the right-hand side stick out most so the trick is to go slightly beyond this line all the way up to get your vertical line and then add more adhesive in the concave area in the middle to get the tile in the recess at a perfect 90 degrees.

When I built the mini-stud wall to house the concealed cistern and cupboard I got it perpendicular to the two walls adjacent. However it's not parallel to the back wall (on the left below).

So when it came to tiling the top of the shelf the grout lines wouldn't line up. For the two smaller tile pieces on either side I could simply cut the sides at the correct angle. No problem. The middle tile though, being full width meant cutting a rhombus from a full tile like this:

Having a digital angle gauge is very useful in these situations.

However this rhombus had no factory edge so I bought some diamond sanding blocks in 60, 120 and 200 grit which smoothed the edge and I was even able to replicate the tiny bevel the tiles have.

Very satisfying to solve this issue. Everything lines up just right. You'd think it was a perfect rectangle.

All in all I'm pleased with how it's turning out and I'm enjoying the process. The big struggle is in achieving a straight cut with the wet tile saw. The fence is next to useless so I've been free-handing everything but the blade has a tendency to wander. I've been looking at alternatives but the really good ones from Rubi that can cut porcelain are close around the £1k mark. If I'm spending that much I'd want it to cut thicker stone as well (thinking ahead for downstairs/patio) which the Dewalt can handle. Should I struggle on with what I have, get another cheap one or go all out? 🤔

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As I've progressed through the tiling one thing that is very noticeable is how much longer into the day the bathroom stays cool. This is thermal mass in action as I've previously described in this vid.

👋

I literally can't remember the last time we had a meaningful rain here. The ground is utterly parched. I guess it will bounce back in Autumn. As we head into another heatwave, you might enjoy this incredible world-wide weather map I came across recently.

Hit "reply" if you've got any comments on this week's newsletter – otherwise I'll see you next time. Have an epic week :)

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