glass mosaic tile art studio of william j enslen jr
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| Copyright © 2008-2012 by William J. Enslen, Jr. All rights reserved. Any use - including the reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, republication, or display - of the content (text and illustrations) is strictly prohibited. |
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| Mosaic Floor...You Can Mosaic Anything...Even a Floor! Take a look at how I created my mosaic floor Page 1 |
Before getting to the pictorial progression of how we transformed our home with a tile and mosaic
floor, let me first give you a brief introduction that includes an important lesson you should consider.
One day while eating at our favorite restaurant, my lovely wife, Melissa, mentioned she was thinking about new flooring
in the entryway, great room, dining room, and hallway. It wasn't long before we were shopping for new tile. The
entryway was originally done with plain, white, 8-inch ceramic tile, and the rest of the rooms were carpeted. The
carpet was overdue for replacement since it had endured many years of abuse from the kids and pets. We decided we
wanted porcelain instead of ceramic, but we didn't want to spend a fortune. All those rooms equate to about 1,100
square feet, so porcelain tile at $3 to $4 per square foot was a lot. I assumed the cheapest we'd be able to find would
be at one of the "big boxes" (i.e., a slang term for the big, chain home improvement stores). So, we went to both
stores in our immediate area and found a tile we liked, but it cost $2.90 a square foot (plus tax!). Good grief. Three
grand just for the tile, then add the cost of thinset, grout, a few new tools, and miscellaneous materials and the cost
was out of sight. Melissa then said, "Let's try the tile store down the street. What harm could it do to spend five
minutes checking it out?" So, we drove to the store, which is only about two miles down the road. The whole way, I
was giving my expert opinion, "There's no way an independent mom-and-pop can compete with the big boxes, and I
bet their prices will be at least a dollar more per square foot." We were pleasantly surprised. (Thank goodness Melissa
didn't take the bet!) Not only did we find a tile we absolutely loved, they gave it to us on sale for only $1.90 per square
foot. I was blown away to learn we could get a quality porcelain tile for $1.90 per square foot, which beat the big-box
price by a full dollar. So, we got a beautiful Florida Tile (that's the brand name) 18-inch porcelain tile for only $1.90 per
square foot. The store is called Panama City Tile and the owner, Jean, was wonderful. She treated us like gold. The
service was outstanding.
1,100 square feet is a lot of tile, especially if you're laying it yourself (and especially if you're as old as we are). We knew
it would take months to complete and we don't have room to store two pallets of tile. So, we asked Jean if she would
store it in her warehouse and let us get a few boxes every now and then. No problem! That was the second pleasant
surprise. Then, I asked about thinset and grout. I thought, "Okay, Jean gave us a great price for the tile, but there's
no way she's going to match the big box on the price of thinset and grout." I had done my homework and I knew the
price of a 25-pound bag of the good stuff at the big box. Jean typed a few keystrokes on her computer and, sure
enough, she matched the big-box price. That was the third pleasant surprise.
Every time we went back to get a few boxes of tile, we met Jean and chatted about our progress. We laughed about
husband and wife working together on a tile project--like husband and wife hanging wallpaper. After the whole
experience, I'm happy to say not only did we find our new favorite tile store, we made a new friend, too. If you're
thinking about transforming your home with new flooring and if you're within driving distance, it's well worth your time
to visit Jean at Panama City Tile before buying anything. Here's the important lesson to take away from our experience.
Shop around! Don't assume the big boxes are cheaper than the small, independently owned stores. The big boxes
can, indeed, be beaten in terms of price and service. Admittedly, the big boxes have great deals on some items, but
other items can be way overpriced. This brings me to another example of why you should shop around.When we
banged up the original tile in the entryway, we found that the tile and the concrete by the door had water stains. Uh
oh, good grief. As soon as I saw the water stains, I saw the dollar bills flying out of my wallet for a new door. So, even
after learning my lesson about shopping for tile, what did I do? Yep, I went straight back to my favorite big box to get
an estimate for a new door. Holy cow! $4,500 excluding hardware and installation. Good grief. Melissa remembered a
floor, let me first give you a brief introduction that includes an important lesson you should consider.
One day while eating at our favorite restaurant, my lovely wife, Melissa, mentioned she was thinking about new flooring
in the entryway, great room, dining room, and hallway. It wasn't long before we were shopping for new tile. The
entryway was originally done with plain, white, 8-inch ceramic tile, and the rest of the rooms were carpeted. The
carpet was overdue for replacement since it had endured many years of abuse from the kids and pets. We decided we
wanted porcelain instead of ceramic, but we didn't want to spend a fortune. All those rooms equate to about 1,100
square feet, so porcelain tile at $3 to $4 per square foot was a lot. I assumed the cheapest we'd be able to find would
be at one of the "big boxes" (i.e., a slang term for the big, chain home improvement stores). So, we went to both
stores in our immediate area and found a tile we liked, but it cost $2.90 a square foot (plus tax!). Good grief. Three
grand just for the tile, then add the cost of thinset, grout, a few new tools, and miscellaneous materials and the cost
was out of sight. Melissa then said, "Let's try the tile store down the street. What harm could it do to spend five
minutes checking it out?" So, we drove to the store, which is only about two miles down the road. The whole way, I
was giving my expert opinion, "There's no way an independent mom-and-pop can compete with the big boxes, and I
bet their prices will be at least a dollar more per square foot." We were pleasantly surprised. (Thank goodness Melissa
didn't take the bet!) Not only did we find a tile we absolutely loved, they gave it to us on sale for only $1.90 per square
foot. I was blown away to learn we could get a quality porcelain tile for $1.90 per square foot, which beat the big-box
price by a full dollar. So, we got a beautiful Florida Tile (that's the brand name) 18-inch porcelain tile for only $1.90 per
square foot. The store is called Panama City Tile and the owner, Jean, was wonderful. She treated us like gold. The
service was outstanding.
1,100 square feet is a lot of tile, especially if you're laying it yourself (and especially if you're as old as we are). We knew
it would take months to complete and we don't have room to store two pallets of tile. So, we asked Jean if she would
store it in her warehouse and let us get a few boxes every now and then. No problem! That was the second pleasant
surprise. Then, I asked about thinset and grout. I thought, "Okay, Jean gave us a great price for the tile, but there's
no way she's going to match the big box on the price of thinset and grout." I had done my homework and I knew the
price of a 25-pound bag of the good stuff at the big box. Jean typed a few keystrokes on her computer and, sure
enough, she matched the big-box price. That was the third pleasant surprise.
Every time we went back to get a few boxes of tile, we met Jean and chatted about our progress. We laughed about
husband and wife working together on a tile project--like husband and wife hanging wallpaper. After the whole
experience, I'm happy to say not only did we find our new favorite tile store, we made a new friend, too. If you're
thinking about transforming your home with new flooring and if you're within driving distance, it's well worth your time
to visit Jean at Panama City Tile before buying anything. Here's the important lesson to take away from our experience.
Shop around! Don't assume the big boxes are cheaper than the small, independently owned stores. The big boxes
can, indeed, be beaten in terms of price and service. Admittedly, the big boxes have great deals on some items, but
other items can be way overpriced. This brings me to another example of why you should shop around.When we
banged up the original tile in the entryway, we found that the tile and the concrete by the door had water stains. Uh
oh, good grief. As soon as I saw the water stains, I saw the dollar bills flying out of my wallet for a new door. So, even
after learning my lesson about shopping for tile, what did I do? Yep, I went straight back to my favorite big box to get
an estimate for a new door. Holy cow! $4,500 excluding hardware and installation. Good grief. Melissa remembered a
Mosaic Floor page 01 Mosaic Floor page 02 Mosaic Floor page 03 Mosaic Floor page 04 Mosaic Floor page 05
store, Smith Building Specialties, set back on one of the local roads we frequently travel. I asked, "Do they sell doors?" She called and found that they do. The next day we stopped by and met
Natt, the owner. Working with Natt turned out to be another wonderful experience. He took as much time as we needed to choose just the right door, sidelights, transom, number of panels, jam
material (we got synthetic so no more rotting in the Florida weather), glass style, caming style and color, handles (inside and outside), etc. In about an hour, we pieced together the perfect door.
The great thing was it cost only $3,100 (including handles and hardware) for a very good-quality door plus $800 installation (including the cost of all the trim material). Installation included removing
and hauling away the old door, installing and perfectly aligning/balancing the door, and installing a bunch of fancy trim molding including plenth blocks and a keystone. Natt recommended his favorite
trim carpenter, Jay Parish, so we made an appointment for him to come out and measure to ensure Natt ordered the correct sizes of everything. After talking about all the fancy stuff Jay said he'd
do with the door trim, I thought, "Well, gee, I want some fancy baseboard, casing, and other trim once we finish the floor." So I asked how much it would cost for him to install all that, too. The
price was so low, we hired Jay to do it even though I was planning to do it myself. Then I asked, "Where do you buy your trim?" Jay said, "Smith's." I asked, "You mean he sells molding, too?" Jay
said, "Yeah, and you can't beat his prices." I was reluctant to believe him. There's no way a small, independent store can beat the prices of the big boxes. (LOL, where have I heard that before?)
I went back to see Natt and asked him how much the fancy 5.25-inch baseboard costs and he said, "You know, we just had to increase our prices because of what happened in South America." I
thought, "Huh, what's he talking about? Good grief, I can just imagine how much the baseboard is per linear foot." Natt said, "The five and a quarter base is ninety-six cents." I asked like a
nonbeliever, "Ninety-six cents a foot?" He said, "Yes." Guess how much the exact same baseboard cost at my favorite big box. $2.56 per foot! No kidding! Natt's price was LESS THAN HALF of
the big-box price. Woohoo! And the fancy 3.25-inch casing was only $0.74 per foot, which was exactly half the big-box price. My head was whizzing adding up how much I could save by buying all
the trim material from Natt instead of the big box. In the end, Jay lived up to his reputation. The baseboard, casing, and other trim installation was simply perfect.
After my experiences with Panama City Tile and Smith Building Specialties, I learned my lesson about shopping around and visiting the small mom-and-pops before making any major purchase at a big
box. That's an important lesson for you, too, to learn from these experiences.
NOTE: Another recent example that I'd like to briefly share with you is my experience with Stacey Haddon and Trenny Hammond of Harmony Architectural Products, Orlando, Florida. Stacey (a.k.a.
the "Queen of Crown") and Trenny are sisters and I found their store when searching for molding vendors in Orlando when I wanted to add lots of crown, chair rail, and shadowbox wainscoting to
our townhouse at Disney World. I chose Harmony not only because of their selection and prices, but also because of Stacey's wonderful personality and patience with me and all my questions over
the phone. I ended up getting tons of molding from Harmony at a total cost significantly less than if I had gone to a big box and, in the process, I made a couple of new friends. So, once again,
experience proved that it's definitely worth taking time to check out vendors other than the big boxes. If you're in Orlando and need molding, I urge you to visit Stacey and Trenny. Visit their
website at Harmony Architectural Products.
Okay, having said all that, let's get to what you really want to see, which is the progression of how we transformed our home with tile and updated molding, including incorporating mosaics in the
floor.
Natt, the owner. Working with Natt turned out to be another wonderful experience. He took as much time as we needed to choose just the right door, sidelights, transom, number of panels, jam
material (we got synthetic so no more rotting in the Florida weather), glass style, caming style and color, handles (inside and outside), etc. In about an hour, we pieced together the perfect door.
The great thing was it cost only $3,100 (including handles and hardware) for a very good-quality door plus $800 installation (including the cost of all the trim material). Installation included removing
and hauling away the old door, installing and perfectly aligning/balancing the door, and installing a bunch of fancy trim molding including plenth blocks and a keystone. Natt recommended his favorite
trim carpenter, Jay Parish, so we made an appointment for him to come out and measure to ensure Natt ordered the correct sizes of everything. After talking about all the fancy stuff Jay said he'd
do with the door trim, I thought, "Well, gee, I want some fancy baseboard, casing, and other trim once we finish the floor." So I asked how much it would cost for him to install all that, too. The
price was so low, we hired Jay to do it even though I was planning to do it myself. Then I asked, "Where do you buy your trim?" Jay said, "Smith's." I asked, "You mean he sells molding, too?" Jay
said, "Yeah, and you can't beat his prices." I was reluctant to believe him. There's no way a small, independent store can beat the prices of the big boxes. (LOL, where have I heard that before?)
I went back to see Natt and asked him how much the fancy 5.25-inch baseboard costs and he said, "You know, we just had to increase our prices because of what happened in South America." I
thought, "Huh, what's he talking about? Good grief, I can just imagine how much the baseboard is per linear foot." Natt said, "The five and a quarter base is ninety-six cents." I asked like a
nonbeliever, "Ninety-six cents a foot?" He said, "Yes." Guess how much the exact same baseboard cost at my favorite big box. $2.56 per foot! No kidding! Natt's price was LESS THAN HALF of
the big-box price. Woohoo! And the fancy 3.25-inch casing was only $0.74 per foot, which was exactly half the big-box price. My head was whizzing adding up how much I could save by buying all
the trim material from Natt instead of the big box. In the end, Jay lived up to his reputation. The baseboard, casing, and other trim installation was simply perfect.
After my experiences with Panama City Tile and Smith Building Specialties, I learned my lesson about shopping around and visiting the small mom-and-pops before making any major purchase at a big
box. That's an important lesson for you, too, to learn from these experiences.
NOTE: Another recent example that I'd like to briefly share with you is my experience with Stacey Haddon and Trenny Hammond of Harmony Architectural Products, Orlando, Florida. Stacey (a.k.a.
the "Queen of Crown") and Trenny are sisters and I found their store when searching for molding vendors in Orlando when I wanted to add lots of crown, chair rail, and shadowbox wainscoting to
our townhouse at Disney World. I chose Harmony not only because of their selection and prices, but also because of Stacey's wonderful personality and patience with me and all my questions over
the phone. I ended up getting tons of molding from Harmony at a total cost significantly less than if I had gone to a big box and, in the process, I made a couple of new friends. So, once again,
experience proved that it's definitely worth taking time to check out vendors other than the big boxes. If you're in Orlando and need molding, I urge you to visit Stacey and Trenny. Visit their
website at Harmony Architectural Products.
Okay, having said all that, let's get to what you really want to see, which is the progression of how we transformed our home with tile and updated molding, including incorporating mosaics in the
floor.
As I noted above, the original entryway was done with plain, white, 8-inch ceramic tile. My first chore was to beat, bang, and scrape it up. The tools I used are the heavy-duty floor scraper (about
$35), a 4-lb mallet hammer (about $10), a brick hammer, and a cold chisel. DON'T FORGET THE SAFETY GOGGLES. Don't ever do this without properly wearing safety goggles that fully cover your
eyes. The 4-lb hammer is a beautiful tool for this job. Just drop the head on the tile and the tile shatters. You can see what a mess it makes. All that tile is heavy so ensure you have a couple of
stout garbage cans handy. Don't cut yourself on the sharp edges of the broken tile. I wear leather work gloves when sweeping it up. Be aware that you'll kick up a lot of old thinset dust when you
sweep up everything.
Tip! I don't buy goggles at a home improvement store, whether for my tile and mosaic projects or for outdoor use. I buy goggles from an online Army surplus store, such as U.S. Cavalry. They
have a huge assortment of goggles, from about $7 to $165. Go to uscav.com, click on Eyewear, and then click on Goggles. I get the "GI Style Sun, Wind, & Dust Goggles" for only $12.99.
Shipping is about $6, so for about $20, I get a good-fitting, comfortable, and full-protecting set of goggles perfect for mosaics, tiling, and weed-whacking.
$35), a 4-lb mallet hammer (about $10), a brick hammer, and a cold chisel. DON'T FORGET THE SAFETY GOGGLES. Don't ever do this without properly wearing safety goggles that fully cover your
eyes. The 4-lb hammer is a beautiful tool for this job. Just drop the head on the tile and the tile shatters. You can see what a mess it makes. All that tile is heavy so ensure you have a couple of
stout garbage cans handy. Don't cut yourself on the sharp edges of the broken tile. I wear leather work gloves when sweeping it up. Be aware that you'll kick up a lot of old thinset dust when you
sweep up everything.
Tip! I don't buy goggles at a home improvement store, whether for my tile and mosaic projects or for outdoor use. I buy goggles from an online Army surplus store, such as U.S. Cavalry. They
have a huge assortment of goggles, from about $7 to $165. Go to uscav.com, click on Eyewear, and then click on Goggles. I get the "GI Style Sun, Wind, & Dust Goggles" for only $12.99.
Shipping is about $6, so for about $20, I get a good-fitting, comfortable, and full-protecting set of goggles perfect for mosaics, tiling, and weed-whacking.
The tiles are all up and thrown away. What a mess it was! This is the workstation I set up for my wife. Although we're long-time husband and wife, we work well as a team (hard to believe, eh?).
Melissa buttered the tiles and I laid them. I'm a maniac about overdoing things, so I insisted that each tile be buttered before I laid them. I could have taken the quicker, easier route by just laying
them dry, but I refused.
Melissa buttered the tiles and I laid them. I'm a maniac about overdoing things, so I insisted that each tile be buttered before I laid them. I could have taken the quicker, easier route by just laying
them dry, but I refused.
The tiles are going down nicely. The red stuff is RedGard Waterproofing and Crack Prevention Membrane. It's goes on with a paintbrush or roller and dries to a thick plastic or rubbery material.
When I pulled up all the carpet, I found only two, thin cracks in the concrete, one in the middle of the great room and another in the hallway. Because they were so thin, I could have gotten away
with not doing anything to the cracks, but, remember, I'm a maniac about doing things right. So, I brushed down a wide coating of RedGard to help prevent the cracks from ever getting worse.
Notice that the old baseboard is gone. If you're going to re-do your floors, do them right. Remove the old baseboard and then tile all the way to the wall. Don't leave the baseboard down and tile
to the baseboard--it just looks so unprofessional and cheap. Also, notice in the entryway that I laid the surrounding tile first before laying the mosaic. Measuring was such a pain! We spent an entire
day--yes, a full day--measuring and re-measuring to ensure the mosaic portion was properly centered and the surrounding tiles were positioned just right so the four corners looked right. Another
problem was that all the rooms are open and come together, which means we had to ensure the grout lines were positioned properly going into the hallway, dining area, and great room. What a
pain that was. If you squint, you can barely see the 3-foot square outline drawn on the concrete for the center mosaic inlay.
When I pulled up all the carpet, I found only two, thin cracks in the concrete, one in the middle of the great room and another in the hallway. Because they were so thin, I could have gotten away
with not doing anything to the cracks, but, remember, I'm a maniac about doing things right. So, I brushed down a wide coating of RedGard to help prevent the cracks from ever getting worse.
Notice that the old baseboard is gone. If you're going to re-do your floors, do them right. Remove the old baseboard and then tile all the way to the wall. Don't leave the baseboard down and tile
to the baseboard--it just looks so unprofessional and cheap. Also, notice in the entryway that I laid the surrounding tile first before laying the mosaic. Measuring was such a pain! We spent an entire
day--yes, a full day--measuring and re-measuring to ensure the mosaic portion was properly centered and the surrounding tiles were positioned just right so the four corners looked right. Another
problem was that all the rooms are open and come together, which means we had to ensure the grout lines were positioned properly going into the hallway, dining area, and great room. What a
pain that was. If you squint, you can barely see the 3-foot square outline drawn on the concrete for the center mosaic inlay.
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