Welcome to my mudroom, which is actually two rooms: a tiny hallway with our laundry machines and a storage room. This space is not working for us at all.
There are three doors that all swing in different directions. We can barely open the door of our spare fridge. There's also a vintage ironing board that's broken and we don't use. And above all, the storage room is carpeted, which means that all the mud, dirt, and sticks that we track in make a huge mess.
We completely transformed this space, and the highlight of it all is this awesome brick-look tile. So if you're interested in how we installed that, just keep reading!
Demolition
This whole project was a large renovation that included knocking down walls, moving outlets and switches, and much more. Once the dividing wall was out and all of our demo mess was cleaned up, we had two different floors to remove.
In the storage room side, it's carpet, so that's pretty easy to take up. You just pull from one corner, and then you can fold and roll the carpet to discard it. Underneath that is a pad, which you pull up in a very similar way, and then beneath all that are the tack strips, which you can remove with a pry bar. Just make sure you're wearing glasses for this part because you don't want any of those shards flying at you.
The other half of the room was tile, so that was more difficult. Our first job was to cut the tiles where our mudroom meets the kitchen. We wanted to keep this tile in the kitchen, so we needed a good separation point. We were careful with this and used a lot of water to help the tile stay intact. Then we were free to use a pneumatic hammer to break up the rest.
This hits the tile right between it and the foundation to break up the mortar and pop the tile off into little pieces. This was messy and loud, but it did make quick work of what's normally quite a difficult job.
Once all the tiles were out and we were down to a smooth and clean foundation, we went on with the rest of the renovation, leaving the floors for last. After closing up the walls, we installed a really beautiful vertical shiplap. Once that was done and painted, it was time to start laying out our tiles.
Preparing for Tiling
We bought a printed brick-look porcelain tile from our local Lowe's. They are textured and, in each box, there's a high variance in color and pattern on each tile. So when it's all said and done, it achieves a beautiful look that mimics the look of real brick at a fraction of the cost.
We are going for a herringbone look, which means we have to cut a lot of 45-degree angles, so it was important for us to set up a really good cutting station.
We borrowed a wet saw from a neighbor, and after replacing the blade, my dad made a cool jig out of a spare piece of plywood. It helps slide the tiles back and forth at a 45-degree angle, meaning our cutting is not only much more accurate but it's also quick and easy. We cut everything we needed for the first two to three feet and laid it out to get a better understanding of what we were working with.
Keeping things straight was going to be our biggest challenge, so we decided to not only draw a line down the length of the room to keep our center line straight, but we also drew horizontal lines every two feet to act as grid sections. This was super helpful.
Mixing Up Mortar
The first step when you're ready to tile is mixing up mortar. We weighed it out following the manufacturer's instructions, which, because we're using a porcelain tile, means that we needed a polymer additive as our liquid rather than water.
You need to mix this for at least five minutes, so we actually fitted our spade into our drill press to make mixing this up easy.
Installing the First Section
We set up a laser down the center line that we had previously established and then laid each tile out, working from the middle. This is where all of the pre-work and setup pays off because everything was already cut and dry-fitted.
It was easy to get our first row established, and we had plenty of time to fiddle and adjust until this section was just right. We used 3/16 inch tile spacers to hold everything even. Once there was a critical mass of tiles in the center such that it wasn't really going anywhere, it was easy to expand out to the walls until we ran out of mortar or tile spacers. At that point, we scraped away any excess mortar and sat back to let it dry.
It took only about an hour, but because this was the first row and we wanted a strong foundation to build off, we gave it a little bit of extra time.
Once it was dry, it was time to pull those tile spacers and repeat and repeat and repeat. Herringbone can be a bit disorienting, and I've found that it's a lot easier to follow the pattern along the V-shape instead of along the zigzags, if that makes sense. Choose your orientation wisely and always, always, always stand back to check your work.
By keeping things straight, we also had the extra benefit that our side pieces typically cut at the same dimensions, so we were able to batch those out for efficiency as well.
When we made it to the kitchen door, things got a bit more intricate, so we took our time measuring and cutting each little tile, and when we set them, we made sure they sat vertically flush with the other tiles so there was no dip or ridge to catch your toe on.
We finished our tiling in the corner where our laundry machine sits, which was a great idea because it helps hide any looseness or spacing imperfections in those last few tiles.
Preparing for Grout
Once everything was dry, it was time to do some cleanup in preparation for grout. This meant washing any stray mortar or dust off the top of the tiles and going through the gaps in between each tile to scrape down any mortar that was too high or going to get in the way of the grout.
Grouting
We chose a light, warm gray grout color to match our walls. Grout is applied with a float at a 45-degree angle to the grout line, which in the case of herringbone can be a little tricky. Once you apply it, make sure to scrape any excess off the top, and then let it dry for about 15 minutes before wiping it away with a wet sponge.
We let it sit a little too long, and combined with the texture of this tile, made it a bit of a pain to get the excess off the top. But with some patience, we got there in the end.
Next, we applied finishing touches like some bright white baseboards and all of our electrical covers, and then it was time for the final reveal.
The Reveal
I love how this project turned out, and I'm super excited to use these tiles again somewhere else in my house. I plan to use some grout paint from a previous project to clean up this transition, and then we have a beautiful room to work with.
As always, if you've seen anything you think I could have done differently or better, I'd love to hear about it. I'm always open to improvement. See you next time!