Breaking the Bathroom

I kept looking at this 55 year old backsplash tile, thinking, "Surely the mortar behind the tile would be old and crumbly by now... right?" I kept looking at it. Then one night 3 weeks later, I tapped it with a hammer. I tapped it, and the corner just popped right off.

I had a box of beautiful 2x8 white Bellavita tile that I purchased over a year earlier, and I just hadn't had the time to get on with it.

So after I put my kid to bed, I started tapping away. Carefully pulling the tile away from the wall. That first tile was so easy. 

In fact, that whole first row was great to take off!

The problem is, by the time I got to the corner, the tiles were no longer easy to remove. How are they this stuck on after 55 years?

It became very slow going after this. 

It got to the point where I had to hype myself up and say, "only 20 more tiles left, only 19 more tiles left...". Why? Why did I do this to myself?

I finally got it all off, and set to repairing the wall with a skim coat.

After it dried, I sanded it smooth, and opened up my box of tile ready to get going on the tiling.

Public Service Announcement: Always open your tile when you pick it up to ensure that all of the boxes are indeed the same colour. Hello full box of charcoal. How did you get in there with my order of white tiles?

So after contacting the distributor, I discovered that this tile is discontinued. 

All I could do at that point was figure out what to use instead, and cover the whole thing with plastic until I did.

How's that for a cliff-hanger? Stay tuned for the next installment of Breaking the Bathroom, tomorrow.