The great grout-out

Sunday I grouted!

The bottom row of tiles above the tub had developed a crack and water was getting in there and leaking down into my kitchen cabinets. The building inspector told me about it before I moved in, so it wasn’t a surprise.

Jamie (not my son, the other Jamie) offered to come over with all his grouting tools and supplies and experience, and teach me how to grout.

He was an excellent teacher, and not just because he resisted the urge to snatch the tools out of my hands and do it himself. He also explained everything clearly as we went along, made things magically appear as they were needed for each step of the process, and cleaned up behind me.

First I had to put varsol along the crack to soften up the silicon that had been used previously. Then I scraped the silicon with a scraper and dug the old stuff out of the crack with a screwdriver. Then I varsoled some more, and scraped and dug and peeled some more. You can’t go just by sight, you have to feel it too, to make sure you’re getting all the old stuff out. After that I mixed the new grout to the consistency of thick cake frosting. I pressed the newly mixed grout into the crack using a flat tool with a handle, and wiped off the excess. Then I washed the tiles lightly with a slightly damp rag. At both ends of the tub, where the wall meets the tub, I used a caulking gun to fill in those gaps with silicon. Done!

I forgot to get a “before” picture, so you’ll have to take my word for it that there used to be a big crack where there’s now a nice smooth grout-filled line.

It was actually kind of fun and satisfying. Ever since I grouted, I’ve been looking at my house from an entirely different perspective. As a tenant, I learned to tolerate the things I didn’t like, and call the landlord about the intolerable things. As a homeowner with no experience fixing things, I continued to tolerate the things I didn’t like. But once I actually FIXED something, I started looking for other things I might be able to fix. That’s where I’m at: looking at my house’s little flaws as a collection of fixable things.

I think I’m really going to like this homeowner thing. I feel like my house is a treasure trove of undiscovered new hobbies now.