DIY Tile Floors,Another "Green" Effort

Because we live in the wilderness of AZ, images of javalinas, mountain lions, scorpions, and rattlesnakes--not to mention an occasional Gila monster--represent many people's perception of our yards and gardens. In reality what we live with day in and day out is lots of granite--literally tons and tons. I'm especially fascinated with the boulders strewn all over our mountain but the granite that I deal with most is of the decomposed sort. Folks who've lived here twenty years or so just refer to it as DG. It doesn't just cover our driveways and paths, it works its way into our houses. And that is just one of the reasons that tile flooring is wonderful. Vacuum, mop and it looks new again.

We did discuss many options but always came back to tile.

Thirteen years ago, an artist in Scottsdale gave David and I tons of tile. We rented a U-Haul truck, brought it up the mountain and hid the tile in a grove of manzanitas until we had some floors constructed. This tile is better traveled than I, originating in Turkey, Brazil, France, Spain, Mexico, the good ole USA but most are from Italy. Colors include every shade of beige known to man, browns, blacks, greens, white and terra cotta. We found a picture of a mosaic arrangement of broken tile in a Lowe's how-to book and went with it. One of my jobs in the tiling process is to don some astonishingly gorgeous safety goggles and smack tiles with a hammer. I actually like this a lot. We use all the pieces, both great and small, adhering them to cement board with a masonry product called thin set. The tiles are grouted with Mapei Keracolor sanded with Polymer in a straw color purchased at Lowe's. Six inch Tuscan bone tiles, also purchased at Lowe's, are used for baseboards. I smash a few of these to mix with the random others to tie the look together.

In order to personalize the floors, I have incorporated favorite pebbles collected from those life-enhancing moments--weddings, christenings, vacations. The floors also sport an element solely for fun, small brass turtles. My absolute favorite store in Yarnell, The Emporium, sells these little garden gems for about $3.50 each and I have purchased enough to cement at least one in every room. When we finish each floor, all my little visiting friends and most of the adults search for the turtle. I do place the turtles in an area that receives little traffic as too much scrubbing will wear off the paint a bit exposing the brass which isn't a bad thing.

The finished product says a lot about who we are and where we've been and I like that.

I consider this floor tiling project green because we used tile that was headed for a landfill and because the tile floor requires little maintenance--one squirt of detergent and a cup of vinegar in the mopping water which gets poured on a weed I don't like when I'm through. That's not too bad in our chemical infused world. Perhaps the best green of all is the green it saved us.

FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Well, here I am, that's me, the guy who runs around the world with his pocket full of pebbles that Badboulderlady has dropped into them once her purse is full. She's pretty nuts, don't you all think? And how about that free tile she is gushing about? Free, huh? Cost me a whole Sunday, a very hot one at that. Drove a hundred miles to Phoenix, rented a U-Haul truck that was truly on its last leg, drove to Scottsdale to pick up the tile, loaded it by hand, hauled it back up the mountain to Yarnell. The U-Haul truck had a full half turn of play in the steering wheel, had no A/C, overheated coming up the Yarnell mountain, and belched out very noxious odors and smoke into the cabin. So we piled the tile out in our front yard, and quickly headed back to Phoenix to turn in the truck in order to avoid an extra day of rental charge. Because of the heat, the smoke, and physical exertion, I really didn't feel that great. But, you know, anything for "free" tile.

parting shot from bbman: don't buy cheap tools.