SISYPHUS

 

According to Greek legend, Sisyphus was a man on the bad side of the Gods. His punishment was to roll a large boulder up a hill, but it would always roll back down so he had to do it over and over and………..

I’m not quite like Sisyphus, but some days there are similarities. A few days ago I finally reached the stage of my re-tile job where I actually started to lay tile. In preparation, I laid down a line that would keep the tiles straight as I went along. At least it was supposed to.

This is how far I got on the first day. Well, that’s not completely true. This is how far I got before I realized that my alignment on the last section, (the one in the lower left of the picture), was 1/2 inch off the line with no easy way to keep going and make it all come out right in the end. Hence, I removed the tiles and took them outside to wash off the thinset (cement). Then I scraped up as much from the floor as I could and washed it clean.

 

Starting on my second day, I was very careful about following the line and once I got going it was going well.  I was working in the hall and there was no room to deviate. I continued up the hall and into the family room, being certain to keep the first tile aligned properly. As I entered the family room I started laying tile along the wall away from the hall. I thought I was  doing well. It looked OK to me at the time.

 

It didn’t look right this morning and I was dismayed to find that the further I got from the main line, the further I deviated from the proper direction and in the morning light it looked terrible. I couldn’t believe that I thought it looked so good the night before. So, like Sisyphus, I had  to attack the boulder again. The tile had not completely set, so I was able to get them up with out breaking any and they were all reusable. I got out my Bosch concrete grinder and removed the adhesive.

 

Next, before any foolishness, I struck four more chalk lines, parallel to the first and at the proper distance to lay more tile exactly. After that, it went well and I THINK that I have the situation under control.

I don’t recall ever having a job this demanding.

I had an audience, but they were not a lot of help. Just a trio of construction site gawkers.

Later.