THE TX REEF ROOM

[UncommonSense]

This is the sealer I’m going to use once the tiles are spotless. It’s hard to tell without seeing it in person, but because these are flamed tiles, the surface is extremely rough and porous, so unless I did something like epoxy over it, the “unevenness” would remain. Think like the non-slip strips on some sidewalks.

Also, my main motivation for this type of tile is from visiting China multiple times with my wife. In the ancient cities, many of the outdoor areas around the palaces/temples and shopping areas are paved with massive, rough granite slabs. That rough, natural, “ancient” appearance is really what I’m aiming for with this flooring choice.

Awesome, solvent based is the stuff you want!

Just wear all your PPE, and heavily ventilate the room during, and after application!

 

[TX_REEF]

Cleaning and sealing is complete. Next time, grout.

 

[TX_REEF]

I’m generally a weekend warrior, but got some grout action in today.

 

[TX_REEF]

I committed a cardinal tile work sin.

On Monday, I was grouting a bit to make less work for this weekend. I did 3 tiles, then sponged them off. Nice. I thought this is gonna take forever, so I went ahead and grouted 1/3 of the room, with the intention of sponging them off after. I ended up being too tired to sponge off, “I’ll do it later” I told myself.

Big mistake - fast forward to yesterday, went in with a sponge to try and clean the grout from the tiles and the sponge simply ripped to shreds. Lesson learned, sponge off the grout as you go, no matter what!!!

The only thing that really gets this modified grout off is stainless steel wool, and luckily granit sis harder than steel. A bit of elbow work and I’ll be right as rain. Grout WILL be done this weekend!!!

Pic below is of products used and the progress I made yesterday, just a bit more scrubbing to do before I can get back to grout. I’ll probably have to re-seal the scrubbed tiles because the stainless steel wool seems to have stripped off the sealer as evidenced by the lighter tile color.

 

[TX_REEF]

To lighten the mood, here’s a short vid of my clownfish pond that will be calling the reef room its home when complete. Yes, I know it’s filthy, I have put off all non-essential tasks until the reef room is complete!

 

[UncommonSense]

The only thing that really gets this modified grout off is stainless steel wool, and luckily granit sis harder than steel. A bit of elbow work and I’ll be right as rain. Grout WILL be done this weekend!!!

Call me crazy, but those steel wool pads look like they’re begging to be zip tied to the end of a hole saw (with no centering bit)…

That would allow you to use a drill with the steel wool on an “arbor” to do much of the hard work for you!

 

[Exotrezy]

To lighten the mood, here’s a short vid of my clownfish pond that will be calling the reef room its home when complete. Yes, I know it’s filthy, I have put off all non-essential tasks until the reef room is complete!

Hey if you don't mind me asking, which part of texas are you in? If you are in houston, could you recommend me any LFS?

 

[TX_REEF]

To lighten the mood, here’s a short vid of my clownfish pond that will be calling the reef room its home when complete. Yes, I know it’s filthy, I have put off all non-essential tasks until the reef room is complete!

Hey if you don't mind me asking, which part of texas are you in? If you are in houston, could you recommend me any LFS?

Hello friend!

I live in Plano, and we are lucky to have quite a few excellent LFS around. If you’re ever up here, check out:

Aquastudios in The Colony
Exotic Aquatics in Plano
Aquatic Design in Plano
Dallas North Aquarium in Carrollton

 

[Exotrezy]

Hello friend!

I live in Plano, and we are lucky to have quite a few excellent LFS around. If you’re ever up here, check out:

Aquastudios in The Colony
Exotic Aquatics in Plano
Aquatic Design in Plano
Dallas North Aquarium in Carrollton

Thanks for the help.

 

[TX_REEF]

Grouting is 75% done and I’m too tired to continue. I’ll try to finish this week.

 

[TX_REEF]

Grout is complete!!! This has been the most challenging and time consuming DIY project I’ve undertaken to date. If you’re gonna DIY, do the opposite of what I did and don’t choose natural stone… otherwise pay your tile installer what they deserve!

Next up will be a touch up paint/stain of the mortar that pokes through the grout in some places, then a final scrub clean, then onto paint prep. No more progress til next week, out of town this weekend for my birthday!

 

[Daniel@R2R]

This looks fantastic!!

 

[TX_REEF]

My back has been bothering me so I haven’t made any progress yet this weekend, but I am happy to report that my clownfish/anemone bucket experiment had a small success as the rainbow BTA has split!

 

[TX_REEF]

While waiting for my back to recover so I can complete the final scrub and seal of the floor, I’ve been pondering the best way to remediate the areas of grout where less than stellar mortar work causes the white mortar to be visible. I tried grout stain first, too watery. Sharpies are too dark. I found happy medium: brush-tip acrylic paint markers!

 

[TX_REEF]

Final touches on the floor this weekend. I chiseled out some areas where the mortar was too obvious, and then re-applied grout with my fingertips with painters tape to prevent more cleanup. Next, I need to hit the hazy areas with grout haze remover, touch up minor visible mortar with my acrylic paint marker, then do a final seal, and then I can FINALLY start paint prep.

 

[TX_REEF]

The floor is finally done to the best of my ability. I have the day off tomorrow, so I’ll start the paint process!

 

[TX_REEF]

Paint phase is live! Unlike tile work, I have significant experience with paint so I expect this to only take a few days of work. I went with blue for the walls as planned, but with the help of my wife decided to shift to a gray trim. I’ll paint all the blue surfaces first, and then tape the walls before I hit the trim.

 

[TX_REEF]

I’m working on editing the flooring footage into a proper progress video, but here’s a teaser in the meantime

 

[TX_REEF]

Completed a side-quest on the reef room today. My high-security window screens were finally installed. Resistant to most forms of blunt force/forced entry, and provides the same visibility and heat rejection as solar screens. Check out https://bosssecurityscreens.com if you want to take your home security to the next level.

 

[TX_REEF]

Lots of good painting progress today. Coffered ceilings are really annoying to paint.