Owner/Builder Dennis Crescent, South West Rocks

My name is Julian Conway, partner to the lovely Susan, and dad to Jade, Brandon and Sienna. I set up this blog to record the trials and tribulations we have all experienced during the building of the house at Lot 113, Dennis Crescent, South West Rocks.

Apologies in advance for the gaps in continuity. I'll be posting backdated content as I find time.

Well, I’m not sure whether I’m ever going to build another house with my bare hands, so I figure I’d better make an effort to document the process. As a systems analyst/programmer, I’m more often found creating with my mind rather than my hands, although I have had some success over the years with various projects involving woodwork and metalwork. The series of posts below will be interspersed with previous project milestones.

We’ve got snazzy dark granite benches, a 900mm Smeg stainless steel stove and modern Beech veneer, glass and aluminium cabinets. Mix that with plain drywall and raw concrete blocks and you’ve got a recipe for… splashback shiteness. Enter stage left the glossy black ceramic tiles.

It’s the June long weekend, I should be in Brisbane preparing for the Portfolio Partner Century Brisbane to Noosa ride, but, cash strapped as I am, I’ve forsaken the trek North for a weekend of tile glue and grout.

First up, I thoroughly cleaned the wall to be tiled with Sugar Soap. The kitchen has been in use for a while now, so it’s important to remove any accumulated grease. Next, I laid down plastic sheet to protect the granite benches.

Following that, it’s time to mix some adhesive, as per the mixing instructions. I used a 3mm notched to apply the adhesive directly to the tile, then place the tile straight onto the wall. I used 1.5mm plastic spacers to keep everything neat.

As usual, there were plenty of cuts required, with three power outlets to work around and a 12mm space under the cupboards to deal with. The tiles were placed in a day.

Next day was grout day. We opted for black grout - this stuff had the colour and consistency of black boot polish thinned with black ink. Messy messy shit. It took a few hours to cram all of the gaps with grout, including smoothing off the job with a damp sponge.

Next day, clean up the grout residue! Susan took on this challenge, and a challenge it was. It took her 5 goes to clean off all the dusty black grout residue. Well, the end result looks great! By the way, I’ve ordered some Clipsal Saturn 4025EB ebony power outlets to replace the plain white units. And yes, that is Miss Sylvia tucked in the corner!