The Laundry Room Floor

After he had practiced on the water heater closet and the half bath, our son tackled the much bigger project of the laundry room. His brother came in and laid the heating system, which was supposed to work much better under tile Jumping ahead, I can tell you that those "spreaders" are still too far apart to make an even heat, but it is the warmest room in the house. 

The orange underlayment is like a large thick honey-comb. My son was keenly interested in knowing everything about tile and researched all the best "practices" in the industry. He found experts on youtube and compared their advice. He even asked for the North American Tile Handbook for Christmas. 

During this time one the boys' friends from Alaska dropped by to check on us. He is such a help every time he shows up. He helped build the jig for the stair treads, help set the front door, and when he came this time he helped re-set the front door after we had undone it.  

Everyone needs friends from Alaska. They know how to do things. 

Now the excitement starts with the test run.

This concrete-style tile has a slight "pillow" edge. My son was concerned about "lippage" (those unlevel tiles that will trip you) but he did a good job keeping it to a minimum. Pretty good for a beginner!

As stated in another post, this was a clearance tile from Dal Tile ($1 each). Concrete-looking tile was not my first choice, but it actually does well in the laundry room. 

This is also the "mud room" for the snow-suit entrance. It is very nice to be able to corral all that snow-melt in one room and have the heated floor to aid the removal of crusted ice from gloves. 

The floor turned out very well and has proved very durable. I have accidently dropped heavy things on it and my thought (while I am gaining courage to open my eyes) is usually "You have cracked it for sure this time!" So far it has been okay. I would just sit down and cry if anything happened to this floor!

And now for the glamorous finish! Yeah. Well it is a utility room after all.