Local Talent Prods

LOCAL TALENT HOME THEATER PROJECT - DONE!!!!

Update: Mosaic Tile - 2/27/05

At the exterior french sliding door we're going to place tile to keep the dirt from being tracked onto the carpet. I drew a grid on the ground and drew the Local Talent logo onto the cement. We'll break apart green and black tiles and place them to form the top half of the logo.

A virtual before and after of the mosaic tile LTP logo.

Update: Mosaic Tile - 7/06/05

I am about to lay the mosaic tile of the Local Talent Productions logo. I've broken all of the tiles and will be laying them this week.

And finally, my daughter has been helping me out. We had a big fan on in the room, as we are fighting the heat of a Florida Summer. Here is a picture of my daughter, Dorothea, with her "biggest fan." I know, a bad joke, but it had to be said :).

Update: Mosaic Tiles - 7/11/05

Mosaic Tile... I've never done a mosaic tile floor. Actually, I've never put down tile ever. So, I was at a disadvantage. Plus, it's almost impossible to find information on the web or from home improvement stores about how to put down mosaic tile. In the end, we just kinda made it up as we went.

In the Home Theater we have a sliding french door that leads out to the back yard. In order to prevent the carpet from getting excessively dirty, I decided to put down tile at that entrance and, upon some thought, determined it would be cool to do something unique. And what better design than the Local Talent logo, with palm tree and setting sun. It goes with the forest green paint in the room, is universal enough that future home owners shouldn't mind and it'd just be really cool.

The first step was to print out the Local Talent logo onto graph paper. I then measured the width of the door and determined the distance of each block of the graph in relation to the size of the door opening. I then measured and marked the graph on the floor, then drew each part of the logo separately, one block on the graph at a time. Also, in order to get the semi-circle as accurate as possible, I took a pencil and tied it to a string, attached the string to the floor at the center of the door and drew the half-circle, making sure the string was tight throughout.

Next was laying tile. We bought a couple of boxes of tile from Lowes... unfortunately, the only tiles they had in black and forest green were bathroom wall tiles. Since they were to be broken, they shouldn't crack when stepped on, but I do have to be cognizant of how slick the surface can become. Hopefully the grout will give some added friction to the surface.

My son Gabriel and I laid the tiles face down into a towel, folded the tile over the back of the tiles and hit them with a hammer. Once we had broken them into the appropriate sizes, we put the next couple of tiles on and repeated the process.

We then went into the theater and laid the tile down, making sure that some of the more problematic areas of the design, like the end of the palm tree branches, etc, had good tile selections. This process also allowed us to make sure we bought enough tile before laying the adhesive on the ground. This was a good thing, because we ended up making two more trips to the store, picking up almost two more boxes of green tile.

The second phase was to put down the tile adhesive. I had naively thought that I could simply pull up each tile, slap down some adhesive and then put the tile back down. This was not the right approach. Not only was the adhesive layer becoming unlevel, but it was taking a very long time. In the end, we just ended up scraping up sections of the tile at a time, laying down a bunch of adhesive and then putting the tile back on. Two important tips... for those critical tile pieces, like the ones that make the outer circle or the ones that you've found that fit well against the door, keep those in order and reapply as originally designed. The middle sections can be refit in any order, but the outer edges have to be correct.

Another surprise during this process is that, in order to leave enough room for the grout to take effect, we ended up spacing the pieces out farther apart then when we originally laid them down. So, in the end, we had about 1/2 box of tiles extra. They'll come in handy if I ever have to replace any of them.

Next, I applied the grout. We chose a pewter grout because it was neutral and not too bright. We didn't want a bright grout that could get dirty and that would distract from the focus of the room, the movie screen. I thought I could just plop a ton of the grout on top of the tiles and easily squish it into the crevasse, but since there were so many places to fill, I ended up doing smaller sections at a time and forcing the grout in with a smaller scraper. It took longer, but worked better.

The grout needed to set for 36-48 hours. Afterwards, I wiped down the surface. There's still some further cleaning I can do, but I'll wait until construction in the room is complete. No sense in buffing the tile clean if it's only going to get covered with dust and dirt in the interim. In the end, I'm very proud of it. I still have to clean up the outer edges, where the grout and adhesive spilled out. It makes the outer circle of the design look off, but I'll fix that later. In fact, the more critical piece will be just how well the carpet is laid next to it. That should make or break the look of the half-circle.

Next up, getting the electrical work done and laying the carpet. Since the desk and the entertainment center will actually sit on the carpet, we need that in place next. While we wait for that, I'll continue work on the concession stand/candy rack.

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