When we started this gut remodel project the goal was to purchase as many used and recycled products as possible. Besides the LEED mandate to reduce the use of new materials I was looking for items that would lower the overall cost of what was going to be a huge remodel. Except for top of the line energy efficient items almost all of the products in the house are either second hand or seconds or they were purchased for less than full retail through outlets like eBay and Craigslist.
All of the porcelain brown tile I purchased through Craigslist was probably a batch of seconds. I bought a full pallet or about 500 sq ft of tile from a warehouse about 3 miles south of our house. I also bought all the available boxes of matching edge tile. It was 50 cents per square ft.
I didn’t have anywhere to store the tile but outside. So as I’ve used it I’ve had to clean it. When doing the job myself I could clean a box at a time but because a contractor is doing this job I needed it all at once.
We needed about 180 square ft of tile for the bathroom but with extra for waste we hauled 20 boxes of the 13”x13” tile into the garage. Each box had 11 tiles but one tile in almost every box had cardboard stuck to the bottom tile and I didn’t have time to scrub those. I can do them later. I only came across a few chipped or flawed tiles and also put them aside. About half way through I needed a break so I stopped for a cup of tea. Then dinner was delayed so I could finish. Both my son and Dave were kind enough to haul the clean tile into the house.
Cleaning it all at once seemed to take a long time. I used a simple green cleaner and wore out two scrubbing sponges and my fingers doing it. But finally by the tome it got dark it was finished. I had to wait until morning for a photo. It is now ready to be installed.
