Perspective is everything.
I was watching Frank install tile on the floor. He pulled all the the molding off the walls, removed all the old carpet and carpet padding…revealing the original bare floor hibernating for nearly 60 years.
He properly cleaned the floor, applied a primer for the adhesive…allowing everything to rest and dry… just like the instructions said.
Before you begin to lay tile, you have to draw a line on the floor. THis line is your reference line. It is there to make sure your tile stays straight. It’s your map…the destination being the other side of the room.
“I’ll just use the line that’s already there.” There was tile on the floor at one tim, but Frank removed it.
So, he’s going to use someone else’s line to tile. It started off fine, but by the time he got to the end of the hallway, his tiles were off… just by a fraction of an inch. Not so much to rip it out, but just enough to know he was off.
There are a few things to learn from this… laying tile is hard work. You should always be wary of following a path established by someone else. What if it leads you astray? What if the person you were following was following someone else? What if THEY were off? Now you’re off twice as much.
Constantly check your alignment. Even if it seems you’re on a straight path, check it anyway. A millimeter in the beginning can turn into a mile at the end.
Everytime he looks at those tiles, he’ll remember this. Then, it gets covered up with carpet.
