Q&A / 

Exterior Ceramic Tile - Best Way to Install It A fellow amateur radio operator reached out to me several days ago. My vanity call sign was coined after my Ask the Builder business. It’s W3ATB. The W3 stands for www for my AsktheBuilder.com website. This operator knew I’d be able to answer his question. He […]

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How to Make Your Bathroom Floor Warm as a Hypocaust You may find this hard to believe, but I didn’t build the house I currently live in. It’s a long story but this current house in central New Hampshire was supposed to be a transition home while I did build a Queen Anne Victorian house […]

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Cleaning and Restoring Tile and Slate Floors - Easy! A month ago you may have read my column about how to get ceramic tile grout clean. As you might suspect, I received quite a few thank-you notes via the Ask Tim page on my www.AsktheBuilder.com website. It’s always gratifying to hear from you knowing that […]

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How to Clean Shower Grout - And Mop Floors Too! Sarah reached out to me a few days ago. She was more frustrated than I get when I miss a 2-foot putt at the golf course. Six months before she had a new master shower installed with a marble-tile floor. The pieces of marble are […]

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DIY Ceramic Tile Kitchen Backsplash - Not Too Hard Six months ago my son purchased a new house. He had been looking to move from his apartment for well over a year. The white-hot real estate market made it quite difficult to locate a house in his price range. Each tired and worn-out house we […]

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Oxalic Acid Cleaner - It's a Great Rust Remover Not a week goes by that you, or another reader or two or three or twenty, might reach out to me with a fantastic question about the column of mine you’re reading. Often you might ask why I failed to dive deeper into the topic. You […]

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Cracked Grout on Tile Floor A few days ago, I was singing Happy Birthday for the third time to my granddaughter in the kitchen of her parent’s newer home. It was a festive morning and cake was served before lunch. After taking the first bite of the delicious cake my daughter made, I’m thinking this […]

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DIY Tile Backsplash Installation - Simple With Right Tile QUESTION: Tim, in your last column you really got me excited about creating something very unique with ceramic tile. The issue is I’m like you and have stick-people skills when it comes to artistic talent. Doing mosaic tile would be impossible for me. Is there some […]

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How To Install Mosaic Tile - Start With a Small Project QUESTION: Tim, I need your guidance. I’m want to know how to install mosaic tile. It's a floor in my new room addition. I have no clue where to start. I’ve never done tile work before. Do you think I’m crazy for attempting this? […]

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Repair Cracked Backsplash Grout - Do It In the Winter QUESTION: Hello, Tim. I could use your help. The grout line between my kitchen granite countertop and the tile backsplash has cracked for the umpteenth time. Each winter the crack appears and each year I re-grout it hoping it will be the final time. Am […]

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