Brick Tile

To go with the old feel of the house, I used brick pavers as tile in certain areas. 

I used it at all the entrances, in the Powder Bath and in Mom’s bath and closet.

I wanted to space it wide, so I bought 3/8” spacers; as wide as I could get them. 

I chose a brick pattern with 1/3 offset.

I bought the pavers unsealed because I wanted them to be rustic. But I still had to seal them so that grouting would be easier and not soaked up into the brick.

The color of grout was difficult to choose. I went with my gut and chose Mapei Ivory. 

And it couldn’t have been better. It ties in the wall color and the wood floor.

Because the brick tile was done first, and in heavy foot traffic areas, we had a lot of cracked tile. 

Two areas had thin-set applied to the entire subfloor surface, then grooved. There were less cracked tiles on those areas. Then the other areas just had the tile back-buttered. These had more cracks. But I was told the cracks would stop when the grout was put in. I just made sure I was at the house less and avoided stepping on the tile.

Our tile guy started grouting and left quickly after because it was frustrating. So, I took a stab at it and did an okay job. It was hard to get the grout up high enough like I wanted, and still trying to keep the brick surface clean.

I am so excited for the brick floors. Some people refer to it as “Split Brick.” It definitely gives the house that old vibe that I am going for.

Our tile guy laid the brick and grouted it, but he quit our job before he could clean the brick. I had a 10-day window to work with before the grout was really set into the paver. I tried multiple chemicals and non-chemicals trying to get the grout off. Only one thing worked! I have decided to write a separate post about it here.

After the brick was cleaned, I felt so much relief. I moved on to other projects while my mom took the duty of sealing the brick. She tackled one section at a time. I covered all the brick with paper dropcloth to prevent red clay marks on the freshly cleaned brick. The mud hall had nice orange tracks on it before I cleaned it.

I tried many different sealers. Even after cleaning the brick, it still dried a lighter color. I like how when it was wet, the colors were darker. 

Yet, I didn’t want the glossy wet look some sealers provide. I found a product at Lowes that was a sealer and enhancer.

At $45 a bottle for a small bottle, this stuff was liquid gold. But it achieved the look and protection.

Mom used a small roller to apply three rows at a time. It goes on milky and you wope if off after 3-5 minutes.

I really like the end result. These floors took a lot of work, but they are worth it!