Repairs To The Counter

In order to repair the counter I had to begin by reattaching the tiles that had come loose. I found that you have sweep away any and all loose debris and remove any of the grout surrounding the tiles to be replaced. I tried using water to soften the mortar bed but, it wasn't the best and some tiles didn't set. So I mixed up a clay slip and used that to soften the mortar bed and it worked much better. I also used the slip to brush on the back side of the tiles to help them adhere better. Some of the smaller tiles on the back side of the counter had to have more mortar added to the bed to rebuild the holes from the rain so that the tiles sit level again.

I cleaned out any other loose grout and then pressed in new grout for the entire counter. You can see in the picture above where I added new grout and I left it sit for a while so it could set before I scraped all of the excess off.

You can see here that I had scraped the dried grout off. I also had used some clay slip and painted the grout lines to smooth them out and help seal them. You can see some of the grout still drying in the picture. You can also see that I worked on the repairs to the front of the base.

In order to fill in any holes and gaps in the front of the counter I added some plaster mix to the top and worked it up to meet the edges of the tiles. After letting it sit and firm up I used the trowel to cut off the excess cob. This makes for clean edges for the counter but, keep the corners from being to sharp.