We bought a house with a nicely remodeled bathroom. All it lacked to make it look really finished was a tile baseboard.
With the sink, toilet and other fixtures still in place, I was able to spread the mastic to hold the tiles to the bathroom wall with a fair amount of contortion but no real trouble. The only problem I foresaw was with the unwieldy rubber grout trowel — there simply wasn’t enough room to maneuver it in some of the tight places.
Casting about for an alternative grouting method led me to the kitchen drawer and the seldom-used cake-decorating device. It looks like a caulking gun, with several interchangeable metal tips and a piston plunger at one end to control the flow of icing, or whatever. The cap unscrews for loading. I filled the thing with grout and went to work.
The device worked remarkably well for this application. I was able to reach remote crevices with ease and fill them with a high degree of accuracy. The only problem came when I failed to screw the cap completely on after reloading; it popped off, firing a messy blob onto the floor.
My new tool was easy to clean when I was done with it, and I returned it to its kitchen duties none the worse for wear.
Chuck Gomez, Ponca City, OK
