I Did That

I found my camera!  There are tons of pictures on it and I can’t wait to get them posted on my various websites.  The bad news is I can’t find the USB to Micro end cable that I use to download the pictures.  I guess there is a run to a store that carries such things in my near future.

More good news:  we got the sunroom tiled.  The quarry tile looks great out there.  More bad news:  the grout haze has been a nightmare getting off.  Good news:  I found something that takes it off.  Bad news:  it’s vinegar. Phew!

The slight acidity of the vinegar loosens the grout that is stuck to the top of the tile and it wipes right off after sitting for half a minute or so.  The problem with that is that you have vinegar sittting on the floor for half a minute or so, per tile.  Lots of tiles = lots of stinky.  I will have it finished today, though and once it dries (and airs) out, I will put a high gloss acrylic sealer on it for a nice “wet look”.  After that, it will be rock and roll time and my wife will finally get to decorate the sunroom.

No, work hasn’t stopped completely on the house.  My blogging about it has due to delays and the fact that I have managed to misplace my camera (!).

The kitchen is finished, with new appliances, countertops and cabinet harware in place.  It looks great, I wish you could see it.  I’ve got to find that camera.  It will probably show up at some point in the move.

The master bathroom is coming along slowly but surely.  I have had to enlist a bit of help with the heavy stuff so as not to hurt my back more, but Robert Lee has helped me move most of the heavy stuff around.  Right now I’m leveling the floor and preparing to put down Hardibacker so that I can tile it.

The tub is in, the felt paper and Durock are up in the tub surround, and I’ve installed the valve assembly for the new tub faucet.  I need to paint on the waterproofing layer and then it will be ready for tiling.

The sheetrock is done on the walls, but they have yet to be primed.

I haven’t done any electrical work, which leaves me with one sconce and two overhead vanity lights to install.  Since it is a double sinked vanity with two seperate mirrors, we decided to go wth two vanity lights to keep the symmetry going.  The wall sconce is near the toilet and I’m toying with the idea of putting a very low wattage bulb in it and a photoeye to turn it on in the dark, thus making it a kind of night light.  For right now, though, it is staying on a switch.

So that is where we are at.  I am about to go check the mortar bed for level now and if it is, the backer board goes down, if not I will level it out and wait for it to dry.

There is an area of the floor tile that is starting to pop loose.  It is unfortunately in a very heavy traffic area very near the back door and dining room door in the kitchen.  I’m not entirely sure what the problem is, but my initial guess is that the mortar was either spread too thin or was too wet/dry at that point.  It is near the area that I stopped for the day at one point, so I’m leaning towards the dry mortar explanation.

What I will do to resolve the problem is pick a square area that encompasses all of the popped tile (I think there are five of them) and remove all of the tile in that area and scrape away the dried mortar and grout.  I will then relay that entire area and regrout it.  That should take care of it.

It is entirely possible (but not likely) that there is a problem with the floor at that point that allows the tile to flex too much, but I never noticed much deflection when walking across it previously, so I doubt it.  Once the tile is up and everything is scraped away, I will examine it closely to make sure.

I’ve only got a few days left of this seven day break, let us take a look at how I’m doing, goalwise:

• Thursday-finish tiling through the kitchen (originally supposed to be completed by last Saturday), install Hall lighting fixtures.
• Friday-finish tiling the den (orig. to be completed last Sunday), install MBR light fixture, perhaps start grouting tile (probably not)
• Saturday-demolish the MBath (with my buddy Todd’s help), grout tile in Laundry, Kitchen and Den, eat Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom (I know that one will get done), install light fixture in kid’s BR.
• Sunday-finish anything on the list prior to here that is not completed, alter cabinet to accomodate new wall oven, install light fixture in guest BR.
• Monday-have appliances delivered, install wall oven, dishwasher and set refrigerator in place, go to Lowe’s to order countertops, set bathtub (or at least frame for it).
• Tuesday- (everything for remainder of week refers to Mbath) set bathtub for real, put up drywall and tub surround waterproofing.
• Wednesday-sand drywall, tile tub surround.
• Thursday-tile floor, have furniture moved in.

The appliances won’t be delivered until tomorrow, so I expected to be behind on that.  So I’m only about a day behind on the Mbath and I’m short a few light fixtures.  Turns out we haven’t bought at least one of those fixtures, so I’m inclined to feel pretty good about myself.  Today will be all about waterproofing the tub surround and hanging the drywall in the Mbath.

I had fully intended to do the tub surround and drywall yesterday.  My help, Robert, had said he felt like working last night and wanted to go on and knock the bathroom out.  I don’t get offers like that very often, so we headed over to the house about 7:30 pm to work.  After several trips back to get the tools we needed and some trickiness in leveling and securing the tub, I was too tired to really think straight.  That and I had forgotten the roofing nails that we would use to secure the felt paper (part of the waterproofing system) to the studs.  I wasn’t prepared to make yet another trip back to the in-laws to get supplies.  So about 10:30 pm we knocked off for the night.  This sort of thing always goes best on a clear mind.

In about an hour, I’m going to go and replace the shower plumbing and measure to make sure the vanity plumbing is set in the right places.  Then it is on to the felt paper and Durock. 

Other than some minor odds and ends, the tiling of the Laundry Room, Kitchen and Den is finished.  The tile has raised the floor height somewhat, so the doors have to be shaved down a little to clear the new height and I need to put down quarter round to finish off the edges of the floor at the baseboards.  That’s it though.

If you noticed, my goals involved finishing the tile in the kitchen today and installing the Hall light fixtures. In reality, we got halfway through tiling the kitchen. Period. Nothing more, nothing less.

Shocked? Me neither. It does look great so far though.

I love to set goals for my projects that I probably won’t (and never do) accomplish.  It’s a sickness I know I have, but I rarely if ever try to do anything about it.  Most of the time my first reaction at not meeting my goals is to set more unattainable goals.  In that spirit, here are my goals for this 8 day break starting Thursday (not all of these are me specifically, some will be completed by others):

• Thursday-finish tiling through the kitchen (originally supposed to be completed by last Saturday), install Hall lighting fixtures.
• Friday-finish tiling the den (orig. to be completed last Sunday), install MBR light fixture, perhaps start grouting tile (probably not)
• Saturday-demolish the MBath (with my buddy Todd’s help), grout tile in Laundry, Kitchen and Den, eat Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom (I know that one will get done), install light fixture in kid’s BR.
• Sunday-finish anything on the list prior to here that is not completed, alter cabinet to accomodate new wall oven, install light fixture in guest BR.
• Monday-have appliances delivered, install wall oven, dishwasher and set refrigerator in place, go to Lowe’s to order countertops, set bathtub (or at least frame for it).
• Tuesday- (everything for remainder of week refers to Mbath) set bathtub for real, put up drywall and tub surround waterproofing.
• Wednesday-sand drywall, tile tub surround.
• Thursday-tile floor, have furniture moved in.

That’s my impossible goals.  I’m not sure what fraction of them I will actually achieve, it depends partly on how much help I have and what distractions (and there will be many) come up.

Sahara Beige Tile

Originally uploaded by jaslusher

After much procrastinating and wasting of time I’ve gotten about 2/3 of the way through tiling the laundry room. My original goal was to have been done with the laundry room, kitchen and den at this point.

Didn’t happen.

Thursday (Thanksgiving day, yes) I am going to hit it hard again and try to get through the kitchen at least. That is, if I don’t find some minor piece of nothing to occupy my time.

Leveling The Floor

Originally uploaded by jaslusher

The floors in parts of this old house have a bit of droop to them. 40 years of settling have put almost 1/2 an inch of drop from the front of the fireplace to the corner of the shelves/window. There is currently linoleum on the floor, but since I don’t know whether there is any asbestos in that vinyl, I decided to encase it in leveling compound and/or plywood depending on the area. Asbestos is only a problem in things that are disturbed, so by going over the top of it, I kill two birds with one stone, I level the floors and seal off any potential asbestos.

When I’m done, the floor in the laundry room, kitchen and den will all be ceramic tile layed on a diagonal.

As of today we have accomplished the following things in the kitchen:

1. Repainted the cabinets and walls
2. Removed the countertops