Trim and grout

Today started off with trips 44 to Home Depot and trip 45 to Lowes. Later in the day had to make trip 46. Yes that is three trips in one day for those math experts. I went and picked up Lauren's car because I was purchasing all of the door and base trim. The 12 footer definitely do not fit in the Passat.

My new roommate Dave helped out a little. He took over for me on some of the grouting and was able to finish one of the shower walls. Later in the day I did the second wall. Grouting the 2 x 2 wall tiles was pretty mess. Of coure I purchased half as much light colored grout than I need. It took one large bucket to grout the shower. That is about half way. I'm going to need to pick up another large bucket. Unfortunately I'm not able to get to the tile place during normal business hours. Not sure when I will be able to pick up some more.

The shower walls are grouted and ready for the glass.

Putting the grout in this shampoo recess was a challenge.

While Dave was working on the shower wall I started the trim. I got a few walls and doors trimmed. Its looking pretty good. I spent some time cleaning and clearing trash from the back yard. Ended a little early today since it was so nice out.

Fine craftsmanship of course... (I'm not showing close ups of the other corners)

Tending to important business while grouting. Thank you Jason for taking advantage of the photo op.

Bathroom exhaust and shelves

The day started with finishing the floor grout in the bathroom. It is pretty easy, but tedious and you are on your knees the whole time. Not a fan of grouting. I'm not looking forward to having to grout the 2x2 wall tiles. That will be for tomorrow.

After the tiles, I started working on the bathroom exhaust duct run. I had to cut a 5" diameter hole in 3 pieces of 2 X blocking and then through brick. I have been putting this off for a while. I knew it was going to be rough.

It did not start off very well. Using the 5" hole saw was much harder than expected. I started by almost smashing myself in the face with an out of control drill. The second the teeth bite, the drill goes all over the place. I switched to my cordless which is less powerful and that helped.

The hole got a little mangled on this side.

I'll come back later an strap it up to the joist a little better. I had cut the hole in the brick wall above the HWH about a month ago. That's when I got my first complaint from a neighbor. 

The vent had to come through the brick and then through the first deck joist. This joist is not carrying much load so I am not too concerned about a 5" diameter hole.

This hole is for a future radiator loop to the back room. I have been borrowing the bad ass hammer drill from Joe and need to give it back. No more holes in the masonry walls... at least for this project!

Before the caps game started today I was able to build the shelves in the bathroom. They worked out pretty well. Having the nail gun really sped things up.

Before



A photo with all the shelf support in.

Complete!

Doors & hardware

I hired Jason to hang the doors. He came on Friday and was able to get them all done. A few of the doors he had to cut off a few inches from the height. This way I was able to order a few standard height doors which saved me about $350.

When I got home from work yesterday I went to Lowes to buy the supplies for this weekend. Make that trip number 43. I purchased all of the door hardware, electrical cover plates, more grout sponges, plumbing supplies and some wood for the built in shelves.

There is always that point when I get back to my car in the Lowes parking lot when I'm wondering if all of this stuff is going to fit? You have to get creative. Who says a Passat is not a good construction vehicle?

All of the doors are in and they fit! The last thing I needed was an incorrect order on these doors. They are a 4 week lead time and non refundable.

Installing all of the door hardware was pretty damn easy. It took me about 5 minutes per door. Unfortunately one of the sets was missing all of the screws. I'll have to go exchange it.



I have DOORS!!!!

The other night after my softball game I was feeling motivated and grouted the tile for my shower. Jason was going to come the next day to finish the wall tile and install the mirror and this would have made it easier in the long run.

Here is a shot of the shower floor. The wall tile is now set. It is all coming together well. The shower glass should arrive next week.

Yesterday Jason was supposed to install the mirror and finish the bathroom wall tile. Of course the mirror arrived with a defect. So he has done as much as he can without the mirror. A new mirror is supposed to arrive with the shower glass. All it means is more time and more money.

The grout is still wet. The paint is holding the tiles together so they do not drift as they dry.

Here are two good shots of the full walls. The tile at the edge looks good. The cut ends are pretty clean. It worked out real well with full tiles at the shower wall. Full tiles at the top as well.

 The shower hardware has arrived. Unfortunately I did not budget for this. Another couple hundred dollar bust to the budget. The fittings look great. All brushed stainless steel. That is the shower door pull bar.

Today my doors arrived! Fortunately Jason was able to be here while I was at work. He was working on the tile and helped coordinate the delivery. 



Hopefully this weekend we can get the doors in!



Laundry woes

When I got home from work today I tried to hookup the laundry. The re plum of the sink was successful and all I had to do was hook up / plug in the washer and dryer. No big deal. My roommate Dave helped me move the washer and dryer in place.

After dealing with some BS with Comcast I went back down to hookup the hoses. Of course the valve that worked two weeks ago for the hot water hookup was leaking once I opened them up...

Nothing is ever easy. Now I have to replace that valve. Add that to the To Do List for this weekend.

I need to do laundry...

Tile Progress & Laundry hookup

As I mentioned earlier, I was away this weekend and I did not much work on the weekend. The past week there was a little mid week work and progress on the tile. The shower base is finally complete. The curb has been tiled. All I have to do is grout it all and fill in some tile at the base.

As I mentioned earlier I ended up using the floor tile for the curb. On Tuesday Jason is going to help me measure and order the glass and all of the fittings / hardware. I'm hoping this does not cost more than expected. I know all glass showers are expensive... Jason used to work at the glass place so he gets a discount.

The shampoo and soap recess is also tiled. It is just about centered which... but I should have tried harder to make it the same size as the tiles. It is a little small to begin with and if it were 4 full tiles wide it would have been perfect... Nothing I can do about it now.

With Jason's help we haev measured and ordered the mirror. I am going to have a flush mirror inlaid with the tile. There will be a 2 tile border at the top and sides. The mirror was cheaper than expected. For once something was cheaper than expected. Hopefully that can get installed this week and then the wall tile finished.

Before I left for the bachelor party I had a chance to start the floor grout. This was easier than I thought. Switching the color of the grout was a very good decision. It also helps mask some of the imperfections. This is a few from the steps looking down.

Close up shot. I used pre-mixed TruColor epoxy grout. It was more expensive than traditional grout, but much easier to work with and it is supposed to be stain resistant. Not as important here as it will be in the bathroom. You do not have to seal this grout, even in wet locations.

Today I got back from the bachelor party weekend and though I could squeeze in a quick task. Since the grout is complete under the laundry I wanted to hook my laundry back up. The laundry pile is getting pretty large. The first step was to hookup the sink and re plum the supply lines. Unfortunately I broke the drain collar while trying to hookup the trap and had to run to Home Depot... Just when I thought I was going to have a quick easy task. Make that trip number 42. It all worked out in the end. I just need to get someone to help me move the washer and dryer back.

Mid week tile work

Still working on the tile. I have been pretty busy with work work and not had an opportunity to get much further since the weekend. Jason came today to help with some more of the tile. here are a few shots.

The shower area is almost complete. The curbs are all in. I will order the glass for the shower on Monday. Hopefully I can get it in a week or so to do the install. I'm currently picking out the hardware for the doors and glass walls.

Unfortunately the grout did not come out as expected. These are some mockups of the grout. The grout for the floor tiles is MUCH lighter than expected. Now I have to run back to the distributor first thing in the morning to try to exchange it. It is way too light.

I'm headed out of town this weekend for Big V's bachelor party. So no work will get done this week. Moving forward I have several weekend plans. I'm not sure when I will have time to get all of this done. There is still a lot to do.



Tile Day 4

My goal for the weekend was to lay all of the floor tile. Yesterday with Billy's help we made some solid progress. Today I was able to do the rest of the floor tile. It all came out pretty well. There are about 5 tile intersections that look pretty crappy up close, but I'll have to live with it.

The knee pads were a huge help, but I have had them on so long that the back of my knees are sore because of the straps. Hopefully a few days off will do the trick.

Looking from the door of the bathroom towards the toilet and boiler closet. I turned the tile layout 90 degrees in the bathroom. The tile layout worked out real well. The only small tiles ended up at the back of the toilet.

These are the last floor tiles that have to go in. I left this spot open last night as well as the tile in the middle left so that I did not cut myself off and have to walk around the block or step on wet tiles. I tried to fill in the last few tiles. Unfortunately the gap is about 1/8" to small. A tile just barely fits. I saw this coming last night and tried to spread the tiles while they were wet. Unfortunately it is still a little too tight. I'm going to hold off until Jason is back to help me with this one.

View from bedroom door looking into bathroom.

I also had Filipe the drywall guy back this morning to do the last of the drywall. Remember that ugly brick next to the stairs? Whoever told me it was a bad idea to try to expose brick... was right. A few hundred bucks later and it is back to how it looked before I started the project. He also patched a large hole at the top of the stairs from the electrical work.

The building inspector said  have to drywall the bottom of the stairs. I have no clue why, but since Filipe was coming back to do the wall next to the stairs, it made sense to just do it. I'm not sure why I didn't have him just drywall that wall to the right. I was too busy tiling and was not paying attention. I'm over it.

Since my back was not sore enough, I decided to dig a planting bed to plant some tomatoes and peppers. Everywhere I dig in this yard there are clusters of bricks buried. What a pain in the ass.

Tile Day 3

I went on Home Depot visit 41 last night after happy hour to pick up a few more bags of thinset and knee pads. The knee pads made a big difference today.

Today Billy came over to help me do some time. He has never done tile before but did a pretty damn good job. We were able to get most of the floor done. After he left I finished up some threshold areas and started to go into the bathroom.

Threshold into the bedroom

I turned the tile 90 degrees when I got into the bathroom. These are the first 4 tiles. Tomorrow I plan on finishing all the bathroom floor tile. Then go back to the wall tile.

The corridor and laundry area is mostly complete. Tonight I will go back and clean off all the extra thinset.

Looking into the bathroom from the corridor.

Looking towards the laundry area from the bathroom.

Today was pretty productive. I'm pleased with the progress on the floor tile. I'm still behind where I wanted to be by this weekend. I just didn't realize how long it takes to tile. Now the bachelor parties and weddings begin... so my progress is going to slow starting next weekend.

Mid Week Work

For once I do not have a Home Depot visit to report... the count stays at 40 but I already have my list for visit 41. Knee pads is number one on the list. Big tile weekend ahead of me.

The first thing I did last night was pull out the spacers. This is when you notice all the little mistakes. Nothing I can do about it now. Overall the first floor tiles put down look pretty good. I cleaned all the extra thinset.

I also put another layer of thinset down at the low point of the floor. This SHOULD make it a little easier setting the tiles in this area.

As you can see the laundry and laundry sink has been removed to get the tile in. Jason gave me the good news that I am going to have to replum the laundry sink. Shown in this shot, once the tile comes in it is going to lift the skin about 3/4". When I set the plumbing I did not leave enough room in the legs of the sink to make the adjustment. I'll have to cut the copper and shorten it as well as extend the drain. Add it to the list...

The last of the tile finally showed up. Of course the substitute tile is not the same size as the wall tile. The goal was to line up all the joints... The original tile would have worked. I'll have to get over it. I also did not order enough tile for the shower floor. I'm not sure what I was thinking. If I go with the regular floor tile shown in the photo I will have enough. I think I prefer the smaller tile on the curb, but I will have to rush order more... I'll think about it tonight.

Jason also came over yesterday and today to do some more wall tile and the final prep for the shower floor.