Recent Photos

These are from several days ago. I'm behind on my photos, as usual! I've finished tiling the table area by the bay window since then. I've also tiled where the fridge and work desk are. The orange stuff is now laid all behind the island. One of my next steps is to tile back there.

With these bigger 20 inch tiles, I've discovered that I needed a bigger trowel (1/2 in x 1/2 in) so that the thinset fills consisently under the tiles. Otherwise, there are hollow cavities under many of them when the dry. Unfortunately, I learned this AFTER I tiled all that you see here. A couple of these tiles are really prone to crack or break if I drop something on them over the years. I suppose I'll have a few extra tiles left over in case this happens.

Still Tiling

I've been writing software for my oil refinery client during the day and tiling after work and late into the night. This week, I've worked from around 6 to 11:30 every day except today. I've got the orange Ditra underlayment put down across most of the table area and the hallway to the master bedroom. I've also got much of the table area tiled.

I also took time out recently to install video security cameras around the outside of the house. It's a bummer to have to spend the money and time, but I grow more concerned about the house across the street and the people who come and go from there. Did I tell you about the evidence that someone tried climbing a ladder and looking over the cardboard I have up in the windows? Apparently, it happened when they tried to break into the back door a couple of months ago. They stole my extension ladder and apparently used it against the house in the driveway. The evidence is the part of the gutter that's bent outward where it looks as if someone pulled themselves up using the gutter as a handle.

So now I've got three cameras (soon to be 4 once the company sends me a replacement power supply. They're set to record when motion is detected. I feel better knowing I'll have evidence if I need it.

Today, we put wood strips under each kitchen drawer to add reinforcement. We cut them to fit and used contact cement to attach them. The plywood used in the bottoms was thinner than I would have liked.

This Sunday, I'm starting to host a book study group on the book Liberty and Tyranny by Mark Levin. Even though I'm not living there yet, I plan to host the group at my house! So before then, I hope to make more progress on the tile, begin to work on landscaping in the front yard, and put up toilet paper and towel hangers in one of the bathrooms.

My replacement fridge still is not here. They called again yesterday to let me know it still hasn't arrived. No word on how long it will be.

Operational Pause in Tiling

After a good week making progress on the tiling, I've started another job as an independent software developer for that local oil refinery. So this week, I'm starting to put a majority of my time into that.

In the last two weeks, I've finished grouting the master bath and the spa tub deck (I still have to tile the walls in there), and the hallway between the guest bedrooms. I also put tile as the baseboard in the laundry room and grouted that. The only floors I have left to tile are the big rooms: the kitchen and the TV room. That should go fairly quick once I start.

I can't remember if I mentioned that all my sinks are hooked up. The plumbers have those and two of my toilets in. So now I can reap the benefits of my $9,000 sewer hookup! We moved the washer and dryer into the laundry room and hooked up the dryer before we left the other day. So the laundry room is finished except for the eventual cabinets that will go in.

Best Buy was originally scheduled to deliver the new fridge and take the damaged one today. But the new one has been delayed in shipping. No problem! No hurry there.

I can't wait to start tiling the rest of the house! I'm hoping to finish the big rooms before I start hosting a small group for my church next month. Even if I'm not living there, it will work for holding a meeting.

Another Tiling Update

We spent all day on Saturday tiling in the master bathroom. First, we finished the deck for the spa tub. That part takes so much time because every tile needs to be cut to fit. And then laying the tile is something that takes time because you want to get it as level as you can for the rim of the tub to sit on.

Laying out the tiles ahead of time, I saw how tricky it is to tile around an opening like that. When you're laying tile in a grid on a continuous surface, all the pieces lock together and you can easily keep the pattern going. When you have a big hole in the middle, you don't have that and the pattern can get out of square on the other side of the hole. I had to use a laser level to keep everything in line. Even then, I had to leave larger spaces between some rows on the back of the deck so that things would line up ok with the front of the deck.

After that was done, we moved back down to the floor. I had bought another box of the 12in tiles thinking that would be enough to finsih the floor. It's a mix of 12in and 6in tiles. Well, not only did I run out of 12in tiles again, but now I'm out of 6in tiles also. We used a lot of 6in ones on top of the spa tub deck. I'll be ordering another box of each. In the meantime, I have different tile I can be laying in the other parts of the house. I'll be working on that tomorrow until my dentist appointment at 4.

God and Best Buy Come Through in a Pinch

I've had my appliances since New Years Eve, and I did open them to take a quick look at them. On the fridge, I took off the cardboard box but not the plastic bag and styrofoam pads. I left them on to protect the unit from dust and bumps, etc.

On Thursday, we took off everything and found a damaged corner of the unit. The top left corner looked like someone hit it with a forklift or something. The door is damaged, but so is the main case of the unit. When you open the door, you see plastic parts broken and the metal bracket that holds the hinge is bent up.

I know Best Buy's return/exchange policy is 30 days. So I was afraid I was going to have to eat this as a loss and buy another refrigerator. I was definitely at their mercy on this one. I was praying that God would give me favor in the eyes of the store management and that they would help me out. And that's exactly what happened! After some back and forth with the manager, he agreed to exchange it. The model I originally bought was discontinued, so I'll have to pay the difference to get a different one. But they are going to exchange it for me.

Whew! God has been so faithful to me. And Best Buy is awesome, too.

Tiling Update

Two of the bathrooms are completely tiled and grouted, as well as the laundry room. The master bath floor is almost tiled. I ran out of 12in tiles and had to order more. I'm picking them up today. Yesterday, we started tiling the spa tub deck. That's excrutiating because almost every tile needs to be cut to fit.

The plumbers are supposed to come out today and install some toilets and sinks for me.

Also yesterday, we finally unpacked the refrigerator and found some bad news: the top corder looks like it was beaten up in shipping. The metal body and the door are badly bent, and when you open the door you can see the damage continues inside. I had the appliances delivered from Best Buy at the beginning of the year so I would know how big to have my cabinet openings built. I know that I should have checked them all thoroughly before now, but other work was occupying my time. I'm hoping they don't give me a lot of trouble trying to exchange it. I still have a house full of electronics to buy, and they'd be saving a good customer by accomodating me.

Photos of First Tiling

Here are a few shots of what's been done so far. None of these have been grouted yet. First is the hall bath with the hopscotch pattern. I really like this:

Next is the half bath with the diamond pattern:

Finally, here's the incomplete laundry room. You can see how the orange Ditra underlayment is underneath.

Full-Blown Tiling Started

I've tiled two and a half rooms in the house so far. The hall bath was first on Monday, 4/13. I did a hopscotch pattern, and it came out fantastic (pictures coming soon). It also took a long time. I started laying tile around 2pm and we finally wrapped up and went home around midnight. I think it's because it was my first time with the different pattern and because there were so many nooks and crannies with the toilet space, the closet, and two door frames.

Next came the half bath and part of the laundry room on Wednesday. I used a diamond pattern in the half bath. That room looks great also. The laundry room floor is graded toward the center floor drain, and we were concerned about some tiles not sitting flat on the floor. I used a more generous bed of thinset to give all tiles more support. It worked out pretty well. I still have the other half of this room to tile.

I've taken time off to work on the software contract job I have. Most of this week will be spent on the job as well. Monday and Tuesday of next week (4/27-4/28) will be spent on site with the client. Then I can get paid! That will help with the house project.

I haven't grouted anywhere except the bathroom in the back garage. In there, I used grout from Home depot. It was a bone color on the box, but dried completely white. It does not look good. Also, the grout I bought for my big tile in the kitchen and TV room now appears way too light. They won't take it back, so I'm stuck with 125 lbs of grout I can't use. Getting dark gray grout is one of the next things on my list.

Started Tiling in the House

After a week of working on my contract job and not even going to the new house, we were back there on Friday to lay my first room with the orange tile underlayment called Ditra from a compnay called Schluter. This stuff is put down using a layer of thinset, just like tile. The tile will be put down over this stuff using more thinset.

The purpose of the underlayment is to de-couple the cement floor from the tile. If the cement floor cracks over time, there's a buffer between it and the tile that minimizes the chance of the crack translating to the tile. The underlayment has a 3D shape similar to a waffle.

It also has the benefit of being a moisture barrier so that wetness from the ground can't come up into the tile. Finally, it's supposed to provide a bit of sound dampening. I'm hopeful that it will take the edge off the cavernous echo that would otherwise come from tile throughout the house.

Today, we'll continue installing this underlayment in the other bathroom and luandry room (I don't plan on using it in the master bathroom). On Monday, I hope to start laying the tile in these rooms.

Kithcen Corner Cabinets Installed

The cabinet guys were out again on Wednesday to install the corner cabinets in the kitchen now that the coutertops are in place. It looks good! There are some decisions I need to make about trim moulding where the cabinet meets the countertop, and also around the microwave opening.

On Thursday, I picked up the final oversized sink for the master bath. The countertop guys came out later that day to install it and finish caulking in some places. My mom and I had made a thorough inspection of everything and found a few details for them to address: There was a window sill they made for me that was installed off-level, one sink was mounted off-center from its hole, the hall bath counter has a splotch of discoloration, and and some places needed either a touch-up of caulk or hadn't been caulked at all yet.

They took care of everything except the two most noticeable things: the off-center sink and the discoloration. He informed me that fixing the sink would entail removing the entire counter and chiseling off the sink (since they attached them using a thick epoxy glue). This might damage the sink.

The discoloration was a manufacturing defect, he told me. I wondered why they didn't see this spot during their fabrication process. It looked like they could have easily spun the slab around and let the spot be in the area the cut out for the sink. I asked if they could make another slab for me. He called and got permission to do that, but again, it would involve breaking the seal to remove the undermount sink. This could damage the sink.

So instead of risking the broken sinks, I asked for a discount to compensate for both of these issues. We settled on $225. Yes, I probably should have pushed for more. I'm just not good at that kind of thing.

I've been spending time working on a contract job I landed. I need to finish the job because I need the money for the house. So the last 3 days have mostly been spent on that. Tomorrow, we'll go back and touch up more trim. I'd also like to start laying tile in either the laundy room or one of the bathrooms.