After clearing away all the old tile in the bathroom there was nothing else to do but lay a new one. More so than with the basement this required some fancy tile work, but then that's why we made the basement bath where we could try and err and learn. For example we had this tricky L-shape to fill.
So we made this little piece with three cuts.
And here's the result, a perfect fit.
Going around the toilet drain was another troublesome area, so we divided it into quadrants because it was easier to make a 90-degree arc than to try for something more complicated. After much time spent hunched over the wet saw to grind out the missing pieces we achieved this.
Here's what it looked like as of last night with all the tile in its places with bright shiny faces.
With the tile securely in place today we grouted the whole thing. We used the same color as the basement bath because after all it's the same tile. Again the experience we gained from the "practice bathroom" helped make this picture-perfect. No stray ThinSet or grout to be found. We'll let this cure over night and then start putting the room back together tomorrow.
Pictures don't do it justice but we took advantage of the room being cleared out to repaint everything. We had not been able to get the space behind the toilet when we changed colors so that had been bothering us for months. In addition we wanted to cover up the not-so-hot Behr paint with our much preferred and superior paint from Sherwin-Williams.
Elsewhere HD surprised us by getting a new blade for the toe kick saw quicker than expected, so when we weren't neck deep in paint, ThinSet, grout, or tile we cut everything we could in the kitchen in preparation for that job. If you've never seen or used a toe kick saw, it's basically a small circular saw with a funky placement that allows you to slide along under the toe kick.
And when it works it produces something like this (any waviness in the line is due to operator error).
Being intrepid DIYers we know the value of having more than one project to work on because you never know when a hiccup may arise, as we learned yesterday, that requires you to adjust your plans or even scrap them. So we've moved on to redoing the floor in the upstairs bathroom.
You may recall that the bathroom currently looks like this:
And you may wonder what's wrong with this picture? Well the same problem that we had in the basement bathroom--the floor tiles are stone and hence higher maintenance than we want to deal with. We're going to install the same ceramic tiles that we put in the other bathroom but first we had to take up this one.
Step one was to remove the toilet and vanity like so.
Next, as we learned before, we used the Bosch to remove some of the grout, thus breaking the connection between tiles and giving us room for our chisel to gain purchase.
Then it was hammering time to get up the tiles. This is one time we were happy that this is such a small bathroom. Fortunately the tile came up a little easier than the ones attached to the cement floor in the basement.
Tomorrow we'll continue to get as much old ThinSet up as we can to make the smoothest surface possible. Then it'll be time to get out the trowels and fire up the wet saw. After we get the floor done we're going to paint the walls, move the mirror up to accommodate a new backsplash, make the backsplash, and change the light. One thing we hadn't counted on was some minor drywall work, courtesy of some seriously overzealous gluing on the old backsplash by our first contractors.
A funny thing happened on the way to redoing the kitchen floor...
We had planned to take up at least half the floor today and possibly install the new oak. Step one--after visiting Home Depot's tool rental center to get a floor nailer--was to cut the floor along the toe kick line because we don't want to disturb the cabinets and hence are leaving the maple floor under them. Our first idea was to use the Bosch multitool to make the cut (after removing the toe kick).
This was slow going. After an hour we had a shallow cut line marked, a few inches cut through to the subfloor, several burned out blades, and one seriously warm tool.
So Plan B was to go back to the HD tool center and get a toe kick saw. We got something like this and got to work. It's basically a small power saw and cut better than the Bosch but not a whole lot better. Every few inches it would conk out and belch smoke from where the blade was cutting. The black marks inside the cut are scorch marks.
A third trip to the neighborhood HD revealed that the blade was dull from use (not uncommon for a rental tool). They didn't have a replacement anywhere in the store, so we returned the tool and the nailer. They're going to order a new blade and once they get it we'll restart this project. So it's on to the upstairs bathroom!
Elsewhere we continued our backyard beautification project by powerwashing the back fence. And boy did it need it. Here's the job half done and you can see what a difference it makes. Once this has a few days to dry we'll stain it.
Here's a close-up of the panel that was in the worst shape. The tree's roots were pushing it out at the bottom, it was semi-detached at the top, and a 2-inch thick vine had grown through parts and pushed boards (including the one on the top) askew. A new 2x4 to attach the vertical slats and post to helped anchor the bottom. Elsewhere (and not just on this panel) a number of slats had come loose at the bottom. Nothing some 2-inch screws couldn't handle.
More than a week ago we had a trash removal company come and take down the old chain-link fence at the back of the backyard. The whole job took two guys about an hour to do and leaves us with a little work. We need to fill the holes where the cement held the poles, cut back the last bits of ivy, do some repair work to the neighbor's fence, power wash the whole thing, and then stain it the same color as the pressure treated parts of the deck. Our side of this old fence is going to look like a million bucks.
Upstairs we continued to add some finishing touches in rooms where all the real reno is done. Here the living room got some new pillows.
We were feeling so good about the basement being all-but done that we had a little party to celebrate, which necessitated some new plates more in keeping with our overhauled house.
Next on tap will be to replace the wood floor in the kitchen. Like so many other early decisions (stone tile in the bathrooms, some paint choices, stain vs. paint on the interior doors, etc.) this is one that no longer makes sense now that we have time to decide what we like. Step one was to buy the unfinished oak flooring to acclimate it to our house. On top is oak bullnose that will lead go at the top of the stairs to the basement.
After preparing the basement bathroom this week we finished the job. Naturally step one was to lay the tile. We fired up our friend's wet saw and settled in for the day. To make the top and bottom borders we sliced a piece of bullnose lengthwise in half and mitered the two corners where a vertical and horizontal piece meet (on the far left and right). We maxed out the number of tile spacers in this fairly small space to keep gravity from working its magic on the tiles until the ThinSet had set. So here's the pretty close version.
While we had the ThinSet out we put the four vertical pieces on the riser, which used to match the stone floor tiles that we took up. One other thing we were careful to do was align the grout lines. It's the little things that make us happy. The contractors who did the previous tile work in this room are great, but they'll never be as careful John and Suzy Homemaker.
Our decision to mirror the design from the shower in the sink backsplash meant we maximized the number of grout lines. But it was worth it. After cleaning up the excess and adding the matching caulk to waterproof the whole countertop here's the virtually complete vanity (the replacement doors and drawer front are on order and we need to move the one outlet that's now stuck behind the mirror).
And here's how the shower side looks all complete with a new shower curtain that we made.
While we're at it, here's the final version of the door as well, now with a privacy screen that we made by using the mechanism from a regular vinyl shade but replacing the vinyl with the same fabric as the shower curtain to tie everything together nicely.
The final tally on this bathroom is:
- shower worked on by two contractors (first team quit before finishing it)
- floor tiled with stone, then added to when room expanded, and finally replaced with ceramic tile
- sink vanity in left corner facing shower, then after room expanded moved to right corner facing door, and finally rotated 90 degrees in right corner to face shower
- added second vanity and oak countertop in left corner next to sink vanity
- second light added when we expanded the room and placed over the sink vanity
- exhaust fan added, replacing one that incomprehensibly was in the shower
To be fair, here's a reminder of what we had to start with. You can see why we were impatient to make changes, even if that haste meant we've had to undo a lot of our first attempts now that we've had more time to think.
This is the exhaust fan.
So now that we've recapped what still remains to be done, all that was left was to start crossing those projects off bit by bit. We had some successful demo work done, but that will await photos.
Instead let's get to the building. We put rails and copper caps on the deck. It's not code but it sure does look nice. Next we'll tackle the new steps--replacing the broken down old stringers with new pressure treated stair stringers and cypress treads--and stain everything.
Here's the view from the deck. Just try to picture the rails the same color as the decking. We're almost ready for prime time.
Back in the basement we are all prepared to create the backsplash with the colorful Mexican tiles. We wanted to protect our diligently prepared oak counter and the freshly installed sink and counter. Painter's paper and tape seemed perfect for the job.
