We went out as a family to pick tiles and get the rest of the stuff to start the flooring project. My poor son has spent more time in his short life in the Lowe's flooring section than what is reasonable for any human to endure, nevermind a two-year-old. I guess Friday night was the last straw for him because he totally lost it moments after hitting the tile aisle. Only the promise of seeing the array of inflatable Santas and snowmen on the other side of the store could mollify him.
This is not something you typically witness on home improvement shows, but it would be awesome to see folks forced to pick kitchen cabinets or whatever in three minutes or less because a toddler in the group is going into meltdown:
Designer: (bellowing to make himself heard over the screaming kid) YOU SEE, THE LIGHT REFLECTING FROM THE OAK REALLY ACCENTS THE COUNTERTOPS...
Home Owner: (waving him off impatiently) SURE, SURE, WHATEVER JUST PICK SOME AND LET'S GO! WE'LL WORRY ABOUT THAT #$%! LATER!
So, tiles were chosen basically because they occupied space and had mass. Their looks, which were nice enough, were incidental.
I began tearing up the linoleum in the bathroom Saturday morning. It was actually pretty easy to get up - I didn't need the crowbar I mentioned after all. :) Well, I did, but only to remove the trim and baseboards.
Jimmydunes helped me cut the cement board into the appropriate jigsaw puzzle shapes. We used a Black & Decker 4 1/2 inch angle grinder with a masonry blade to make that happen since the utility knife was not up to the task. I used this tool before to shape the blocks and the capstones for the garden and firepit. It worked well especially for the seven inch toilet hole but the ON/OFF switch started acting up and then popped off altogether two cuts from completion. The thing would operate only by jamming a screwdriver into the slot where the switch was. Since operating the tool that way would take four hands and a complete and utter disregard for our safety and the safety of those around us, we decided to score and snap the last bits instead.
Screwing the cement board down was time consuming but fairly uneventful. I had to use a 20-year-old corded drill to do most of that step - my cordless drill was just not up to the task. After electrical-taping the mess out of the embrittled and frayed cord, the screws went in easily. That is the last time I will use that drill, though...
Laying the tile was actually a lot of fun. I was pleased to discover that the distance from the sink cabinet to the wall, when using quarter inch grout spacing, was an integer number of tiles. The closet was similarly conveniently sized and shaped. I still had a lot of cuts to do, though, and I burned through a 4" tile saw blade before I could complete laying the tile. That was fine with me since I had been at it for twelve straight hours and needed a break anyway.
The last cuts were made the following morning and the last tile was set into place around noon. I had six hours to kill before I could grout so I went to the gym and afterward we all went and picked out a Christmas tree (a live one this year). After hauling it up into the loft dealing with the stand, fun time was over and it was time to get back to work.
I finished grouting at about 9PM. I thought the white grout would look a little weird with the off-white tiles, but it looks just fine.
I re-installed the toilet today, and everything seemed to go fine. No leaks (yet). Props to Jimmydunes for the suggestion that a small sticky note with the words “HEY, $%#*, DID YOU REMEMBER TO TAKE THE RAG OUT OF THE HOLE?” printed on it be stuck to the toilet. This reminds the installer that the rag that he/she stuffed in the outlet piping to allow him/her the privilege of breathing more oxygen than sewer gas while the floor was put in should probably be taken out BEFORE the toilet is re-mounted. Apparently, this comes from experience...
So far, so good with the bathroom project. Next comes the painting, I think... but we might be looking at a new sink this week. We will see.
(To be continued...)
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