Grout's Done

Thursday Jan 14
Mud and sand 4th coat. That should do it. Whew. This is going a lot slower than expected. Cleaning up all this dust is a chore (note in the picture, our floor is actually a dark gray/blue color but you wouldn't know it).




Friday Jan 15

We are priming the walls, and are so very much looking forward to seeing some paint up there.

The carpenters are back to finish up the garage door exterior aluminum trim. The old, original door is history, and it is replaced with a fresh white door and trim. What an improvement to curb appeal (and I am having fun using the key pad... beep beep beep - Open Sesame!).



Saturday Jan 16
It's time to grout. Our subcontractor recommended using sanded grout--just like it sounds, the grout has sand in it. Supposedly it is less prone to cracking over time than un-sanded grout. But, the other side to it is that it is tough (or impossible being another word) to stuff the grout particles into tiny cracks between tiles on vertical surfaces. We've done this before on a floor, but on the tub alcove walls, it is much more difficult and time-consuming to get the grout to stay on the wall. Our grout also happens to have mixed-up very dry, which makes the job even trickier.

Once again, we have mixed up too much grout to get on the walls before it dries out. With thinset and grout, once you add water to the dry mix, the clock starts ticking. It is a race to get the product where it needs to go before it dries out. Taking a break is not really an option, which makes for sore arms and a sweaty, cranky disposition.

Sunday Jan 17
We are sore. Today we are cleaning up our work area. Just about every tool we own is a pile in the hallway next to the bathroom. It is getting to the point that we can't put our feet down, because there's too much junk in the area. We're taking a light day to tidy things up, pick our paint color and wait while the grout cures.