A Whirlwind Day of Plumbing

Wed Jan 20
Up early to prep the work area for the plumbers. After pulling up the drop cloth, finishing up a little paint touch-ups and vacuuming up even more dust. The plumbers arrive. A quick spray of grout sealer under the vanity's future location clears the way for the pros to proceed.

Uh oh! That's not good. The radiator is supposed to sit on the subfloor when it goes back in. We laid plywood underlayment and tile too close to where the radiator needs to fit. After some discussion about pulling up tiles, the plumber is able to use his angle grinder to cut back the offending tile. Sounds risky but the plumber makes a fine cut, and the radiator can go back in. Whoops... another drama. We finished the garage below, but the plumber needs access from below to finish the closet flange drain plumbing. Ugg! Also, the heating system's new pipes weren't tested while the ceiling was open. Two choices--open up the ceiling, or cross our fingers and hope for the best. It's a conundrum.

Anyway, they install the radiator, toilet and vanity in short order. Nice!
With the radiator installed, we can turn the heat back on. Nope! That bang bang bang sound rattling the house is the seized-up water pump for the heater. The good news is that the plumber found a nickel behind the boiler. The bad news is that I'm going to need to find a lot more of them to cover the cost of replacing the pump. Ouch!

Our new pump is good to go, but our water heater pressure relief valve is leaking. We better get that fixed, too. This is looking like an expensive day.

The plumbers bleed all the radiators (and our wallet), and we have heat again. Yay!

After the plumbers are done, the grout on the floor needs retouching. I don't know how, but big chunks got pulled up... whatever. Grouting was a lot easier to do before the fixtures went in... Finally, the floor tile grout is finished. While it is drying, I manage to get a second coat of grout sealer over the tiles of the tub alcove.

Now, for the final thrust --the shower! It is late in the day, and this task has been punted into the future more than once. It is an "outside the wall, external mount shower". We chose it because it is the only all-in-one device on the market that provides: (a) safe thermostatic temperature control, (b) a shower/tub filler combo, (c) temperature labeled in degrees Celsius (not that that's really a feature we were looking for).

Anyway, it is very fancy. It is a "flush-mount design" of presumably British origin and is yet another item requiring precision installation. Regardless, it is really pretty cool.
In the process of precisely installing the shower, Jake manages to accidentally turn on the handle of the ball valve for the water supply... Squirt, splash, bloody cursing ensues...(though thankfully for less than a few seconds), I guess it would be out of place to install something without a little bit of drama.

The shower is on the wall, but the impromptu water-works makes sweat soldering the last few connections less than easy to do tonight. We drain out the house water supply to isolate the problem shower connection for fixing tomorrow. A long day deserves some rest... maybe tomorrow we can take a shower... maybe...

Paint Is On

Monday, Jan 18
Sue caught the head cold going around and so we begin the day trying out a new XBox game, Dragon Age Origins; eight hours evaporate. In the evening we pry ourselves away from the game, and we get some paint on the ceiling and walls. It looks great but we can tell our mudding technique might be coming back to haunt us. We will look again in the morning with fresh eyes.

Tuesday, Jan 19
In the daylight and with paint on the wall, the wall still looks lumpy. Sue takes some cold medicine and heads to work, but to quote Bugs Bunny "I shoulda stood in bed".

Another layer of mud goes on to smooth out the seams and patches. Ugg! After another round of sanding and cleaning, we try one more coat of paint to see if we finally succeeded with the drywall. I think we got it this time.

We call up the electrician and plumber to get them in to finalize their work. The end is in sight!

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.

Mudding Ain't Me Forte

Monday, Jan 11

It's time to tape and mud the drywall. Taping is easy; So is slapping joint compound (mud) onto the drywall seams. The challenge is doing it correctly. Getting a nice smooth seam takes a little skill--skill that we don't quite have yet. This will take a while...

We are also able to prep the copper tubes for the shower, we cut the pieces to length, but we are going to save the actual installation until the tile is sealed, grouted and the grout sealed, too. We want to install the shower in one shot and leave it up on the wall when the time is right.

Three of our floor tiles came loose (hopefully it will remain at a count of three), so we have to mix up more thinset and stick them back down. No big deal, but another hassle.

Now, we need to wait for tomorrow to sand down the mud to get smooth joints. Two or three mudding and sanding stages are anticipated to get a final smooth wall.

Tuesday, Jan 12
We apply and sand the second coat of mud and spot some some pretty rough-looking seams. We'll fix that on the third coat. Sanding creates a ton of dust, and doing anything on the ceiling makes for sore and tired arms. Not much else to say...

Wednesday Jan 13
More sanding and mudding-- not there yet. the seams still need some work.

Also, the carpenters stop by to fix the window sill that got torn up pretty badly during demo. We'll finish up the trim later. Overall, we are happy the bath is closed up and looking like a bath, just need to finish up these walls and tile so we can wrap up the installation.

Huzzah!!!

So, we are at another weekend, and it is time to crank out the rest of these tiles. I think my sense of humor is starting to wane; just get this done already! Ugh.

Saturday January 9:
Of course, we can't just wake up and start tiling; there are more things to do. So, we do another pilgrimage to Home Depot and pick up some more thinset. I head out to the tile store to pick up three more tiles because we are coming up a bit short. On the same trip I am able to pick up our special-order sconces. The sconces are totally awesome. I just hope they look as good once up on the wall.

While I do the errands Jake is continuing with the tiling of the bath walls. At the edges (transitions from tile to drywall) we have to worry about how it will work with our window casings and also how to do a tiny little strip of tile down the sides of the tub. Jake has done all the engineering to plan out what needs to be cut and is ready to roll when I get back.



** Slight Interjection - Jake got a great candid of our pooches in the back yard. I think the caption of this pic would be "Yeah, I agree Wiley, our owners are nuts." **





Now it is 3PM, where did Saturday go, Geesh!! We start by putting in the floor tile next to the tub so we can install vertical transition tiles from the floor up (using that wonder of gravity to our benefit this time... see prior posting). Tiny tiles go up, then we round the corner, up up up and we are moving along nicely. But we have to stop because we have to drill holes in two tiles for the shower sprayer mount and the towel rack.

Tired and hungry we stop for the day since out thinset is turning into a brick.

Sunday January 10:
Now I am on a mission! I will not sleep until the last tile is place. It is now my personal medieval crusade. Take heed tiles and thinset, ye shall succumb to thine fates on this good day! But first, make some coffee...

Jake begins drilling the holes for the brushed nickel accoutrements which is a very slow and precise task. We get that done, and up up up, the tiles for the alcove are done. I beseech you, raise your goblets high and give a hearty cheer, for the alcove is done!

Now we move on to the floor. The first run of tile goes down quick and easy, but then we hit the dreaded toilet hole. This one is tricky because it has to be a big enough hole to fit the toilet hole thingy but small enough that the toilet hole thingy's edge sits on the tile. (Jake says it is called a "Closet Flange" but to me, it is a toilet hole thingy).

After staring at this for about 10 minutes, we say "A pox upon thee, toilet hole thingy!" and decide to eat something.

After stuffing some pizza in our faces we are back on the task, and Jake figures it out pretty quickly. We get those two tiles in place, and then it is a race against the clock. Bad news, the thinset is getting thicker... "and Leon's getting laaaaaarger!" (please tell me if you get that reference?)

Plop, scrape, chop, place, smush, repeat, we are brave tiling warriors. We are now down to 6 tiles left and the thinset is vexing us. But, NAY! We do not cower to thick-set. NAY I SAY!!!

Medieval curses follow:
May thou hammer be brittle!
May thou plow seize!
May thou cup be as unto a sieve!
May thou pigs be set upon by ravens and torne asunder leaving only bespecked bone and curdled fat for which the rats upon to feast!

We shall triumph on this good day!!!!! It is now 10PM, the last tile is done. Crusade complete. Huzzah!

Tiling Time

Now that the waterproofing is in place, it is time to tile. Unfortunately, we lost the long weekend so that leaves the tiling to be more of a solo job for Jake each day until I get home from the city. I am eager to help but by the time I get home, Jake is completely spent so I just make dinner and we regroup for the next day.

A few of my observations are:

1. Gravity is not your friend when tiling walls.
2. Nothing is quick nor easy
3. Tiling is messy

Here is a brief summary and photo montage of tiling a tub alcove. Jake I am sure will do a better analysis of the week's play by play when he gets a chance.

Monday January 4th:
Jake is up bright and early ready to start tiling. He lays out the plan and heads to the garage to cut some tiles but, lo and behold, the tile saw we rented has some weird saw blade on it and it is stuck. So, no tile cutting today.

Tuesday January 5th:
Jake gets the tile saw to the rental place and they bang on it and some how get the blade replaced. Jake gets it back and starts to tile. He makes nice progress getting the niche in place.

Wednesday January 6th:
More tiling. The back wall is pretty much done and we have turned the corner to the shower side. That means drilling a bunch of holes for the faucet. Looks very pretty.


Thursday January 7th:
Yet more tiles go up. Notice the fancy spacers, all our knives are now hanging in the wall including the really cool chicken shaped cheese spreaders. Hopefully we wont need to each a cheese ball until this tiling is done.



Friday January 8th:
We are almost done with the tub alcove, only the tub edges remain which will be wrapped up over the weekend.

Those Pesky Germans

Wow, it really is starting to look like a bathroom now. Although we didn't get the tile in over the weekend as we hoped, we have made some substantial progress since out last post. Here is what we've been up to.

December 31:
Our genius move to have the contractors put up the sheetrock in the bathroom is underway. This is going to save us time but most importantly, it is going to save my back a lot of aches and pains. In time for the year end, we are all set with real walls in the bathroom.


Time to pop some bubbly and celebrate the new year.


January 1:
We are going to take it a little easy today and work on all the prep steps before tiling. First is to fasten the underlayment to the subfloor. After a gabillion stripped screws and two chewed up bits, the underlayment is now down and isn't going anywhere again, ever. It took a while but it is done.

Time to prep the walls for waterproofing but we realize that everything we need is out in the freezing cold and needs to warm up before we can move on to the next step.

I think its time to stop and start tomorrow fresh. Time for a spell of Legos Indiana Jones II on the XBOX


January 2:
Okay, so now we are going to prep the walls and floor with the waterproofing materials. This stuff is supposed to be the bee's knees and help us make sure we have no future water damage, etc. Some stuff from a company call Schluter with products called Kerdi and Ditra, it is made in Germany and "you know Germans make great stuff"... (a little homage to the Sham-wow guy in case you didn't catch the reference).

So, this should go pretty quickly. We mix up the thinset that we got from the tile guys and slap it on the walls, then we put up this Kerdi membrane. Piece of cake. Except, of course it isn't.

First, the tile guys gave us the wrong type of thinset. So, I am off to the Home Depot to get the right stuff. Back home and mixing thinset in 15 degrees with winds gusting is no picnic.

Time to get it on the walls. First part, a small pieces at the edge of the tub, done. No problem.

Next, a few small pieces down the side of the tub, done. No problem. Then the bigger pieces need to go in. The trick is to make sure you have nice moist thinset and that there are no air bubbles when we are done. The problem is that we have cement board which is very very thirsty and wants to dry out the thinset before we can get the wall covered and put the membrane on it. We double back and put more on, still drying out. Ugh. Turns out we should be wetting the cement board a bit more than we thought before slapping thinset all over it.

We finally stick up the membrane and start smoothing it out. Now we turn the corner and continue to the next wall. See previous paragraph. Finally get 2nd piece installed. We look back at the first piece and see there are bubbles. Ugh. Now we pull back the 1st piece to work out the bubbles but now the thinset is dry again and it wont stick. Repeat ad nauseam.

So much for getting this up quickly and tiling today. We are covered in thinset and only half done with the walls and it is 9PM. We gotta take a break and pick it up again in the morning.

January 3:
Back to that darn Schluter stuff. How do you say curse words in German because I think I will need to know a few before the day is through? We need to mix up another batch of thinset and use our lesson's learned to complete the job.

Finally done at around dinner time, eat some meatloaf and then tackle installing the Ditra on the floor. This means mixing yet another bucket of a different type of thinset which again, involves going out in the wonderful weather (notice the occasional wind gusts of 50 mph).





But, compared to the Kerdi, Ditra is a breeze.Got that all wrapped up and time to clean up our mess before bedtime.Here is the before and after of all the work we have done (yes we were messy, but at least we clean up nicely).