It took way longer than it should have. I grouted two times more than I should have. It is finally done! The tile looks good. The grout matches very well (we ended up using the grout color that Bret picked out). D and I were both wrong on our color selections. I nailed the baseboard wood back on. Now we just have to clean the floors and it is all done. Yippee!
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Getting Good At Grouting
I’ve grouted it twice now and tomorrow I’m going for number three. The first one was too dark. The second one was way too light. Tomorrow I’ll be doing the color in between. The height difference is noticeable to me but probably not to anyone else. The grout color I did first was better than the second one. I really can’t wait for this project to be over with. My hands hurt, my house is dusty and what I thought was going to be $60 is now more like $120. I’ve spent $20 extra on 2 different grout colors and $10 extra on the wrong cement board. I have spent a lot on gas for trips to the hardware store and wasted a massive amount of time.
Grout
Today I grouted the tile project and it looked very nice except the grout did not match. It was too brown and the normal grout is much more white/gray. So, we D scraped it out after I put it in and tonight I’ll make my 9th trip to the hardware store to buy more grout. I can’t wait for this project to end!
Wonderboard Is Gone!
Yesterday I went to HomeDepot (now my 4th hardware store run) to try to find a saw that would cut wonderboard (concrete board used under tile). I ran into another customer in hardware who pointed me to a $2.50 masonry blade for my circular saw. Sure enough it worked. The foyer got so dusty that the smoke alarm went off and I had to unplug it (note: concrete dust in your lungs and sinuses does not feel very good). Then I used a pry bar, blade and a hammer to chisel out the wonderboard. It took a couple hours and it made a big mess but it came out. Now I have removed all the tile and wonderboard and cleaned the area. Today at lunch I’m hoping to buy and cut a piece of wonderboard to put down so that I can put the new tile on top of it. I’m hoping to be done with this project by the end of the weekend 🙂
WonderBoard
I figured out that the crazy stuff under my tiles is called WonderBoard. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do with it.
More Tile Progress
So, I finished using the grout saw to work around the 6 tiles that need to be replaced. I used a hammer and pry bar to break out each tile and managed to not break the surrounding tiles. I pulled the quarter round wood off the wall so I could break the tiles out that touch the wall. Ahhh.. All the bad tiles have been removed. Now I just need to figure out what is up with that crazy concrete/pellet board that is under the tiles. Under that crazy board is wood so if I can find some way to cut through it along the edges then I could replace it with a thin piece of wood and then mortar/tile on top of that. So far so good .. now I just want to find a way out of this project 🙂
F@#king Tile
I’m working on replacing 7 cracked ceramic tiles (12×12) in my foyer. They cracked when the house settled over the last 7 years and since we were thinking of moving in the spring I wanted to try to tackle these types of deal breakers for potential home buyers. Man, this is turning out to be a big pain. First, I had to use a grout saw to scrape the grout out around the cracked tiles. A grout saw is like a toothbrush with a blade on it – so it is extremely hard to use. Once I got the grout all scraped out I started breaking up the tiles. That has turned out to be WAY harder than expected even with a pry bar and hammer it took me an hour to get 3 tiles up. The tiles are mortared to a mesh net which is above a level of more mortar and some type of pellets mixed in. The floor is very uneven under the tiles now so before replacing them I’m going to need to dig them out and then build them up to a nice level surface. So here is my remaining to do list:
- remove baseboard trim from wall
- break up remaining tiles
- dig out mortar/mesh so that surface is low enough to place new tiles
- level out surface to place tiles on
- mortar and tile it
- match up grout
- grout it
- pay someone to come try to fix my mess 😦
$159 – Replace Thermostat In Dryer
Our clothes dryer broke last week. D had to take the clothes in the washer to the local laundromat to use their dryer. That was the first time she had ever used a laundromat so I guess it was an experience. She went to the post office to kill time and dropped off the orders.
The dryer man from J & B appliance came and replaced the thermostat the next day for $159. The dryer was probably only $300 when it was purchased by the previous owner of our home (it came with the the house when we bought it). I need to start keeping track of how much money we put into these old appliances so I don’t end up paying more than the price of replacement on repairs. The dryer works now as it should 🙂
Bugs In Kitchen
Today I sprayed our house for bugs. We have tiny bugs in our kitchen by the back door and in our bedroom and bathroom (both above the kitchen). Tiny, very tiny. They are so small they are hard to even see. They jump when they are about to be squished. They seem harmless but I don’t like them in the house. I’m going to spray our laundry room and outside the house tomorrow so that they die before they come in.
Monty Kamath 