Pumkin dun

Pumkin dun, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Cutting Tiles

Once we finally got to the tiling it was fun, but took a lot longer than expected. We worked one full day then got as far as we could working for a couple hours each night we had free during the week.

We got to a point where we knew we would have to rent a wet saw to make some cuts. With one inch tiles there's some give you can take in the spacing by dividing the 12" sheet into smaller strips and spreading - say a 1/2 inch space over a number of strips. So we used that technique along the wall edge but when it came to the inset shelves that just wasn't going to work. So we bit the bullet and rented a wet saw for a day. And Im sure glad we did. I made a few attempts at cutting the tiles by hand, but it was not boding well. With the we saw, I got some cracked tiles but by the end I was making pretty clean cuts.

I found a couple of suggestions on the internet for cutting one inch tiles, the post with the images on this thread made the most sense. http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=59810

With a little trial and error we got a system that worked.

The most important part is finding a way to keep your tiles in place as you run them through the saw. Carpet tape was key. But also breaking tiles is inevitable so hopefully you have enough to spare a few.

1. We used an old large tile as a base that we could hold on to as we pulled the saw through. This one was a scrap that we had lying around. Cut a line through the large tile but not all the way through. This will be your base tile that you will use with every cut.
   
2. Place a strip of carpet tape (double sided, really sticky tape) over the line you've made.
   
   
   
   
   
   





3. Place the tiles you want to cut on the tape. Align the cut you want to make over the previously made cut in the base tile. (We had a little room to play with so we did not need to be precise. I just eyeballed for cutting the tiles in half. If you need precision remember to account for the width of the blade and then some.) For traction, you will need to have at least one full tile on either side of the tiles you are cutting.
   
   Some net backings are better than others. As the netting gets wet some types get really flexible. If you find a lot of movement with your tile sheets, especially as you get to the end you may try cutting a shorter length of tile at a time.
   
   
4. Make the cut. Move the blade slowly and steadily to avoid chipping the edges.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. 
   
   When you are done you can peel the tiles off of the tape. You will need to replace the tape with each cut. If you have two people, it helps to have two base tiles. One person can dry and place the tape on the tile while the other is making the cuts.
   

The Shower Continued - Prep and more prep, and finally the tiling begins

Weekend 3 - The tiling
I'm lucky to have a shower at work and we have some nice cousins that let us use their shower. I'm not sure when we will be finished...

The prep work for tiling filled two weekends and a couple of week nights and was still in progress as we headed into memorial day weekend. We called in a plumber to re-plumb our new fixtures and we were glad we did. Plumbers are not cheap but we called him Monday, he came out Tuesday and got the job done in 3 hours. Not sure what the result would be if we had to do that part ourselves. He said it was something that the average home owner should not attempt.

With the walls up, I did a couple of coats of joint compound at the top of the wall, above the tile. I got to be pretty good at smoothing out the seems. We then put on a coat of Hydra Ban which is a water proofing sealant that you just paint on in two coats. That we also picked up from Master Wholesaler.



All these coats of stuff take hours to dry so going into the weekend I was pretty sure we wouldnt actually start tiling until Monday. But this was ok, because as I pulled out the tile that we purchased last November we realized that we didnt buy enough since we changed our design to go a little higher.

So between coats we got the window in and started working on the outside portion where we removed the window. We also got some yardwork and friend time in, which was great!

Alas Monday morning arrived and surfaces were all dry and ready to go.


We were trying to avoid having to cut any tiles because the glass is really fragile so we thought we would start with trying to line up the tiles with the window and see where they would land at the top of the tub. Using rulers and levels we sketched out some lines as guides. It appears that we will be lucky... and no cutting is needed.

Monday at 10 am, we were finally mixing up the thinset and beginning to lay tile. We had to lay the first couple sheets twice. We ended up with a big corner gap, so we scrapped that and on the second time around we started in the corner and laid both sheets at the same time. This worked out much better.



Our first set of tiles took about an hour to get in which is about how long the thinset lasted before it started getting too stiff to adhere to the tiles. Working in these big sheets, you would think it would go faster, but we took a lot of time to get them well spaced and cleaned up. We got into a groove where one person spread out the thinset (the goo) and the other cleaned up and spaced the tiles but it still was slow going.



After one full day of work we were less than halfway done...

BUT I am so excited about how it is turning out!

And the bathroom saga continues... The Shower.

We've been living without a sink since November, we've been doing minor work on the bathroom... putting in the baseboards, moving electrical outlets etc. I was tired of having this project looming over me and I have one million other projects lined up with summer starting and all (building a chicken coop for 1). So we set a date for tiling on Memorial day weekend. Coming up with a little plan in my head, I knew we couldnt do it in one weekend. So 3 weeks ago we decided it was time to give up the shower.

Weekend 1 - We tore out the vinyl surround, took a dump run and picked up supplies.


We got a tip on using "Permabase" cement board as a backer from a friend who had been consulting with a contractor. They sell it in Seattle at Master Wholesaler which is an awesome place if you ever are in the market for construction supplies. They had everything we needed to prep the surround for tiling and they were super nice.



Weekend 2 - Installing the permabase
We were happy to report that we didnt find any damage to the wood below, but what we did find as we demo'ed the walls is that parts of the walls are plaster, and parts have been replaced with drywall. The plaster walls were really uneven, so we had to do some clever shimming and taping to gain the appearance of flat walls. Thats still a work in progress.

We also picked up a couple of pre-formed insets for the soap and a shampoo shelf at Master Wholesaler. We both were having anxiety over trying to build a shelf that would be slanted enough not to pool water but flat enough to hold the soap so we were really excited to find these.

Some scientific naming techniques for our new ladies

Some scientific naming techniques for our new ladies, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Dexter St Stompers

Dexter St Stompers, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Happy St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patty's Day, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

And this is why I hate spring.

And this is why I hate spring., originally uploaded by Patty OK.

And spring begins...

And spring begins..., originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Valentine's Breakfast

Valentine's Breakfast, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Muffin

Muffin, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Ahh. To have a view again

Ahh. To have a view again, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

I moved back to WaMu center today, and while I enjoyed the freedoms of
working in EET, nothing beats the view here. And the printers actually
work. Everytime.

Moving day

Moving day, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

My favorite part of moving is the labeling of the things.

1-17-09 Mt Baker

Every year we go up to Mt. Baker for a weekend with a group of friends. We've rented different houses every time, but they are all managed by the same company. They believe its important to LABEL EVERYTHING. Lightswitches, doors, appliances, all labeled. I guess it would get annoying to have guests calling the office to ask how to turn the living room fan on... do people really do that? My guess is yes.

But this was a little ridiculous, I think the labeler at this house was having some fun.

1-18-09 Mt Baker Trip, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Hmmm. I wonder what goes in that hole in the wall?

1-18-09 Mt Baker, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Oh yes. Toilet paper. Of Course!

1-19-09 leaving mt baker

1-19-09 leaving mt baker, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

The view from our house.

1-18-09 walking around mt baker.

1-18-09 walking around mt baker., originally uploaded by Patty OK.

A pound a day.

A pound a day., originally uploaded by Patty OK.

I read today that you should eat a pound of fruit and a pound of
veggies a day. That's one bunch of Broccolli and 3 apples. Not too bad.

1-10 Seasoning improved the taste

1-10 Seasoning improved the taste, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

At Greenwood Art Collective

At Greenwood Art Collective, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Ahhh 2009

Yes it's 2009 and I want to commit to blogging more. Its about time right!

I've also been intrigued by the ideas of taking a photo everyday, we did it last year, with food photos everyday (and plan to continue that), but want something with a little more interest.

Most days in walking to and from the bus or around downtown I see things that I find somewhat amusing or I have moments with friends that I just want to remember. Or I'm focused on a project that has me all consumed. Ill post the photos here with some explainin' hopefully and tag them all with fotd (i came in second place in the 1st/2nd grade spelling bee).

P.S. I know the blog is screwed up right now. Had some technical glitches that I still need to sort out...

Back to the Y

Back to the Y, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Returned to the Y after a three year hiatus (grad school). Dave, at
the front desk still knew me by name. Amazing.

The grout has been sealed

Bathroom project continues as we cleaned up and patched the walls and finally sealed the grout. We painted on each line with a paint brush, which seemed crazy but had a zen sort of appeal to me. My co-workers seemed to think I was crazy (wouldnt be the first time) they said we could have sprayed it on then wiped it off. Oh well, live and learn.

The grout has been sealed, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Bathroom Project Continues - Tile and the Toilet over Thanksgiving Weekend

After accumulating things and ideas for several months. We blocked out some time to really begin the bathroom project. Thanksgiving weekend gave us three full days that we could dedicate to the project and three full days those were.

We started the weekend before with a free Tiling class at Tile for Less in Seattle. The class was quick and informative, a little of a pitch to get you to buy more products, but generally worth the time if not for the information then for the entertainment of our fellow classmates, that was an interesting crew.

We had a long day of eating and merrymaking on T-day - see previous post on that topic, so we got a late start on Friday. Our first adventure was a trip down to Tile for Less to pick up the Tile, which we ordered a few weeks prior, and all the necessary supplies. Then we began with the demolition.

We took out the linoleum, the cabinets, all the towel bars, the sink and finally the toilet.

Being a one house bathroom, this made me a little nervous, but luckily we live in walking distance to a Fred Meyer that has a decent bathroom, we planned our trips to Home Depot strategically, and we have some nice cousins that let us crash at their place at night.

Our big goal was to get the Toilet back in by Monday morning...

Friday Afternoon - demolition.

When we pulled up the linoleum we found some water damage in the floor boards by the bathtub so we replaced those.

We were charging through and thought we might be able to go all night and get the tile in on Friday.

Then we got to the Toilet hole. The flange style we had did not match anything we found on the internet or in books. We knew the opening would end up lower than the tile tile by almost 1/2 and inch. The guys at the tile class said to get an extra long wax ring, but I wasn't sure about that... So we decided to call it a night and hit Morgan's Kitchen and bathroom (where we got the toilet) first thing the next morning.

Saturday Morning - prepping the floor

We walked into Morgan's, showed them the picture and they said"ohhh, you have a Dutch Flange. You need a flange extender." Hours of debate and internet research solved in quick a trip to the source, and $6 in parts. Nice.

We installed three flange extenders which were glued together with silicone and bolted to the floor. We got extra long toilet bolts and installed them at the same time.

With that chore done, we were ready to lay the DensShield and commence with the tiling.

Saturday Afternoon - Laying the tile
We worked with 2" hex tiles. Austin laid the tiles in the thinset while I made the cuts. Each task was a bit of trial and error. Small tiles are not something I'd recommend for your first tile project, but we like a challenge.

Austin did his best to get the tiles spaced properly. Though they were all on the the net backing we found that to get all loose when it got wet, so many spacers were used and we resigned ourselves to some uneven spacing.

We also had some trial and error with the ThinSet. The first batch was thin and laid down too thick, so it oozed quite a bit through the cracks. We cleaned most of it out, using spacers but this got much cleaner as we progressed and found the right texture and amount to apply.

I worked on the cutting, which I got the hang of after we were about halfway through. I used a dry-erase marker to mark the lines, which worked great. Then used a hand cutter to make the cuts. Here I'm cutting a one-off but by the end I was making special cuts to tiles on the sheet which worked out much easier when laying them on the thinset.


We finished laying the tiles, and cleaning up at about 9:30 pm. We were going to walk over to Naked City to have a Celebratory beer, but I was so tired I couldn't move. So we got a frozen pizza and went to the Cousin's to crash out.









Sunday - The grouting
We had to let the tiles dry for at least 24 hours which meant we couldn't begin with the grouting until Sunday night. That meant we would miss our goal of getting the toilet in by Mon Morning, but we still survived. We spent the day looking for lighting and picking up a few more supplies.
After dinner we began with the grouting. This was also harder than it looks.

We chose a Charcoal grey grout, which I'm very happy with. In the grouting you float the grout over the tiles, then wipe it up with a sponge. With dark grout and white tiles this means you are changing your water bucket every few minutes. We took turns floating the grout, sponging it and getting buckets of water.

We finished somewhere after midnight and I was dog tired, and ready to return to work.






Monday Night - The Toilet!
Finally we came to the moment I'd been waiting for. The Toilet Installation.
We chose a Toto Dual Flush toilet, which has a new fangled installation design, which at first seemed daunting but went surprisingly well, once we found the instructions buried in the box of tank parts.

I was nervous for the test, but it worked! No leaks!













With this huge job out of the way we planned out the rest of the tasks. It looks like we'll be done sometime in February...

Snowy Seattle

Snowy Seattle, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

They say it never snows in Seattle.

Cuddles is guarding the things

Cuddles is guarding the things, originally uploaded by Patty OK.

Jimmie's mighty bagels

We were treated to Jimmie's homemade bagels on our New Year's Adventure to the Ocean aka Yummy Town.

Jimmie's mighty bagels, originally uploaded by Patty OK.