My wife though me rude and absurd yesterday evening. The small bathroom has progressed to the point where she can now step in and paint up the joint. Well, we were in Meijer's, the local large box supermarket... kind of like a Target, but more focused on groceries... though they still have quite a bit of the knick-knacks one ever need. Anyway, we stopped by the paint section for her to look at colors. After a few minutes, she presents me with some colors. And she seems ready to buy.
I kind of give her the, "Are you sure you want this?" look. The kind they had was Dutch Boy. Ugh. At least to me. She had never used it, but the times that I had, they always turned out to be... icky. The paint was very plasticized and would easily peal off even after it had already dried. I dissuaded her though it was obvious she was perturbed by my reluctance to purchase the paint.
After leaving Meijer's, I make a beeline to Home Depot. Not her favorite place, but they do sell the paint that I have very high regard for, Behr. After a few minutes, she produces several Ralph Lauren paint colors and I chose the one I like and back it up with some rationale. Good to go. Ordered up the paint in semi-gloss (easy cleaning in the bathroom) in Behr... I'm glad they have that color scanner to make things easy for us.
Hopefully, she is painting as I type this.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Monday, August 27, 2007
Beware... Flying Stingers in the Ground
Well, another lesson learned... again.
This past weekend, I was mowing the lawn in the late afternoon/early evening. I was nearing the end of the whole thing and was mowing near a tree in the middle of the front yard. As I was descending the hill (the house is set up quite high off of the city sidewalk) I felt a little prick, then another and then burning. I looked down to see several bees/wasps/hornets clinging to my lower half. In a panic, I swatted at a couple. Then realized that that was a bone-headed endeavor and made a mad dash for the hose. It seemed like an eternity working the faucet and sprinkler controls to get the water going, but I eventually got it up and going... A spraying fury ensued while I also knocked off the little buggers with my heels.
The worst of it was had by my right ankle... it is currently very swelled and tender. I'm sure I got quite a few stings there but I really don't know how many... just that the area is quite larger than any others on my person.
I returned to the area a bit later armed with Wasp and Hornet spray. I found their hive at the base of the tree in the front yard and disappearing under a large root from the tree. I doused entrance with an entire can.
I then ran to Lowe's and picked up another can (along with some brass closet flanges for the small bathroom project). When I returned, I checked on the hive and there were quite a lot of black and yellow bodies strewn around the entrance. I doused it again with the new can of spray.
The next morning, I checked again and there were a couple of them hovering around the entrance, so I doused it again before finishing the lawn up. You see, after I get stung, I bagged the idea of finishing the lawn to tend to other jobs not involving the yard.
I checked the web for any info on ridding the lawn of the problem and there were several suggestions. The most often used was gasoline. However, I did come to find out that doing some of those approaches was a federal offense. For me, I will continue to monitor the area and periodically douse the entrance with sprays. I may also break out the old stash of Diazanon. However, that substance has been off the market now for a couple of years.
This past weekend, I was mowing the lawn in the late afternoon/early evening. I was nearing the end of the whole thing and was mowing near a tree in the middle of the front yard. As I was descending the hill (the house is set up quite high off of the city sidewalk) I felt a little prick, then another and then burning. I looked down to see several bees/wasps/hornets clinging to my lower half. In a panic, I swatted at a couple. Then realized that that was a bone-headed endeavor and made a mad dash for the hose. It seemed like an eternity working the faucet and sprinkler controls to get the water going, but I eventually got it up and going... A spraying fury ensued while I also knocked off the little buggers with my heels.
The worst of it was had by my right ankle... it is currently very swelled and tender. I'm sure I got quite a few stings there but I really don't know how many... just that the area is quite larger than any others on my person.
I returned to the area a bit later armed with Wasp and Hornet spray. I found their hive at the base of the tree in the front yard and disappearing under a large root from the tree. I doused entrance with an entire can.
I then ran to Lowe's and picked up another can (along with some brass closet flanges for the small bathroom project). When I returned, I checked on the hive and there were quite a lot of black and yellow bodies strewn around the entrance. I doused it again with the new can of spray.
The next morning, I checked again and there were a couple of them hovering around the entrance, so I doused it again before finishing the lawn up. You see, after I get stung, I bagged the idea of finishing the lawn to tend to other jobs not involving the yard.
I checked the web for any info on ridding the lawn of the problem and there were several suggestions. The most often used was gasoline. However, I did come to find out that doing some of those approaches was a federal offense. For me, I will continue to monitor the area and periodically douse the entrance with sprays. I may also break out the old stash of Diazanon. However, that substance has been off the market now for a couple of years.
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Sealing the Tile and Other Small Wonders
I've put in the first coat of sealer onto the bathroom tile with one or two more to go onto the grout only. Since the tiles are glazed, they only required one coat to last the 20 years. The porosity of the grout calls for additional coats to make sure they are impervious to waters and oils. I'll set up with a foam brush and go over every inch of the grout. Oh fun... remember, I've used small mosaic tiles so there is more grout than say the usual 12X12 or even 4X4 tiles. Man, I'm a glutton for punishment.
On other fronts, my wife rearranged a bit of the landscaping around the house. She's thought a bit further ahead in regards to positioning and moved elements accordingly. The one bad thing, however is that she began to move some elements and decided to go a different direction. The bad thing? Part of it started with removing a bit of lawn. When she decided to do something different, the result was a bit of missing lawn. She didn't cut out the sod and place it aside... she ripped it out. So, one more thing added to my list is to regrow and/or replant that section of the lawn. Ah well.
Some clean up will be in order this weekend as the small bath is coming to a close. Though I have been requested to make some guards for the bunny cages to try to keep as much of the droppings in the cage and not on the surrounding floors. One of our rabbits seems a little ADD and hyper... which results in a lot of mess strewn about from her dashing all over the inside of the cage.
Still up for the small bath is all the fixtures, medicine cabinet, closet door, trim, etc. But I still have to address some issues with the closet flange. Primarily height since it is about 1/4" below the tile surface, so I may end up adding a couple of flange extensions to get the height closer to where is should be. I'll have to visis the local hardware box store to weigh my options.
On other fronts, my wife rearranged a bit of the landscaping around the house. She's thought a bit further ahead in regards to positioning and moved elements accordingly. The one bad thing, however is that she began to move some elements and decided to go a different direction. The bad thing? Part of it started with removing a bit of lawn. When she decided to do something different, the result was a bit of missing lawn. She didn't cut out the sod and place it aside... she ripped it out. So, one more thing added to my list is to regrow and/or replant that section of the lawn. Ah well.
Some clean up will be in order this weekend as the small bath is coming to a close. Though I have been requested to make some guards for the bunny cages to try to keep as much of the droppings in the cage and not on the surrounding floors. One of our rabbits seems a little ADD and hyper... which results in a lot of mess strewn about from her dashing all over the inside of the cage.
Still up for the small bath is all the fixtures, medicine cabinet, closet door, trim, etc. But I still have to address some issues with the closet flange. Primarily height since it is about 1/4" below the tile surface, so I may end up adding a couple of flange extensions to get the height closer to where is should be. I'll have to visis the local hardware box store to weigh my options.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
The Tile is IN!
That's right! The tile for the small bathroom is finally installed. It was a wicked learning experience... and one that should be improved upon in later attempts. The last step, sealing the grout, will be done in the next couple of days followed by a little bit of tweaking on the closet flange set-up, trim, paint, fixtures, closet door, medicine cabinet, electrical update... ugh.
The tile was a bear. We chose a 2" hex with 1" 'dot' pattern in all white ceramic glazed tile. I laid out the lines on the floor to line up and cut all the tiles prior to putting down the mortar bed, but what I missed was how to control the mortar as I spread it out. Right away, the chalk lines were covered up and gone within the first couple of strokes to get the mortar down. I had to do a "looks about right" approach as I matched up spacings and where the plumbing was located on the floor. The first bout of tiles went down that way. The next batch, me still struggling with the mortar, went down from the other end of the room, lining up with the sink drain. Uh oh... I'm just a hair too far over wit hthe first set of tiles... but it's too late, the mortar under those tiles had already began to set. I had to average the gaps on the tiles I had just laid to try and minimize the problem.
I finally go to the closet. It is narrow and deep, located underneath the main staircase of the house. What does that mean? Well, a very low ceiling and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. The average contractor would have a difficult time squeezing in to lay the tile nicely. Me? I am small enough to wiggle in and dexterous enough to spread the mortar and lay the tile. But it was no easy task none-the-less. By the end of the room, I got quite comfortable with spreading the mortar and laying the tile.
The slightly different spacing of the first few tiles made my wife leary about using the earth-tone grout chosen earlier for the project. We settled on doing the grout in white.
I began the grouting process, spreading the grout and pushing it into the spaces between the tiles. Most techniques I had read about spoke of driving the grout in diagonally but with hexagonal tile, this was a near impossibility. I did the best I could but still had problems getting even grout.
I also sponged as I went along to pick up much of the excess. I noticed when I did this, a lot more than I would like came up with the sponge. I later found out that I should have waited for it to set up a little firmer prior to the wipe down and should only go over an area once so not to remove too much material. Ah well, I did the best I could.
By the end, the white minimized any discrepancy in tile spacing to make the floor look very good. I noted to my wife that I pretty much had my nose in the tile and that the job was anything but perfect. She still liked the way it turned out.
A few hours later, I had to buff the tiles and the grout lines. Easy? I think not. I buffed every tile and tried to smooth as much of the grout as I possibly could. By the end of this step, my fingers were raw and angry. A near 2 hour ordeal. I have to remember to use white cloths for buffing as the gray and blue cloths I had were leaving little balls of lint that I had to clean off later.
I have been misting the tile for the last few days to let the mortar cure properly. Again, I will be applying the sealer in the next couple of days to bring this chapter of the small bathroom project to a close.
The tile was a bear. We chose a 2" hex with 1" 'dot' pattern in all white ceramic glazed tile. I laid out the lines on the floor to line up and cut all the tiles prior to putting down the mortar bed, but what I missed was how to control the mortar as I spread it out. Right away, the chalk lines were covered up and gone within the first couple of strokes to get the mortar down. I had to do a "looks about right" approach as I matched up spacings and where the plumbing was located on the floor. The first bout of tiles went down that way. The next batch, me still struggling with the mortar, went down from the other end of the room, lining up with the sink drain. Uh oh... I'm just a hair too far over wit hthe first set of tiles... but it's too late, the mortar under those tiles had already began to set. I had to average the gaps on the tiles I had just laid to try and minimize the problem.
I finally go to the closet. It is narrow and deep, located underneath the main staircase of the house. What does that mean? Well, a very low ceiling and not a whole lot of room to maneuver. The average contractor would have a difficult time squeezing in to lay the tile nicely. Me? I am small enough to wiggle in and dexterous enough to spread the mortar and lay the tile. But it was no easy task none-the-less. By the end of the room, I got quite comfortable with spreading the mortar and laying the tile.
The slightly different spacing of the first few tiles made my wife leary about using the earth-tone grout chosen earlier for the project. We settled on doing the grout in white.
I began the grouting process, spreading the grout and pushing it into the spaces between the tiles. Most techniques I had read about spoke of driving the grout in diagonally but with hexagonal tile, this was a near impossibility. I did the best I could but still had problems getting even grout.
I also sponged as I went along to pick up much of the excess. I noticed when I did this, a lot more than I would like came up with the sponge. I later found out that I should have waited for it to set up a little firmer prior to the wipe down and should only go over an area once so not to remove too much material. Ah well, I did the best I could.
By the end, the white minimized any discrepancy in tile spacing to make the floor look very good. I noted to my wife that I pretty much had my nose in the tile and that the job was anything but perfect. She still liked the way it turned out.
A few hours later, I had to buff the tiles and the grout lines. Easy? I think not. I buffed every tile and tried to smooth as much of the grout as I possibly could. By the end of this step, my fingers were raw and angry. A near 2 hour ordeal. I have to remember to use white cloths for buffing as the gray and blue cloths I had were leaving little balls of lint that I had to clean off later.
I have been misting the tile for the last few days to let the mortar cure properly. Again, I will be applying the sealer in the next couple of days to bring this chapter of the small bathroom project to a close.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Progress on the Little Bathroom that Could!
It has been some time since I wrote to this blog, but it has been a busy summer so far with the big home projects taking a back seat to a lot of other commitments. Still, little projects have come up regarding the sprinkler system, brick work, trees, roof issues, drains, the dry weather and as of last evening, the mysterious bat sightings have come to an end, thanks to my trust Wilson Pro Staff Classic. I mailed the pair via USPS Priority to Abudabi (just kidding).
My last post was in regards to our small bath on our main floor. It has progressed slowly, but has progressed. As an amateur home-fixer-upper, I generally take my steps a bit slower than the hired contractor... almost to the point of wondering if it is more time-efficient if the job was hired out (most times it is). But then I would not get the hands-on experience doing the job and eventually speeding it up for future projects. Anyway, since the last entry, I finished patching up all the walls and primed everything. I've also fixed the closet flange with new floor supports and a new flange attached to the drain stack and attached to the sub-floor. I also installed a half-inch subfloor over the original hardwood to protect it in case a future home-dweller got the gumption to restore the original flooring. On top of the sub-floor, I installed half-inch cementboard. The last step was a bugger as the self-tapping/drilling screws choked going into the oak hardwood flooring and I stripped heads, broke off heads, bent screws and a slew of phillips head bits. A note about bit head quality... don't get the DeWalt branded ones, I broke one on the first screw and stripped another in 3.
Another little hiccup was getting screws in behind the little radiator. This was a funny little solution and one my wife thought was a crazy approach. But, I did present her with two options. The first was to pick up a low-profile drill to get under the radiator and drive the screws. The danger was that I might not be able to get enough down-force/leverage to fully drive the screw and set the head flush. Plus, the lowest cost version was $80 and under-powered. Sufficiently powerful tools were in the $160+ range. My other idea was to get extensions long enough to go behind the radiator and drive the screws from above. I already had a couple of extensions but needed a much longer one to reach from above the radiator to the floor. At the same time we were pricing low-profile drills, we looked into extensions. $15 or so for the longest they had.
Hmmm... $160 or $15. Sold... we brought home the extension.
I put the whole contraption together (3 extensions) to do a test fit. Ugh... about 1.5" too short. Don't laugh, it really wasn't funny. Eventually, while grocery shopping, we swung by the hardware section (we go to Meijer which is one of those "everything" stores, but is locally owned) and pick up a little $1.50 magnetic extension... very generic. I popped it all together and drove the 4 screws in without any problems.
Another little hiccup was that my wife wanted to have tile go all the way into the little closet... that is under a set of stairs. Getting myself squeezed in there to drive the screw, figure the math to cut the flooring pieces correctly and mudding the seams was just pure joy (not). I'm sure my legs sticking out of the tiny doorway would have been a great photo op. But, it is all done and ready for the tile.
That's right, the bathroom is ready for me to start putting in the tile! Earlier this week, I started to mark up where the tiles need to go. I do need to pick up some sort of tile cutter before I start and pre-cut as much of the tile as I can so I can just spread the mortar and drop the tiles in place. I do need to work out how to do the closet as it has to align with the tiles being laid for the rest of the bathroom. The tight space will again have my legs flailing, sticking out of the tiny doorway to get a good anchor. I don't want to disturb any tile(s) I've placed prior to that time.
The tile we picked isn't a high dollar tile nor is it something inappropriate and cheap-looking for the space and time-period of the house. My first choice was to get 1" hex tiles with a 1" square tile border set into the space about 4"-6". My wife was a little skeptical on the intricacy of the work required (AKA - it would take me too long to lay the tile because I am a little perfectionist/anal-retentive when it comes to my personal works). So we chose an all white 2" hex tile with inset 1" square tile. Simple and straightforward. And only about $2.50/sqft instead of the $10+ for the 1" hex and other, more exotic selections. We also chose a dark brown grout for the space. It will be a fair match for the dark wood medicine cabinet and a good contrast to the all white sink and toilet we've picked out. Plus, the darker grout will not appear so stained over time. A good thing, in regards to my wife.
Other little details include cutting the closet door to fit the new floor height, picking the wall and trim paint colors, selecting bath fixtures (towel racks and toilet paper holder and determining the plumbing and plumbing fixtures. Sigh... still a bit to go....
My last post was in regards to our small bath on our main floor. It has progressed slowly, but has progressed. As an amateur home-fixer-upper, I generally take my steps a bit slower than the hired contractor... almost to the point of wondering if it is more time-efficient if the job was hired out (most times it is). But then I would not get the hands-on experience doing the job and eventually speeding it up for future projects. Anyway, since the last entry, I finished patching up all the walls and primed everything. I've also fixed the closet flange with new floor supports and a new flange attached to the drain stack and attached to the sub-floor. I also installed a half-inch subfloor over the original hardwood to protect it in case a future home-dweller got the gumption to restore the original flooring. On top of the sub-floor, I installed half-inch cementboard. The last step was a bugger as the self-tapping/drilling screws choked going into the oak hardwood flooring and I stripped heads, broke off heads, bent screws and a slew of phillips head bits. A note about bit head quality... don't get the DeWalt branded ones, I broke one on the first screw and stripped another in 3.
Another little hiccup was getting screws in behind the little radiator. This was a funny little solution and one my wife thought was a crazy approach. But, I did present her with two options. The first was to pick up a low-profile drill to get under the radiator and drive the screws. The danger was that I might not be able to get enough down-force/leverage to fully drive the screw and set the head flush. Plus, the lowest cost version was $80 and under-powered. Sufficiently powerful tools were in the $160+ range. My other idea was to get extensions long enough to go behind the radiator and drive the screws from above. I already had a couple of extensions but needed a much longer one to reach from above the radiator to the floor. At the same time we were pricing low-profile drills, we looked into extensions. $15 or so for the longest they had.
Hmmm... $160 or $15. Sold... we brought home the extension.
I put the whole contraption together (3 extensions) to do a test fit. Ugh... about 1.5" too short. Don't laugh, it really wasn't funny. Eventually, while grocery shopping, we swung by the hardware section (we go to Meijer which is one of those "everything" stores, but is locally owned) and pick up a little $1.50 magnetic extension... very generic. I popped it all together and drove the 4 screws in without any problems.
Another little hiccup was that my wife wanted to have tile go all the way into the little closet... that is under a set of stairs. Getting myself squeezed in there to drive the screw, figure the math to cut the flooring pieces correctly and mudding the seams was just pure joy (not). I'm sure my legs sticking out of the tiny doorway would have been a great photo op. But, it is all done and ready for the tile.
That's right, the bathroom is ready for me to start putting in the tile! Earlier this week, I started to mark up where the tiles need to go. I do need to pick up some sort of tile cutter before I start and pre-cut as much of the tile as I can so I can just spread the mortar and drop the tiles in place. I do need to work out how to do the closet as it has to align with the tiles being laid for the rest of the bathroom. The tight space will again have my legs flailing, sticking out of the tiny doorway to get a good anchor. I don't want to disturb any tile(s) I've placed prior to that time.
The tile we picked isn't a high dollar tile nor is it something inappropriate and cheap-looking for the space and time-period of the house. My first choice was to get 1" hex tiles with a 1" square tile border set into the space about 4"-6". My wife was a little skeptical on the intricacy of the work required (AKA - it would take me too long to lay the tile because I am a little perfectionist/anal-retentive when it comes to my personal works). So we chose an all white 2" hex tile with inset 1" square tile. Simple and straightforward. And only about $2.50/sqft instead of the $10+ for the 1" hex and other, more exotic selections. We also chose a dark brown grout for the space. It will be a fair match for the dark wood medicine cabinet and a good contrast to the all white sink and toilet we've picked out. Plus, the darker grout will not appear so stained over time. A good thing, in regards to my wife.
Other little details include cutting the closet door to fit the new floor height, picking the wall and trim paint colors, selecting bath fixtures (towel racks and toilet paper holder and determining the plumbing and plumbing fixtures. Sigh... still a bit to go....
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