More Cupboards

Well, we finally finished some more cupboards, and have them attached to the wall. Oh ... ya, and more more thing .... we can now use our OVEN !!!!! mmmmm cookies mmmmmmm :-)

Tiling Tips

I think I've figured out the problem I described here with the tiles lifting up. I believe it happens when the mortar has a higher spot in the middle than on the corners. The lifting always started as a hollow sound when you knock on one corner. Sometimes when spreading the mortar a high ridge can form between two passes with the trowel (similar to when you're shoveling your driveway ...). Sometimes this ridge will hold a corner of the tile up. Now that I've figured out what was causing it I can hopefully prevent it in the future.

Other tips I've learned while laying around 750 sq. feet of tile (only 150 left to go!):

• Mix more mortar than you think ... mixing mortar is one of the most time-consuming aspects of laying the tile. I always kick myself when I only mix enough for 4 or 5 tiles.
  
• After you lay the tiles, try and go over the grout lines (that don't have grout yet) with a wet cloth to clean them out as much as possible before the mortar dries. This saves so much time if you're messy like me.
• A guy I met who is doing his apprenticeship to lay flooring of all types said the best way to know if the mortar is the right consistency is to lay a tile, lift it, and check the bottom of the tile. I think he said somewhere around 80% of the tile should have mortar stuck to it. The method I use now is: when I'm mixing it with the drill and the drill hole mostly retains its shape when I pull it out of the mortar I know it's about right.
• Pay more for the good gloves :) Pick a set of clothes to tile in and expect that you will throw them out when you're finished. Likewise with the rags.
• Make sure to change water often when grouting - it really does save time in the long run. I always go back to the start after grouting and just shape the grout lines and scrub off the harder grout on the top of the tiles. Then the next day I'll go for a second wash and start working on the haze.
• The best thing I've found for shaping grout lines is dollar store sponges :) The ones sold in the home improvement stores aren't flexible enough to get the grout lines right (or at least that's what I've found).
• A good score and snap saw is worth its weight in gold. I think tile nippers would have been helpful, but we don't have any.
  

Anyone else have any good tips for laying ceramic tile?

On Saturday I got all the tile behind the stairs laid (yay!). Last night I got it grouted and washed it once. Tomorrow night my goal is to wash it a second time and get the laminate finished to meet the tile. I can't wait until that's done!

Peter has been working on the pantry and oven cupboard. Despite running into several glitches (we won't talk about those ;) ) he's ready to bring it into the house. He's going to build the section over the fridge in place as well as attach the face frame to the boxes. It will be too hard to move after it's all together.

I'll try and get some pictures - I think we've done lots of flooring since the last ones.

The monster list ...

Big Items Left to Finish

• Urethane on stairs
• Hang drywall in third spare room
• Hang drywall in back closet
• Hang, paint and install doorknob on door to half-bath
• Crack-fill, prime, and paint third spare room and second spare room closet
• Crack-fill, prime, and paint master closet
• Crack-fill, prime, and paint back hallway
• Finish laying and grouting tile in kitchen
• Build and install pantry and oven cupboards
• Build and install upper cupboards
• Build and install shelves and drawers in kitchen cupboards and master vanity
• Build window returns
• Install trim throughout

This is just a reminder for myself about what our "short-list" looks like for the next couple of months. Anything not on this list is just gravy. Things like telephone jacks, cable jacks, fixing little things that aren't quite the way we want them...

90 Percent!

Just a quick post before work starts for the day :)

The assessor came out last week at the bank's request to get an update on what we had finished. We knew going in that we didn't have the 98% done that was needed in order to get our third and final draw of money. The assessor echoed that sentiment as she was leaving, which was fine.

When we got back from vacation on Monday there was a message on Peter's phone at work that she had set us at 90% complete and the bank was offering to release 2/3 of the remaining money. I'm so excited! It was totally unexpected but will be very nice to pay down the line of credit.

Other than that good news, things around the house have been moving very slowly. It doesn't look like we'll get to do much more until Saturday this week due to various commitments. Last week I tiled the rest of the entryway (yay!) - it's waiting for grout along with a small section of tiles by the stove. I guess I'd better get some more grout. I'm going to try and get those two sections grouted before Saturday and then spend Saturday laying the tile behind the stairs. Peter is working on the face frame for the pantry and oven cupboards - the unit looks so nice even without them!

Paint Transition

I ran across a question from someone on the www.houseblogs.net forums about a way to transition paint colours between two rooms that share a common wall. Since we dealt with this issue last fall I thought I'd post a few pictures of the "finished" product. Please disregard the mess - we're still spending more time building than we are organizing and it shows!

The door in the first two pictures is the same ... it's impossible to get the whole wall in one shot...




I

Frustration

We managed to put a good night's work into the house last night. We cut the bottoms off the two doors, Peter put the wall up, and I started to clean the mortar off the tiles in front of the wood stove.

I got about halfway done the tiles when I noticed that one of them was cracked ... very strange. I figured I'd have to take that tile up, remove the mortar, and retile it on the weekend. Well ... once I got that tile up I noticed that the tile next to it was loose ... this spiraled into 6 loose tiles and more on their way. Has anyone ever had this problem or have any ideas on what's causing this? We laid it in the late fall, when the concrete was cold and before we turned the radiant heat on. I thought maybe we weren't mixing the thinset properly. I found some places online that said if the thinset is too wet or dry this can happen (they sound hollow when you knock on them). However, I don't think I've changed anything and all the tiles I've laid recently have been fine. Anyway, we got the 6 tiles up, we're just going to grout over a few others that we should probably lift (I figure it's not much more work to take them up after grout than it is now), and we're really hoping the rest of the tiles are good and solidly stuck. Our other thought on why this happened is that we didn't grout it right away...

So ... I didn't quite get all the tiles cleaned and ready for grout, but that's ok, because I'll spend Saturday replacing the tiles we took up as well as laying some more in the entryway. I'll probably lay some more tiles on Monday and then grout everything on Tuesday.

Enjoy your long weekend all you NBers!

Weekly Schedule

I was reading back over some older posts and I am completely amazed at what we managed to accomplish in an evening. I think this was due in part to having a plan posted so that we had to be accountable if we decided to just sit on our butts and do nothing instead of what was on the list ...

So here is our plan for the next few days:

Thursday

1. Cut bottom off doors to master bath and office (they are too long now that the hardwood is in place). Hang doors
   
2. Clean mortar off tiles by stove. Get ready for grout.
3. Paint 1 coat on door to master bath.
4. Finish framing closet in back hall.
   

Saturday

1. Lay tiles we removed and some in entryway.
2. Hang remaining drywall in spare room and back hall. That's all for drywall - yay!
   
3. Cut remaining panels for pantry and oven cupboards.
4. Start putting together boxes for pantry and oven cupboards.
   

Monday

1. Lay more tile.
2. Put together boxes for pantry and oven cupboards.

Tuesday

1. Grout tile.
   
2. Work on face frames for pantry and oven cupboards.

I have purposely made these goals very attainable so we can feel a sense of accomplishment by actually completing our list ;) Maybe we'll even be able to exceed our expectations!

Back in the groove

After a few unproductive weeks, Peter and I are ready to get back in the groove of finishing up the house. I've noticed we tend to cycle like that and I think it's necessary for our sanity!

We did manage to finish up the hardwood last week (yippee!) and we also cut out some of the panels for the pantry and oven cupboards before we ran out of plywood. We have an order in for 3 more sheets that will hopefully come sometime this week. We took some time on Saturday to clean up the garage and move the remaining plywood from the kitchen to the garage.

This week our focus turns to tiling downstairs and finishing up the pantry and wall oven cupboards. If the wood doesn't arrive on time I may be able to convince Peter to do some crack-filling. We shall see ...

Tomorrow night I plan on cleaning off some of our tiles that were never grouted in the kitchen (they were hiding under the plywood). I think just getting the mortar off will take all night. We laid these tiles before we got into the habit of keeping it neat in order to avoid the painstaking hours cleaning the mortar off the tiles ;) Thursday night the plan is to actually grout those tiles, and then on Saturday I'll get back to laying tile in the entryway. We're on vacation next week and will have several full days to work on the house - look for progress pics!

Eye Candy

Getting the flooring laid in our bedroom has allowed me to see the potential for finishing this house someday - what a difference! I love how bright our room is.

Our schedule for this week is sort of up in the air, but the goal is to finish all the hardwood by Friday night. We only have one complete room and a few end rows in other rooms to finish.

As for after the hardwood is finished, our focus will turn to our next big project - finishing the flooring downstairs. Not one I'm looking forward to, but it is the last really large "quality of life" project we have to undertake.

While I'm tiling downstairs Peter is going to build a closet organizer for the closet in the office and then get to work building the pantry and oven cupboards for the kitchen.

One day at a time ...

Flooring pics :)

Here are some pictures of our work over the long weekend!

Let's be realistic ...

So ... now that all of you who have actually laid hardwood before have had a good laugh at the progress we expected to make during our first attempt at installation, we'll revise our goals to more closely model reality.

What actually happened on the weekend was we got almost 2 sides of the hallway (our hallway is shaped like a U) done, we painted the front wall in the hallway, and burned some scrap lumber.

So ... our new schedule looks like:

Tuesday: Peter - finish laying hardwood on first two sides of hallway along with a few rows into the office and guest room. Angela - teach a friend how to lay tile.

Wednesday: Worship team practice. Possibly lay some hardwood once we get home.

Thursday: Lay hardwood in guest room.

Friday: Lay hardwood in office (finish guest room first if not completed).

Saturday: Hang door in master bath. Lay hardwood in office. Lay remaining tile in master bath and laundry room (just a few tile - maybe 10 total).

Monday (yay - holiday!): Grout tiles laid on Saturday and tub surround. Lay hardwood on third side of hallway.

Hopefully this schedule is reasonable. I'll let you know ;)

The Finished Product!

Aren't they purty?

What a great night we had. As you can see below, Peter got started laying hardwood while I got the first coat of paint on the guest room.

I realized that we were getting much more done when I was posting our schedule every week, so here's our hopes for the week:

Friday: Lay hardwood in hall. Second coat on guest bedroom.
Paint coat on front wall in hallway.

Saturday: Lay hardwood in guest room. Second coat on
front wall in hallway. Clean up :)

Wednesday: Hang door to master bath. Lay remaining tiles in
laundry and master bath.

Thursday: Lay hardwood in office. Work on tiling downstairs.

Friday: Lay hardwood in hallway. Work on tiling downstairs.



Saturday: Lay hardwood in master bedroom. Work on tiling
downstairs.

Monday: Lay hardwood in master bedroom. Work on tiling
downstairs.

I'm a happy girl... :)

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

The Stairs ... With Treads!

Wow - what a day! When we came home this afternoon after work the stair guy (we should really find out his name!) had all the risers and treads on the stairs. It looks so nice!

There's not much else to say ... I'm enjoying having real stairs :)

The Stairs ... Before

Here is a picture of the stairs before the stair company started work on them ... as well as a picture of our balusters that we've come to know pretty well as we applied two coats of polyurethane to them.




The batteries on our camera died this weekend, but I'll try and get some pictures as soon as we get them replaced of how the work is progressing.

I'm getting sleepy ...

We are definitely not used to working as hard or long on the house as we did last night (unlike in the early days!), and my bleary eyes this morning are evidence of this fact. We got the wood for the stairs on Tuesday night, and after we got home at 9:30 we worked until 11 getting stands made for the balusters and sawhorses.

Last night we got right to work after supper finishing the pieces for the stairs. It's very easy to do, and you can sit and listen to tv or music while you do it, but it's very time-consuming. We worked until 1 a.m. and managed to get a coat of poly on: 86 balusters (yes, I was keeping track! - only 18 left), all 15 treads top and under the nosings, the nosing around the top of the stairs, half of the skirt boards, and all the handrail (except a couple of small S-turn pieces). As we had to get up at 5 this morning we decided we should head to bed at that point. Tonight's plan is to get the first coat on everything we didn't get done last night and then sand what we finished last night so it's ready for a second coat. Hopefully we can get a bit more sleep tonight, too. I don't think I'll make it tomorrow otherwise!

It is very interesting to maneuver downstairs through all the stair pieces as they dry - I'll try and get a picture tonight!

Finally!

You may remember a few weeks ago, when I actually kept this blog up-to-date, that I mentioned that a guy was coming to tile our tub
surround. Well … that guy ended up not working out (Mom always said if I can’t say anything nice … ;) ) so we finally got someone else to come
out today. This guy was a bit more expensive, so to save a bit of money we decided we would grout it ourselves.

You may also remember that I said our wood stairs place said we would get the pieces for our stairs in “lots of time” to get them finished before they come to install them next Monday, June 12th … Well, we finally called today after not hearing from them for a few weeks, and apparently “lots of time” translates to 6 days. Do they realize that we have day jobs?? Anyway, if anyone reading this is really bored, we’ll have about 100 balusters at our house tomorrow to get three coats of poly on before next Monday … ? Or, if balusters aren’t your style, can we interest you in some handrail, nosing, or treads? lol. After tonight that will obviously be our focus for the next week.

We have done a minimal amount of work on the house as of late for some reason. I finally got the guest bedroom primed on Saturday. We also got 4 coats of varathane on our bed and put the mattress back in its rightful place last night. Our bedroom looks so much bigger without two queen-sized beds set up!

A friend at church loaned us his pneumatic flooring nailer the other day, so we’ll have that to get started right away on the hardwood floor once the stairs are in. Exciting!

Disappointed but busy

Well, none of our contractors have come through for us this week, but we won't talk about that right now ;) I'm not such a happy girl about all of that. In spite of that, I've managed to lay about 80 sq. feet of tile in the past couple of days and I'm pretty happy with how it's turning out. I'm just getting ready to grout, but thought I'd put up a few pictures of what it looks like now.

It never rains but it pours

This is true both literally and figuratively around here lately ;)

After several stalled weeks on house progress we've had a flurry of activity yesterday and today. Yesterday we booked the company to do our hardwood stairs. We decided to finish them ourselves after seeing the exorbitant cost of labour to have someone else do it. Wish us luck! The installers will be putting the stairs in from June 12th - 19th, which means we will have to get two coats of polyurethane on them before that. We haven't heard when we'll be getting the pieces yet, but the guy who we talked to said we would get them in "lots of time." I'll let you know how much time in days that works out to ;)

In addition, our electrician called yesterday to say he's ready to come finish up the electrical work. Last night I spent an hour or so making sure we had everything well-marked for him as we won't be able to be there. Hopefully when we go home all the lights that are currently in boxes on the floor will be hung (in the right spots)! We're looking forward to being able to use the rest of the outlets in our bedroom and bathroom :)

Last night we also had an electrician out to get measurements for a quote on putting power to the garage. He should be ready to perform the work early next week. Yay!

And finally, the guy who's going to tile our tub surround is coming over tomorrow to do that. That will be very exciting. Peter has to get the plywood screwed on the surround tonight in order for everything to go smoothly tomorrow.

Whew! See - lots of progress, although not much work being done on our part! We did move quite a bit more out to the garage last night, and I did lots of clean-up inside the house. We moved the kitchen table over to where it will eventually sit for good - it looks so nice! It also looks really empty in front of the wood stove. We don't have any of the furniture we want to put there eventually yet so we'll have to figure something out there :)

That's about it for us. I'll let you know how everything goes over the next couple days (maybe even some pictures :) )

Checking things off ...

Last night we actually had a good night of working on the house. Tuesday night wasn't so great for me. Peter got his crack-filling done that night, but all I managed to do was get the second coat of paint on the office door. I find it hard after having a break from working on the house to get back into the mindset of working after supper ;0)

Last night we were both moving quickly. Peter got another coat of crack-fill on the guest bedroom and it's really coming along. I washed the grout haze off the tiles in the back hallway (finally!) and got the second coat of paint on the top half of the hallway.

On the docket for tonight - get the doorknob on the office door, hang the half-bath door, clean out third bedroom. Those are the "must-do's" for tonight. Other things I'd like to get done include: hang drywall in third bedroom closet, paint bottom half of hallway, another coat of crack-fill on guest bedroom. Obviously we can't accomplish all of that tonight!

The reason I'm focusing on the third bedroom is that Peter has tomorrow off of work and he's going to spend his vacation day crack-filling (what a good man!). We don't want him to run out of rooms to crack-fill so I'm going to make sure that third bedroom is ready to get a first coat tomorrow (at least the main part of the room if not the closet as well).

Nothing much has been happening that we can take pictures of lately ... sorry! lol