Today my Father-in-law and I made some good progress in my kitchen floor project!!!
We started to layout the tile. I just finished for the night cutting tile. I've decided to quit for the time being because I've been giving the tile cutter a run for its money and I was starting to abuse it! I have five more tiles to cut but they will just have to wait till tomorrow! This tired body just can't take any more!
On the list for tomorrow is glueing the tile in place. Yippy!! I also have the carpenter coming over to take a look at our patio door project. I really don't think he will be able to get to it yet this week but I feel much better knowing that some help in on its way!!
I'm using my Mother-in-laws camera since hubby has ours in Phoenix taking pictures of every golf course in the state! I will have to wait till later this week to post pictures of the progress.
This evening my MIL brought dinner over and one of the things she brought was corn on the cob. Aubrey likes to take a bite of mine whenever she gets a chance. Now, she doesn't like to eat it! She only likes the taste of the salt and the butter! I told her that her great-grandma Madia Hilbrant wouldn't be very proud to know that she didn't like her corn on the cob! Of course Aubrey gave me a blank look like who is she??!! Grandma and Grandpa took Aubrey home with them when they left tonight and as I was cutting my stacks of tiles after they were gone I got to thinking about my grandma and comparing my kitchen project to a kitchen project that she once undertook. As the story goes I believe she was either cooking dinner or washing dishes and was trying to keep her eyes on the TV at the same time. I'm not sure what she was watching at the time....I'm sure it wasn't the Lawrence Welk show because not even milking cows would have kept her from missing that show! Anyway....I believe I was told she was tired of not being able to see the TV from the kitchen so she took a pencil and drew a big square on the wall and proceeded to take a sledge hammer to it!! She was a do-it-yourself kind of gal!
I'm getting to the point in my kitchen project that I'm becoming bone tired but I can't help to think that it will all be worth it in the end. AND, I think my Grandma Hilbrant would be proud of me for taking on a project like this!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Monday, October 8, 2007
Kitchen Floor redo! Day Two
While the hubby is out of town I got the grand idea to do the kitchen floor tiling project myself with the help of my father-in-law. We got off to a slow rocky start but are now motoring on!
As with any project there are always things that pop up that you don't expect. Things that add to the cost. Usually the added cost is minimal but in my case it's a big'n!
The first step in my kitchen retile was to repair a spot in the floor that was soft and mushy. As we dug into the floor we discovered the problem was much bigger then we thought about. It seems the true problem was the patio slider door. The frame is just as rotten as the floor. Thus, my minimal cost turns big! I have been shopping for a new slider and a handy-man to install it for me. My father-in-law feels it is much too big of a job for us to tackle ourselves with all the tile work that still needs to get done.
In the meantime we have been trimming door frames, removing oak trim base boards and getting our cement board layed down. Just when we are on a roll something pops up to slow us down....but we stick with it, fix the problem and move one.
I hope to post some pictures soon to show you all what a mess we've been making!!
As with any project there are always things that pop up that you don't expect. Things that add to the cost. Usually the added cost is minimal but in my case it's a big'n!
The first step in my kitchen retile was to repair a spot in the floor that was soft and mushy. As we dug into the floor we discovered the problem was much bigger then we thought about. It seems the true problem was the patio slider door. The frame is just as rotten as the floor. Thus, my minimal cost turns big! I have been shopping for a new slider and a handy-man to install it for me. My father-in-law feels it is much too big of a job for us to tackle ourselves with all the tile work that still needs to get done.
In the meantime we have been trimming door frames, removing oak trim base boards and getting our cement board layed down. Just when we are on a roll something pops up to slow us down....but we stick with it, fix the problem and move one.
I hope to post some pictures soon to show you all what a mess we've been making!!
Sunday, October 7, 2007
When Your Child Writes on the Bathroom Floor!
So what do you all do when your children write all over the floor!
If your us at this point you ceramic tile right over it!
Actually, we were in the middle of the project and thought Aubs would like to sign the old floor before we added the new.
We have never done a tile project before! One of our goals this year was to replace all the flooring in our house. Our entry and main level bath have hardwood and those are the only two areas that will remain untouched! The other two baths and the kitchen are getting tile, hardwood in the dining room and the rest of the house will have new carpet put down. In order to actually be able to do every room in the house at once we knew that we would have to do some of it ourselves. This would cut down on labor costs!
Two weeks ago we decided to "teach ourselves the fine art of laying a tile floor by starting in our spare bathroom. We worked well as a team. Chuck would lay down the tile, do some measuring, write every thing down on small bits of paper and hand it to Aubs. She would run the small bits of paper downstairs and out the back door where I would mark the measurements on the tile and cut. When I was done she would run the newly cut tile back inside and up the stairs where she would receive another small bite of paper to deliver to me.
Here Chuck lays the adhesive and places the tiles. This bathroom is a tight squeeze so there is no room for Aubrey and I to help with this step.
Aubrey helps with the grouting. I don't think she will be making a career of this! Although she is VERY helpful, she is a bit slow!
I will post "AFTER" pictures a little bit later! It turned out so cool! We very proud of the job we did being it was a first for us!
If your us at this point you ceramic tile right over it!
Actually, we were in the middle of the project and thought Aubs would like to sign the old floor before we added the new.
We have never done a tile project before! One of our goals this year was to replace all the flooring in our house. Our entry and main level bath have hardwood and those are the only two areas that will remain untouched! The other two baths and the kitchen are getting tile, hardwood in the dining room and the rest of the house will have new carpet put down. In order to actually be able to do every room in the house at once we knew that we would have to do some of it ourselves. This would cut down on labor costs!
Two weeks ago we decided to "teach ourselves the fine art of laying a tile floor by starting in our spare bathroom. We worked well as a team. Chuck would lay down the tile, do some measuring, write every thing down on small bits of paper and hand it to Aubs. She would run the small bits of paper downstairs and out the back door where I would mark the measurements on the tile and cut. When I was done she would run the newly cut tile back inside and up the stairs where she would receive another small bite of paper to deliver to me.
Here Chuck lays the adhesive and places the tiles. This bathroom is a tight squeeze so there is no room for Aubrey and I to help with this step.
Aubrey helps with the grouting. I don't think she will be making a career of this! Although she is VERY helpful, she is a bit slow!I will post "AFTER" pictures a little bit later! It turned out so cool! We very proud of the job we did being it was a first for us!
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