A 4 day crash course in tile appreciation

It's a little after 7:00 PM on Sunday here in the great city of Philadelphia, and I can barely move. In fact, Christina basically had to shovel food into my mouth tonight because my arms are barely functioning, not to mention my inability to walk. I know EVERYONE is saying to them selves "but Bryan, you're an Adonis and are as tough as the Terminator...how can you be sore? One Word.

Tile.

With that out there, let me back up just a few days. As a previous blog post mentioned, our friend (and weekend tile master) Niko had a date this weekend to lay some porcelain with me. Uh, what? Anyway, on Wednesday Niko shows up and between then and today I've learned the following items about myself, tiling, and the world:

1. Cement board is heavy.
   
2. Hardiebacker is heavy.
3. Quickrete is heavy.
   
4. 3.5 gal buckets of thin set are heavy
5. Wet saws are heavy (see#6). They suck, they are hard to work with, are loud and don't cut straight lines (for me I guess)
6. ALL of the above weight can be summed up with the following formula: final weight of an item = (listed gross weight x linear feet to be carried) x each stair step ³

It is also important to note that no weekend is complete without multiple trips to a hardware store of some kind. This weekend was no exception, with 10+ trips to Lowes, Home Depot, our local 1540 Hardware, and a new one just for kicks, C&R (Admittedly Christina made 75% of those trips). The fun part about all these trips to the hardware store is: you got it.......purchasing more heavy items that need to make their way up to the third floor.

At least we made some progress and there is some white tile on the walls, all the porcelain on the main part of the floor. So I guess most of the trips up the stairs were worth it. There is still one extra 60 LBS bag of quickrete that needs to make it back down three flights of stairs to the hardware store, but that is just not happening right now...or in the next few days.

Anyway, to the tile stuff. Niko handled laying the tile as well as letting me know when I was about to screw something up. Besides carrying up 10 cements boards and 10 hardiebackers up the third floor, my job was to lay all of the board. :) Honestly, it was pretty fun and easy to do. I did managed to almost break my foot with a cement board, I have a blistered right hand from the 800 + screws I drilled in, but it was sort of fun.

I'm weird.

Anyway, you can see some "moment in time" pictures that Christina took of the action. She was the General this weekend. She made sure that we knew what we were doing, and if there were any design questions, to defer to her (the project architect). Life can be good sometimes....

The status right now is that we're maybe 65% done. All of the hardiebacker is down, and the floor tile is done (no grout yet, that's last). I'm going to finish the last 1/5 of the cement board in the shower on Tuesday as I'm taking tomorrow off hopefully. Niko's tile cutter had some "problems" today, so you'll note that no cute tiles are on the walls. That's going to be later this week. What can you do.

I'm going to just sit now. Sit and stare off into the distance before treading up the damn stairs yet again.....why are we making our bedroom on the third floor again?

A view from the top, and Netflix tips

Often people have come to our house over past couple of years, and immediately they say "hey, have you ever seen the Money Pit"? Cue our eye rolling and then say "yeah, it's pretty funny, that Tom Hanks sure can act". But the real question I have after this occurs, is why do people think that buying an old house and fixing it up means you bought a "money pit"?

Sure old houses need some TLC, and in some cases (like ours) they need some pretty major surgery. So they can leak in bad storms, but chasing down that leak is morbidly fun at times in my sick mind. McMansions, in my opinion, are even worse than buying a "money pit" nowadays.

When you buy some Toll Bros monstrosity, do you have any clue what is in the walls, or for that matter what the walls are made out of? Christina and I have driven past many a track development and seen that in lieu of wood 2x4s many developers use the metal studs. Not for nothing, but what's wrong with good ole' lumber? I know what my house is made of. Yes, it's probably because at this point I've lost any trepidation in knocking a hole somewhere and seeings what is up. But I think that's part of the fun of an old house...you GET to knock holes in things and really get a feel for the bones of a house. New construction has lost that. The time was when people built their houses by hand and knew every square inch. That's why I own a "money pit".

Plus I get to buy LOADS of tools, and unlike confused suburbanites with thin interior walls, I know how to PROPERLY use them. They're dirty, they sometimes cough and wheeze, but that's the point.

Anyway, if you haven't seen the movie for whatever reason, rent it. It's great. And the "two weeks" line repeated throughout it is the best...and most accurate part of it.

Enough of that soapbox preaching, on to the show! Family and friend status on the house:

The third floor drywall is 90% complete, and the final taping will be today. Our friend Niko will start tiling the bathroom floor and shower in earnest tonight, with it taking at least this weekend. I'm going to "help" by staying out of the way and priming the bedroom walls.

We're STILL WAITING (thanks Sonia and company) for our wall mounted sink. That means the half wall of tile might have to wait another week or so, but let's have a drink tonight and hope not.

Christina took some artsy fartsy pictures last evening, and I'm willing to share these artistic endeavors with everyone. The picture on the right is a shot of the space on the landing to the third floor. Good stuff. The hole you see in the left part of the picture is a niche that will be there for...I guess a hanging picture as it's pretty damn narrow. Maybe I can squeeze some Star Wars figures on there for good measure as well.

On the left is a decent shot from the bedroom into the bathroom. It's pretty self explanatory now that I'm looking at it this morning. Eh...

The second one on the right here is just a shot of the closet where you can sort of see the stair railing and the little side closet poking out. We liked this one because you can really get a sense of the angles in the room with the ceiling slope after I pulled down all of the dropped plaster ceiling that was there before. BAM! Not to be some prick, but dropped ceilings are NOT the way to go in a house (I'll give you the basement if you want).

And lastly, but surely not least...I made a decision in the whole compressor/nailer debate I was having with myself (and my wife). In the end I bought a Bostitch "3 pack" that had a pancake compressor and three finish nailers in it. After research and seeing all of the various projects that we are discussing over the next 6 months, it just made sense. As a compromise, I didn't get a framing nailer and instead I'll be stealing my friend's for the time being (he has a new 4 week old daughter...I think he's out of the framing jobs for now).

Anyway, here's yours truly getting oh so gangsta, as the kids call it nowadays, with the nailers last night. Christina insisted on the picture, and since I don't mind being embarrassed on the interwebs, here you go:

Some thoughts from a troubled home improvement mind...

So we all see the news on the economy. I mean if you're reading this then you have eyes and can at least see the (-) next to the Dow every week. The two of us have been pretty lucky so far in that we have jobs that relate (in some way) to the health care/insurance industries. It’s not that we feel insulated from the doomsday upon us; it's just that I try to think of puppies and ice cream instead.

Also a lucky deal so far has been that 3 years ago we decided to buy our house in an awesome neighborhood here in Philadelphia. So far it means that while the national housing numbers are down, our neighborhood is selling fairly well and still for some eye popping numbers. It's crazy really.

But at the same time we're shelling out money every few weeks as our third floor suite is in its last stages. So I have to ask myself...

When do you just hold on for the ride and not rock the boat?

For example: I'm a guy. I have a beard. I drink beer. I want a framing nailer. But to get to that point it's the nailer ($200), the compressor ($250), hoses ($50?), and nails ($50)...and that's without the needed finish nailer for most projects around the house. So if you’re like my wife, right then you just rolled your eyes and said "Yeah...OK".

Why? Because when the contractor leaves in a couple of weeks (after his last payment of course) I'm going to have a room that has plumbing just hanging out along two walls (we've posted various pictures before). I have to build a soffit there to hide that stuff. On top of that the boss and I have decided that we are going to forgo any more contractors for the foreseeable future and go DIY. We weren't capable of putting in a brand new bathroom ourselves, so we hired out. Super. But hanging drywall? Cake. Make a standard door a French door? Pfft, easy. Create the 60" plasma TV built for the man room? Not - A - Problem. But I need a nailer. I actually justify it by thinking that in the end it will save us tons of time and money.

But am I just being delusional? I mean of course I want one, but is it a smart move financially?

When the markets are volatile, banks are crashing, and debt is the ruin of man…does it make sense to keep working on your house and shelling out money? Granted we went nuts with this current project, and the rest are going to be much more low key. I get that 100%. But still it’s like I have check writing fatigue that no amount of red bull can fix.

Is it just that I’m crazy at this point? I think the jury is still out on that one…

- Bryan

Our Circus Tent

A few weeks ago we went to see Cirque De Soiel under a giant blue and yellow tent on broad street. Which was an amazing experience. There were a few acts of insane balance and some contortionist. I never really expected to associate that with our house. However, this week we came home from work the first day to see how the drywall guys used old floor boards to suspend themselves above our stairs to get the drywall onto the ceiling. The first picture is their upgraded system with some additional supports on the landing and an extra 2x6 to extend the reach. I have to admit I can't imagine hanging heavy sheets of drywall above my head on a floating barely nailed down platform.......but hey, that is the point of having a contractor....The second picture also shows the same boards floating over the railing in their precarious position. You can also see most of the drywall is up and you can really see the closet and how the space is going to look.

Since the pictures yesterday didn't turn out so well due to the super bright sun, this is a better shot looking towards the front of the house. Both of the windows are the same size one just has some extra drywall leaning in front of it.

So in general the last few days have been pretty good, and we are starting to see the light and maybe see the end of all this albeit for a brief, brief moment before the next project starts! Part of every home sale/closing packet really should be a copy of "The Money Pit" movie.......

I think I can see New Jersey from here...

It's Bryan.

Well well...here we are. It's week 6 into our 4 week schedule, and we're just moving along. The picture on the left is from our new bathroom "picture" window that was installed today (you might have seen the hole in a previous post). In the past few days, there has been more drywall added, and drywall removed, and some tense moments over window sizes. But seeing as how I've turned into the complete optimist in the house, we soldier on.

Today the guys (sans drywall crew) finished the install of all five windows in the third floor. As you can see here the this picture, the back of the floor is really just three windows which really makes the space full of light...and neighbors staring at you in the john. It looks like I'll finally be excited for curtain shopping. Huh. Weird. We included a shot of the tub so you might get a feel for how that part of the bathroom is going to be laid out opposite the sink and angled from the toilet.

We've also captured the relaxing ambiance that only our current bathroom work can give you. I call it "East Coast Tornado Chic" and will be consulting on the weekends for anyone else that is interested in this look. Our services are for hire, as we have to pay for all this somehow! Here is a view of the tub on the ledge/open wall that will be there as well as the picture window, as you walk up the stairs. The tub isn't quite in the right spot, but if you squint really hard, you can get the idea (the far right window in the previous picture is in that little bump out you see).

Did you spot Waldo?

With the new picture window in you can sort of get a better view of how the bathroom will look from the bedroom. The 2x4 you see in the shot is the framing for the pocket door that we'll get around to actually installing around Thanksgiving...in time for the family visits. I mean we do own the door already, but that's besides the point right?

Lastly we've included a shot of the windows in the bedroom. I guess it's included as a moral victory for us in that all 5 windows are in!!! Sorry for the dark picture, the stupid sun was stupidly shining into the room. It looks dark, but in reality the whole floor is full of light with all the new windows.

That's it for now. We're officially really off schedule as the drywall crew hit some snags and so they'll take longer than planned. Unheard of! We're hoping the stucco can start in about a week in the back of the house once the windows are finished. And lastly I get to rent a PAINT SPRAYER and paint the entire third floor in the next couple of weeks. Unless we sucker our out of town guests into painting. Hopefully before the hardwoods are finished, but at this point who knows.

Cheers!

I've been to a revival...a drywall revival!!!!

HALLELUJAH!!!! Christina there has been a miracle!!!!

So the drywall guys showed up today to perform an exorcism as well as fix the brakes on our car. Ok, maybe not the brakes part, but I can hope right?

So all horrible attempts at bad jokes aside, you can see the beginnings of drywall is up on the ceiling in the main parts of both the bathroom and the bedroom. I'll refrain from overstating (more then 3 times) how big of a deal this is to us. After a year working up there doing various things, there is DRYWALL!!! THE END IS NEAR (says the crazy guy on the couch with a cat on his lap)!!!

We also had our birch hardwood floors delivered today, and I will skip the nonsense that was. Anyway, I'm going to take this chance to show off our workshop/living room as it was not but 25 minutes ago.

It's turned into a convenient storage space for 175 sq feet of our old hardwood floors, the endless boxes of tile, my random tools, and the new bundles of hardwoods. You get the luxurious experience at night of walking bare foot through the space with the plaster and bricks bits scattered everywhere. It's really how every living room was meant to be used, Martha Stewart be damned.

Yesterday our contractor created the hole in the back wall for the new (and surprisingly large) window that will be next to the tub. You can see it in it's current state in the two pics (click on them for the larger image).

Tomorrow most of the drywall should be completed, with the windows going in Mon/Tues next week and the hardwoods Wed/Thurs. After that the back 4/5 of the house is getting stuccoed and we'll be doing the tile work as well. It's all coming down the stretch now!

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!

- Bryan

Windows and Insulation and Drywall OH MY!

So after a week in Indianapolis over the July 4th weekend, I've returned to the hot and humid Delaware Valley. This post is as much for our friends and family as it is for Christina to see what has happened while she's still in Indy nursing her mom back to health.

Progress while in Indy:

• Supply lines were run for the bathroom
• The tub was hauled from the first to the third floor
• The electrical was wrapped up and passed inspection (who would have guessed!)

Our contractor Jon has really ramped up this week now that there is power and plumbing (even if none of it is hooked up), and all of our non-fixture purchases are arriving this week. I picked up half of the bathroom tile today, and it was a breeze. Who doesn't want to pick up 400 lbs of tile in 8 little boxes in business casual dress when it's 93 degrees out? It really makes sense, and I recommend it to everyone. Anyway, the other half of the tile is showing up tomorrow evening.

We've also ordered our hardwood floors for the bedroom. I'm hoping it gets here on Thursday, and is just 15 crates of flooring weighing a combined 600 lbs. GREAT. I"m looking forward to that workout.

Our windows were brought over today which we've been waiting on for over a month. ----------------->

The insulation in the ceiling was put up today, which had to be fun for the guys. Everyone has been just asking over and over to show some terribly exciting pictures of the insulation...so here you go!!!






The next item on the agenda is the drywall which is to start tomorrow. If all goes well the dry walling should be done by Friday, which the leads to the windows being installed (as well as the new one being created) early next week. I think at this point I need to see some drywall, tape and mud up there. It'll be like some religious experience or something. Or at least I'm hoping so...I'm bored with Christina being gone.

Besides that I wanted to post a picture of the new shutters that were loving passed to us from my parents. They are from my grandparents house in Indianapolis, and we think they'll make a cool element to cover the block walls in the back yard. But I'll let the boss handle that when she gets back.