And the Beat Goes On

Upon completing the study to our satisfaction, we have turned our efforts back to other areas of the house remodel.

Don is focusing on the main floor bathroom. He put two layers of cement backerboard down on the subfloor (needed, to get the final floor high enough to work with the toilet mounting flange). The old tile floor was installed over tongue and groove fir, which was removed in the demolition, and which was not a good surface for tile. The backerboard layers were installed with mortar and lots of screws.  Then ceramic porcelain tile was installed, also using mortar. It’s the same tile that we used in our upstairs bathroom, but a blue color instead of greenish. We are quite happy with how it turned out. The job was finished with grouting. Don forgot how messy grouting is. And to make the challenge bigger, that was done during icy weather. The garden hoses were frozen, making the frequent cleaning of buckets and tools more of a challenge. Don thinks he should be featured in a Ryobi ad...his tile saw has done two bathrooms, and our extended brick walkway, without missing a beat.

The color is "sapphire blue."

Don also reworked the door that used to be at the end of our funny angled hallway by the dining room, and installed it as the bathroom door. The old 24-in wide bi-fold door made most people uncomfortable in the old bathroom, as it wouldn’t close all the way. He installed the last of the trim for the door today, and will move on to the window trim and wainscoting in the bathroom.

Finally! a real door to our main floor bathroom.

Sami has continued her role as the color planner and painter. We have a hallway filled with paint cans. It’s been a challenge of sorts, but Sami has painted as details become complete enough to do so. Her next big project is to become a plaster repair expert, repairing cracks, which are all over the house. She did research and found a system (Big Wally’s) that enables re-bonding loose plaster to lathe, so that crack repairs are durable. She’s going to hone her skills by doing repairs in the main floor coat closet, which has big cracks in the plaster, and big sections that are loose. She is also reconfiguring the closet to make it more functional (moving the closet rod and adding organized storage).

Sami hopes to become the plaster repair Queen.