Whew... catching up (Weekend of July 30-31)

(Finally, it's Pog here... props to Maddie for the guest blogging.) The last week or so has been quite busy. My absence cannot be attributed to a nasty powertool accident or sibling squabble involving electric staplers and tyvek tape. As Maddie has mentioned, it has been a bit of a challenge for me to stay awake in the evenings! Let's go back in time and review the last week or so....

The bathroom has been the center of progress. (Like at the state fair? Where are the fried oreos and wine slushies?) Last Friday and Saturday (July 29-30) we worked hard to finish applying the backerboard -- Hardibacker, a cement board applied over the drywall that creates a waterproof base for the tile. It takes a lot of strength to screw in the board with the screwgun and well, I wasn't able to help much there. Gregg (strong like ox) had to do most of that work, although with Vic's measuring expertise, Vic and I were able to help cut some of the backerboard pieces to size. It was fun cutting out openings for the plumbing and other things sticking out of the walls.

Around mid-day last Saturday, Gregg finished framing the skylight in the bathroom and exited to the kitchen to finish framing the skylight there. This freed up the casa de peepee for Maddie and Vic to do their thing... TILING!

Uh... as Barbie might say, tiling's hard... let's bake cookies. Seriously, there was a LOT of planning involved. Add the fact that none of the tiling surfaces are square or level or plumb, and we were very happy to have architect Victor involved in planning the layout. This was definitely a learning process. The tile selected for the walls was a glass mosaic tile, each tile 3/4" square, supplied in sheets 12-3/4" square. We had to cut individual tiles in half or even third to fit into the corners of the bathroom. But, glass tiles crack and snap and shatter when you try to size them with nippers. We did our best.... For perspective, the tiles are close to the size of Scrabble tiles, perhaps a little smaller. (Yes, Sully it is an aquagrid, good observation. See, it is a real word!)

Mixing the mortar was a treat. (Well, I like it. It's messy.) Gregg rigged up a mixer tool using my wimpy electric drill and two wire coat hangers. Maddie decided to mix 50 pounds of mortar all at once (not paying heed to Gregg's advice) and we all agreed this would not be a good idea for the future. Maddie, Vic and I got a system down... Maddie applied the mortar to the wall, I prepared the correct number of tiles and delivered them to Vic, who affixed them to the wall and lined them up properly. Unfortunately, the big batch of mortar started to set (solidfy) in the bucket before we could use it all. We retired for the evening, with plans to head to Lowe's in the early morning to buy more mortar and secret liquid solution.

We had high hopes for Sunday (July 31). Gregg had a ticket to Minnesota leaving early Tuesday morning, so we were feeling the crunch to get as much as possible done Sunday and Monday. Maddie made a roadtrip to Lowe's in Woburn for more mortar. Upon her return, Maddie, Vic and I continued with tiling the walls and finished in the early evening. Ever the optimists, we wanted to get the floor tile done too, but realized that was too much. Gregg finished framing the kitchen skylight and made substantial progress on wiring in the kitchen. And he did some framing on the brick wall for the kitchen cabinets.

Wow this entry is getting very long, so I'll end it here. Please take a look at our photo album by clicking on the "Pog's Pictures" link to the right. Stay tuned for the update on the rest of last week. We are off to the condo to work! Thanks for reading.

PS: Oh, for those of you wondering, Gregg was unable to retrieve his Leatherman with the magnet and string fishing pole he rigged up. But I did get him a new one as a gift, because he deserved one.