Like, finished and stuff

The tile's been finished... for the most part anyways. I still have to put in some tiny slivers at the top and the part next to the tub behind the toilet.

Pictures:

Almost there!

So It's taken a lot longer than I had hoped, but we're finally nearing the end of the shower reno. All the tiles are in (with the exception of some tiny slivers of tile I need at the top, and a portion on the side at the bottom) and we're ready to start grouting. My fingers are killing me and my ass cheeks are sore from sitting on the edge of the tub. But it's all worth it. the shower looks awesome. Here's some photos:

Before:


After:

Slow Progress

We finally have all the walls down. As expected, I found mold. Not as much as I thought there'd be, but it's there. It was on the side of the shower with the concrete, and we have steel studs in the other walls, so there's no studs that are rotted. All we have to do is clean it up and we're back in business. Things have gone slowly because we had no work happening on sunday and I had to work only half a day yesterday, but we're still ok to finish before I go back to work next monday. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment:

It begins

So today I was supposed to rip down all the walls and have the plumber install the new valve. Well... not quite what happened. It turns out walls that have been tiled can be a bit tough to take down when there's a stud every 10 inches. I took down only the wall with the plumbing today. So I'm a little behind schedule. Oh well.

Tomorrow is Sunday. I can't do demo work on sunday. Why? Cus my strata is retarded and forbids renovations on sundays and holidays. I'd rather not get a fine, so instead the Deb and I are going to take a quick day trip down to Seattle. Hopefully it's a nice day. We're going to continue with the demo on monday and the big wall being concrete, I'm in for some fun. Not to mention I have a job interview at 3pm on Monday. I think we'll take a little longer to do this than I had hoped.

Here's a "during" picture:

1 more sleep

tomorrow's the big day. bye bye 1970s bathroom

Tiling the bathroom

So we're gearing up to tear out the old tub and tiles and redo it all. Problem: someone broke my glasses and now we're really tight on cash to do it in our original timeframe. Hopefully we can still afford to get it down the week of September 15, but if not we have to wait till October 15 (stupid extra mortgage payment!)

Anyway, we have to pull the tub because it's chipped, worn, and has tiles set on it's base(don't ask.)I looked into reglazing the tub, but it's not worth the money... it lasts for like 5 years and it's very high maintenance. So, new tub it is. The plan is this:

Remove toilet (it's in the way)
Remove old tile and drywall around tub
Have plumber remove old tub and install new one
Install Hardibacker around tub
Install Kerdi waterproof membrane
Lay 4 courses of 4x16 white glazed ceramic tiles (starting from the bottom) in running bond (brick) pattern
Lay 2 courses of 1x1 glass mosaics
Lay 1 course of 4x16 tile
Lay 1 more course of 1x1 glass tile
Continue laying 4x16 tile up to the ceiling
Grout

The floor will be done like so:

Rip up old tile
Rip up parquet floor that is under this tile (and rotten)
Scrape up glue and prep floor for thinset adhesion
Install Ditra mat on floor
Install 12x24 porcelain tile in that same sexy brick pattern.
Grout-a-tout-tout

Unfortunately, vanities are hella pricey. With that in mind, we've decided to do the room in 2 stages. stage 1 is noted above. Stage 2 will be:

Remove old vanity
Install ditra and tiles on remaining floor that the old vanity covered
Install new vanity (it will be a floating vanity, sitting 9 inches above the floor (hence tiling under it)
Install new countertop.
Tile the wall behind the vanity with 1x1 multi coloured glass mosaic (used as accent in shower)
install sink and faucet.

We can't wait to get this project started (and promptly finished)

New Title!

I have given the blog a new title. It is now "That 70s Condo." I got the name from my brother, who likes to make fun of the fact that my condo is so 70s.