Home Renovation

S and K came to town on Dec 30th. On the 31st, we did the new year's thing and then january 1st we headed over to Home Depot and bought all the things we'd need for the rest of the week. We were getting ready to tile my kitchen and bathroom floors. Here's an account so far :

Day 1 : Tues, Jan 1, 2008 :
Removing the existing vinyl floors in the kitchen and bathroom - this means putting the kitchen appliances into the living room and clearing out the bathroom. the kitchen had three layers of vinyl flooring. It required a pry-bar to take up and a couple bottles of toxic adhesive removal. We were able to get most of it off but there were still bits and pieces of paper that didn't want to come up. We also discover that the toilet shut-off valve does not completely shut off the water and so we're not sure how to tile around the toilet. The original plan was to remove the toilet and tile underneath. We'll have to improvise.

Day 2 : Wed, Jan 2, 2008 :
Finish up removing the adhesive off the floor. We discover that the subfloor is concrete - this is wonderful! It is the most ideal subfloor to place tiles on top of. It also cuts out the step of having to prepare the subfloor. We decide to tile around the toilet so that we don't have to shut off the main water valve which will affect the entire condo in order to replace the shut off valve. We also begin to do a dry run of the tiles to verify that the layout of the tiles will be visually appealing as well as to minimize the number of tiles to be cut. We are able to lay down the whole tiles in the kitchen but it's too late to cut the tiles - the wet saw is piercing to the ears!

Day 3 : Thurs, Jan 3, 2008 :
We start to cut the tiles in the kitchen. We also cut the tiles that will go around the toilet. We hope that caulk will cover the rough edges around the toilet seat. We place the tiles down in the bathroom as well but we don't have time ot cut all the tiles. We have to go to dinner with a friend. After dinner, we decide to take the tile cutter to lil'o's place in order to finish cutting the kitchen tiles. This is so that we can finish laying down the tiles in the kitchen in order to prepare for grout. The adhesive needs around 24 hours to dry before we can grout. The earliest we can grout now would be Friday evening.

Day 4: Fri, Jan 4, 2008 :
We finish cutting all the bathroom tiles in the morning. Then as we wait for the tiles to dry, S and I went to Home Depot to pick up moulding and paint for the kitchen. While waiting for the kitchen adhesive to dry, S and K lay down the rest of the bathroom tiles while I paint the kitchen walls. We finish painting the kitchen walls today and then had a leisurely dinner. After dinner, we were able to grout the kitchen floor. How exciting!! The floor is now nearly complete. it looks like a tiled floor and I have to say that it doesn't look TOO much like an amateur job. The test will be when we move the appliances back into place and to see if the tiles crack :S