Whenever we watch the flip shows on HGTV, I always scoff at the people when they announce their timeline and their budget. "Double both of those" is generally what I say to the tv, but they never follow my advice. And why should they when I don't even follow my own advice. Sure, the floors were put in under budget, but the timeline multiplied by 4. This weekend, my Dad and I tiled my shower and that scenario played out just like the HGTV people.
The old shower came out a lot easier than I anticipated. This added fuel to my optimism that we might truncate our schedule and knock this out in 2 days. For my optimistic schedule to work, Dad and I would have been able to continue to work hanging backerboard while the plumber came to install some new valves. Apparently my optimism also greatly exaggerated the size of our master bath, because there was no way we all would have fit in a tiny bathtub with all the tools he brought. By the way, I'm going to recommend using Quick Response Plumbing & Drain Cleaning. He did a fabulous job at a very competitive price.
It was 9:00 pm on Friday that I realized my schedule wasn't going to go as smoothly as I anticipated, especially since we needed to wait 24 hours after completing every step. From this point to completion, it was mostly intensive labor, but I think it turned out wonderfully. Spending 4 days sweating in a small, dusty room without showering really makes the natural oils build up. I wasn't able to take a picture of myself before I was finally able to bathe, but this is a picture of my bathwater:
I'm glad to have done this just to become familiar with the process. Also, I'm glad I was able to go through this process so I would be able to offer better advice to other tilers other than, "Are you using tile sealant?" Everyone seemed very concerned about whether or not I was going to use tile sealant. Yes, I did. I don't know what it does, or how it helps, but I used it, and thank you for sharing the extent of your tiling knowledge with me. A more relevant question that could have better prepared me for this weekend would have been, "Who is going to be helping you?"
4 comments:
Wow! Look at that! Beautiful. That's super impressive.
Awesome job Brett and Mr Shirley!
new floors, now a new bathroom...you go, girl! i missed the finished product pix...is this post to be continued? so, is hgtv so addictive or what!?!?! so, my dad and i put in a closet under the stairs before we moved in. thank you "wasted spaces." right now we are paying someone to finish the job we started...we finished the sprinklers!! wahoo! now they are almost done tilling, spreading top soil and final grading our yard. i'm so excited! we should have grass within 2 weeks! wahoo! whoa! long enough...k, bye. :P
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