Wednesday, July 4, 2012

July 2012 Tile and Trim


Appliances are showing up.  The double black sink and induction electric range were purchased on the internet and shipped right to the house.  The dishwasher was purchased from Home Depot and also shipped right to the house--no charge for any of them.  I had also purchased and picked up the toilets from Home Depot when they were on sale a month ago.  The aluminum disappearing stairs for the attic were also purchased at Home Depot for $170.  Good deal since the Lumber Company wanted $298 for a smaller wood stair.  The trim guy will install them in the garage.


No. Not one of my pets -- just visiting through a broken fence.  This is the type of cattle that I used to have on my land and will again as soon as the house is built.  This is a young Brahma for those Colorado folks who read this blog.


Notice the clean garage.  It took some effort on my part to clean out the extra supplies.  No one wanted to pick up the free drywall so I ended up cutting it up with a skill saw to manageable pieces that are in a pile outside.  The mortar mix was loaded by me (700 lbs) and taken back to the cement supply company for refund.  Glad to be rid of it.

Finished Workbench.  I would like to add the vice I have but this will do for now.


I can't believe it...the garage is getting filled up again with contractor supplies.  It is now the tile guys with thinset and grout.  I now know the difference between cement, mortar mix, thinset and grout....not that I will ever use that knowledge.

More mess with the tilers.


It took three guys four days to do the tub/shower, soaking tub and shower.  This picture is taken from the Master Bedroom showing the "window" over the soak tub.

This is the owner of the company, Juan Alba.  It turned out the drain in the shower was too short to provide the correct slope so I had to run get an extension or another drain at Home Depot (my very favorite place these days).  Well, would you believe the new drain didn't match the bolt holes on the one that was already set into the concrete!  Why don't they have standards for this stuff.  Juan had to punch out the holes to make it fit.  


View of the soak tub from the Master Bathroom side.  Another issue was the framers didn't put any hardy board on the frame for the picture so the tilers had to add some scrap hardy I had saved.  It appears the thinset won't adhere to the 2x4 so can't attach the marble tile.  I also told the tilers (could not speak English---big surprise) to leave a lip for the installation of glass.  They said they understood but guess what....no lip when I checked on the install the next day.  Will have to figure out a different way to install the etched glass window.



Another problem...the supply house where I was getting marble tile at about 1/4 the cost of a regular tile supply house ran out of the white marble but they had lots of black so I changed the pattern in the shower to stretch out the white I had previously purchased.


View of soak tub but still needs grout.  The tile goes all the way to the ceiling which is 9 ft which is probably why they ran out of white tile for the shower.  They didn't have much scrap tile.




Grouted but still need to add some grab bars.  I also noticed that some grout lines were inconsistent or shallow and some even missing.  They will have to touch up both tubs and the shower.


Finished shower...almost.  Need grab bars and touch up on the grout.  It isn't visible here but there is white marble up to about waist height then a strip of black marble and the rest white to the 9 ft ceiling...looks sharp.  The seat is covered in black marble and the floor is white hexagon marble.


Well, I got rid of the supplies from the tilers but now the garage is filling up with Tongue and Groove boards I am finishing for the ceiling in the Great Room.  We had a lot of rejects on the T&G--40 out of 70 boards.  That is the pile of unfinished boards in the picture.  Do you have any idea how long it takes to sand, stain and put a coat of poly on 450 linear feet of board plus the drying time?  TOOOOOO LONG.  I hope all this effort is worth it.  



Trim man has begun his work.  Notice the two sets of double doors that enclose the Mechanical Room.  Still waiting on the drying of the T&G.


And, I have another pile of garbage to get rid of.  This was protecting the polished and stained concrete floors during construction but no longer needed now.  Matter of fact it is getting in the way of putting in the doors and baseboards and cabinets.


Owner of the trim company, Kerwin Ray.  Hard worker and really seems to know his trim work.  He had two helpers, Donnie and Jimmy.  (They could all speak English!  Very rare  with the subcontractors I have been dealing with)


Delivery of trim work plus the first look at the floor without the cover.  I hope it looks better than this when it is finally polished.


Glass French doors to be installed between Master Bedroom and Master Bath and at entrance to the Office.


The louvered double doors go on the pantry closet which will house the heat pump water heater which requires ventilation.  All the doors will be painted white to match the white trim.  The finished cabinets are a pecan finish.


Donnie is unpacking one of the double doors for the closets in the bedrooms.

Trim for the baseboards and headers over the windows and doors.


The baseboards and headers are being routed with a special edge for decoration.  The stock baseboards and headers were just too small for the 9, 10 and 18 foot ceilings to not look skimpy.


Kerwin and Donnie installing one set of bedroom doors.  I think I am going to love these doors since they just are held with ball bearing connections...no sliding or bi-fold doors for the bedrooms.  Each bedroom has a full wall of closet (12 feet) with two sets of doors for access.

Jimmy is routing the trim on the front porch.  Keeps the sawdust outside and is probably cooler than in the house.

All this work was done in one day-- so much more to come on the trim work.




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