And so it begins. After weeks of planning and discussing and 4 trips to Lakeland to Floor & Décor we finally have the 600 square feet of Valencia Travertine and 12 bags of mortar delivered yesterday and in the garage for our venture into tiling the house. This also means until this is all over I am parking in the driveway so my desire to hurry this process along is pretty high. But in the past rushing has been my downfall so this time around I am battling the urge to “just get it done” and this time pause to do it right.
Another thing I am battling with this project is the ability to live in complete upheaval for a long period of time. I am considering this a growing opportunity to better myself. Today’s task was only to clear the great room of furniture and carpet and cut the baseboards. More on all of that later but lets just say that the white sanded film it left all over the house was remarkable. So I got a taste of what my next few months will be like and it caused a great deal of anxiety.
Removal of the carpet was way worse that I imagined. I actually imagined most aspects of this daunting project as being pretty terrible but I was unaware at how many nails there were in carpet and how many large nails went that deep into the concrete! It was shocking actually how difficult it was to remove. I felt terrible for Jym who plowed through it with no complaining at all. He was a real dynamo about it. Although pretty early on when he accidentally leaned on one of the tack strips sending the nails into his hand and arm I thought for sure we had our first major injury.
Halfway through that process we realized we needed a crowbar and work gloves which we thought we had and couldn’t find so I was off to Lowes again. I showered and put on my penguin underwear which I feel is akin to underoos as a child. When its going to be a rough day adulting its time for some penguin underwear. Like a superpower if you will. So me and my penguin underwear were off for the first trip to Lowes.
I really should not go to Lowes alone. Or at all. I go for 2 things and come back sporting 12 things and usually at least one of the things I went for originally is wrong. I also spend 75% of my time distracted by aisles of things for future projects. This time it was the replacement vertical blinds (come on that sort of has to do with this project in a way since they are broken and need repairs and since we are doing the floors…) I also found some great bamboo curtains that Jym wanted for his back patio. Now all I need is a Lowes coupon…
I got home and the crowbar thing I found worked well to get the rest of the tack strip up but it was a LOT of hard work. I had the AC at 70 and he was still sweating like crazy and really dirty. Apparently that is a turn on. He looked like a sexy pirate. LOL
Jym also excelled at the concrete patch. We bought a bucket of it and you mix with water and trowel on. We had a large crack in the floor from the back door down the center of the floor. He also had to fill in all the nail holes from the tack strip and then actually repair the concrete subfloor by the glass door where the removal of 2 large strips back to back caused the concrete to be torn apart. He then had to scrape the extra and sweep the floor. There was a huge cloud of dust which I then realized was going all throughout the house. I had managed to close off all the hallway doors in anticipation of the mess but I had not gotten to the master bath or bedroom door yet or guest bath area and everywhere I walked I was in white powder and dust.
Cutting the baseboards went ok I think. It came at the suggestion of a woman at Lowes. We have large baseboards and last time we tried to remove them it was a disaster so this way we use this nifty tool to cut the baseboard and then we can have room for the tile to expand and if we ever need to remove the baseboard we can because there is none of it below the level of the mortar. It also keeps us from removing it and replacing it which is a whole other project I don’t need. You just lay a piece of tile by the baseboard and slide the saw down the tile to cut at the right level. It does score into the drywall a bit but that will be packed with grout and you don’t see it anyway. It also wasn’t perfect and we have some choppiness at parts but I know this entire project will not be without its issues.
I knew that the sound level was about to increase when we removed the carpet but I had no idea how much. 14 foot ceilings and nothing to deaden the sound is pretty startling. I stepped from the hallway and was taking to Jym and it was crazy how loud my voice was. Just what Jym needed. LOL. So I got him ear plugs from the drawer. He put them in and said “Hey I can’t hear you at all. I should wear these more often!” I replied “Its as if you already do…” Although he didn’t hear that. LOL
Jym created a motto on the day the tile was delivered…”No Fighting, Only Love” and we have been sticking to that so far! Every time I seem agitated he just hugs me and reminds me.
In all seriousness, this project is daunting to say the least. We have both had our moments of doubt and fear over the last few weeks but now it is here and we are doing this one way or another. All day in my head I was singing the theme to Laverne & Shirley …”Nothing’s gonna turn us back now, straight ahead and on the track now, we’re gonna make our dreams come true, doin’ it our way…There is nothing we won’t try, never heard the word impossible, this time there’s no stopping us…” Now that song is in your head right? Good luck getting it out…
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