Lessons

I knew that I would struggle with this project for many reasons.  I knew it in the beginning but as I move along I am actually confronted with those reasons daily.  I am a very regimented planned person so I do not deal well at all with those small or large wrenches in my plans.  Even though I said I would not put this floor on a time frame I know that weekly I have set goals in my mind on how far I feel we could progress and I have been wrong every week.  Letting go of it all is really hard for me.  I know that this floor comes with so many steps back and I am not coping with that well this week.  

I had planned to get all the furniture back into the great room and then start sealing tiles so Wednesday Jym could remove the linoleum and prep the concrete.  Well Wednesday came around and we were way behind.  The furniture was not moved, not one piece.  I think that the problem started with the baseboards.  He cut the long board wrong twice and then we had the seal to do and then his car broke down so we wasted literally 2 nights sharing a car and having to make the long drive back and forth into the city to drop the car off and pick the car up.  So the baseboard wasn't ready and so no furniture could go back in.  So when we finally got that done I was sick and Jym took that opportunity to do nothing.  

So there we were.  Now that the furniture is moved finally we realized that to add insult to injury we missed a small piece that HAS to be laid right by the back door and right where the sofa goes.  So until we cut and mortar the piece that goes there and then wait a day and grout it we can't move the couch back there so the area I thought I would have to stack tile has been diminished. We then couldn't put the couch against the entertainment stand either since Jym wanted to put the box of videos and gaming crap back in there (and by the way still has NOT).  

So we ended up laying down the carpet piece upside down and I started washing and sealing and stacking all the tiles blocking our hallway.  The hallway was filled with a lot of the tiles we had hand picked before we had the crates delivered.  We had a couple of really nice pieces in there.  It reminded me again of how beautiful and unique each piece is.  I cannot wait to see them laid on the floor. 

I finally got the hallway cleared out while Jym mowed the lawn.  It is nice to be able to walk through there again.

I actually felt like things were moving along but I knew it was 11 and we still had not prepped the room for mortar. 

Jym began pulling up the baseboard which was a mess.  It tore the paint off the wall.  Maybe should have scored it first along the top edge?  Not sure but since the white wall is the original and I do not really want to paint the whole thing I am maybe screwed.  The wall goes up 14 feet to the ceiling and is attached to the rest of the kitchen so it is a lot of painting and so I might need to just buy some touch up paint and try that for now.  It also was shocking how damaged the dry wall was and how there was just no care at all when the house was built.  Always so much you don't know about the process of halfassery. 

Next was the linoleum which came up super easily.  In fact I have to say it was the most pleasantly surprising thing we have done to date.  It peeled up like paper.  Underneath it was a bit scary though.  There was some weird stains all under it and no clue about that or what it means.  But the most disconcerting thing was the gigantic center of the earth crevasse that went from one side of the dining room to the other. It was actually shocking how deep and long it was.  It also concerns me since it starts on the wall directly behind my master bath shower which has always been a concern of mine.  All we can do right now is patch the crack and pray that it does not continue to grow or it will crack the tile we lay down and could mean bigger issues for the master bath.  

So at the point we saw the enormous crack I knew all hopes of laying any tile today were out the window.  This puts us even further behind and there is no way the area will be able to be grouted.  This worries me since it is the only way through our home.  I know we will end up experiencing this issue several times, where our expeditious movement will be crucial simply for us to continue to live in the house.  This is one of those areas. I planned to lay all the tile in the center today and then tomorrow grout the center while we cut and laid the outer pieces.  This allows for us to always have a way in and out through the house without stepping on tiles before they dry.  But now that will not be happening.  At best we can lay the middle tomorrow and possibly cut the pieces but not lay them.  That will now need to wait til next week.  Le Sigh.  

So then its started to rain and it dawned on me that this could be a serious problem going forward.  Afternoon rains make it hard to mix mortar and cut tile.  I told Jym we may need to start cutting tile in the driveway which I prefer anyway.  We don't have to move the saw and its just travertine dust and mud which will wash \off when it rains so its not like we are blowing mortar all over the driveway.  It also keeps him from walking across the finished floor with muddy shoes.  But regardless of him listening to me on this we still need to worry about cutting tile in the rain or mixing mortar.  

This will also be in play tomorrow when there is another 80% chance of rain.  I suspect it will be a lot like today.  I am hoping to get up early and start tiling quickly so that we avoid the rain.  

The afternoon will be cutting tile or going to Lowes as we got a 10% off coupon good for tomorrow so we need to go use it and get all the stuff we need.  That is on the agenda. 

Jym attempted the concrete patch and had to read the instructions again.  His eyes are as bad as mine so he got his giant magnifying glass out.  Too funny.  Had to take a pic of that.  He was like a pirate with a bad eye.  Eeeeyyyyee. 

 

Today after doing the concrete patches and prepping the floor we went to eat and made another trip to Floor & Decor.  It is like an obsession.  Justin, our usual guy who helps us, came to chat and help us load another batch of our hand picked tiles into the car.  We are like addicted.  I told Jym we need to stop before we end up with too MUCH tile.  LOL.  Now tonight Jym went to a Weird Al concert in Lakeland.  I feel terrible because I should have gone with him but I am not in a good place mentally or physically right now.  I didn't have it in me but I wanted him to go.  he is a HUGE Weird Al fan and I he has been working so hard on this house.  I told him to just go without me and have fun. 

Before he left he scraped up the excess concrete and we couldn't vacuum it up since we threw away the bag to the shop vac and have not yet bought another one so we used the old fashioned sweep into a dustpan method and a final run with the handheld Dyson to clean up the dust.  I think it is good enough to attempt to lay the first batch of tiles.  

Tonight I worked on this blog and sealed the 3 pieces of stacked stone slate that we want to use for the built in.  I think it got nice and I really like the way it looks against the travertine. I was not certain how I would feel about it but I think it will be nice. 

I realized today that my cardboard pattern looks like a fat innukshuk.  LOL.  It certainly does represent our journey.