March 13th

 Got a good start to the day.   Fixed my flat tire, and found someone to install the radiators.  He came over at 1 and installed one and will do the other one tomorrow.  I made a trip to HD, then sealed the grout in the kitchen.  Then I ran a line from the basement to the laundry room so the washer could plug in to the correct electrical box.  Also disconnected the doorbell and removed it and drywalled over.  Then found where the outlets I wanted to remove on the 2nd floor were wired to downstairs and disconnected then removed the outlets and blank-plated them.  This needed to be done because these 3 outlets on the second floor were connected to the first floor panel.  Then I installed a flow meter on the heating system.  I also installed a light in the bathroom.  Not the most ideal location, but I looked at making a mount for it to go over the medicine cabinet and that would have looked funny AND taken a lot of work.  So I put it on the side.   Looks funny, but almost zero work.  Put up the shower curtain.  Installed quarter-round on the kitchen floor.  Put up ads trying to sell the old radiators.  Ryan came over before work and made 2 more outside stairs and dad painted the laundry room and a lot of other things. 

March 12th

Another late start - not by choice today - I just slept in.   Did a lot of finish work on the kitchen - esp the bit above the small section of counter.  Changed the doors on the fridge and cleaned it up.  Painted the pipes in the laundry and in the tall kitchen cabinet.  Dad painted some more.  Rick painted the area above the dining room closets, including vaccuming it out.  Hung the closet doors incl installing recessed handles.  Went and bought 2 new more suitable radiators.  Painted and re-put shelves.  Installed toilet paper holder and light cover in lower bathroom.  Few other things that I forget as well.  Went to go to HD, but got a flat tire so came back and did a little work on the upstairs bathroom (repair some missing tiles, hang curtain rod) and went to sleep.

March 11th

Hadn't had a sleep-in in a while, so slept until 11am.  Then started cleaning the grout, joined by Ryan who helped.   Dad came over and painted the final room to be painted, including a tricky closet.  Ryan and I went to HD and got stuff to repair the other broken stairs out back and he worked on that, I installed brackets for the new closet doors.  Sold my tile saw and then went and bought a radiator and started cleaning it up.   Went home to eat and then came back and sealed the sink (don't know why I never did that before).  Worked on the trim over the counter by the fridge, as well as the window sill.  Painted a lot of the quarter-round, installed the cove moulding, painted a shelf to go in the open cabinet area.  Made a big long list of everything left to do.  Also here is a pic of the outdoor spigot I installed the other day.

March 10th

Spend the day looking (unsucessfully) for cast iron radiators.  Then grouted the floor.

March 9th

Finished the kitchen tiles (laying them anyway - still needs grout and trim).  A rare project in that there was very little waste tiles (see pic of what was left over).   For almost every piece I cut, I had a need for the bit that was cut off.   For instance, I had a row where I needed four 10.5" tiles, and a row of four 1.5" tiles on the other wall - which is perfect when working with 12"x12" tiles.  You almost NEVER have that.  Its usually that you need a long row of 6.5" tiles so you end up with loads left over.

Blue tape on the floor so I knew which ones I could walk on and which ones I couldnt.

This was EVERYTHING left over from the entire install.

Cinema Rick

Welcome to Cinema Rick.  I haven’t bought any gadgets in over a year – which is hard for me – but we were saving for the house.   Well, this was bought with gift money which was not to be used on the house.  Its called a Pico projector and its about the size of 2 cigarette boxes.   I’ve hooked it up to my little speaker and I have an instant and portable cinema.   It can run on batteries, but I leave it plugged in. 

Anyway – I am going to chill with a beer (thanks Dad!) and a movie at the early time of 9pm.  I cant remember the last time I was so exhausted.  

March 8th

Every day that I wake up, my hands are stiff.   I usually spend the first 3-5 minutes of every day stretching my fingers.  Locking them together and pulling, then pushing them together in a praying look, then clenching and unclenching.   It’s a morning ritual.  My hands are so tired, I cant start my day without this.   I can guarantee that tomorrow will be a 10 minute stretch.  

I worked mostly on tile today.   First, I went out and bought everything that was needed.  128sqft = about $200 worth of stuff including tools.  

Then I went to work on taking up the remainder of the old floor.  I use a scraper bit in the sawzall, but it kicks back a lot and feels like you’re operating a jackhammer.  

Then I assembled the wet-saw.  Took more than an hour.   Once that was done, I made my first few cuts and arranged tiles where they’d have to go.  You can make some AMAZING cuts with one of these. 

Then I mixed up the mortar.  This needs to be mixed to the consistency of peanut butter.   Imagine taking a stick and stirring a 5 gallon jar of peanut butter for 15 minutes.  I was truly exhausted.  I WILL buy a mixer for tomorrow.  A drill-bit mixer adapter is only about $15.  

Then I laid all the tiles I could with the mortar I had.   It was dark and my tile saw was outside so I just laid what I could without making cuts, hence the weird layout.