Progress resumes

I don't know if I'm ready for it, but we're stoking the coals for a final three week push to complete the house. It started last night when my dad arrived from California around 7:30 pm, and he jumped in to help me lay the last few boards of flooring in the master closet. I think he only did it because he knew we weren't setting up the guest bed until it was done. =)

This morning, we turned our attention to the 2nd bathroom. We discovered we never bought the 1/4" trowel way back when, so our day started with a trip to Ace (and the obligatory Starbucks stop). Then we determined our layout, mixed up some thinset and installed the cement board.



The cement board is very difficult to cut. It's not too bad if you're just cutting it to length because it snaps like sheetrock, but making cutouts (especially round ones) is a pain. Screwing it down takes forever, too, because it calls for perimeter screws every 3 inches. We had to recharge the hammer drill battery twice, and I mostly used the powered drill.

Once the cement board was down, we immediately started laying the tiles. Actually, it's not really tile, but rather stones glued to a mesh. The "tiles" are designed to fit together so that you don't notice a pattern after the grout is applied. We'll let everything set up for 24 hours, and probably grout the tiles Tuesday.



Here's a shot I found on one of our cameras. I guess Jen was snapping photos of me shoehorned into the addition attic installing the kitchen can lights. It's a little tight up there.