Remodeling Diary 2

May 15-19, 2006 

 

Spent my evenings this week installing the cement backerboard for the subway tile. That went pretty well, but the self-countersinking cementboard screws I bought were prone to snapping their heads off before fully countersinking, so I had to countersink each one manually.

At this point, there are quite a few different things I could work on....putting the plywood up on the upper part of the walls, or milling the gumwood trim I need, or installing the wood flooring, or beginning to tile. Even though I'd rather get more done on the walls first, current circumstances makes getting the floor down a priority, so that's the next project. Get it down, cover it up, and I'll sand/finish it later.

There's also been a design change or two. I made a major score this week....23 square feet of 1 1/4" thick soapstone. Got it for FREE from an old lab that was being gutted. I'm somewhat relieved that I won't be doing the butcherblock around the sink (there were LOTS of issues to deal with there), but having a black countertop now makes having a white dishwasher a visual liability. A relative was very interested in buying my white dishwasher anyway, so now we're getting a new flat-front dishwasher with hidden controls that'll let me put a solid wood panel on the front. This will make the dishwasher totally hidden, in the same way this one is:

 

The end result will be a totally hidden dishwasher, and THAT will make things look great.

 

May 20-24, 2006

Did somebody say.......FLOOR?

 

Spent the last few days laying down the unfinished quartersawn ash floor. It's going down nicely, but is certainly time consuming. Thank God for the pnumatic nailer...I'd by dying if I had to nail these boards (and sink the nails) by hand like the poor guys who did the rest of our floors back in 1923. I wonder how long it took them to floor the house, and how many guys worked on it. In any case, I should have the last few bits done tomorrow, and which point I'll cover it up with rosin paper. Filling the nail holes/sanding/finishing will happen later.