the finish line
the bath is almost ready for inauguration. the tiling is finalized (finally). worked like a maniac during thanksgiving break (nov 21-27) to get it this far.
i had to re-grout two of the shower walls. on the first round of grouting we were a little overzealous and ended up wiping off most of it. when the grout had dried and contracted, there were cracks all over the place. only solution was to go back and re-do all of it. unexpected additonal grunt work that i could have done without.
next step was to seal all the vertical and horizontal seams with siliconized acrylic caulk for baths. that took much longer that i had anticipated. and it was tedious and frustrating. due to our less than precise tiling, the gaps were irregular at these joints and it took some doing to get all the gaping joints all filled out with goo. the process is pretty involved. you have to keep a wet rag and water handy. the smoothing of the caulk is done with one wet finger and you have to keep wiping off the excess as you move along.
third step, finishing the painting. back up on that ladder.
fourth step, remove lopsided towel bar (installed by the a$$hole handyman) and reinstall.
fifth step, clean clean clean...
in the middle of step 5, i realized that the toilet did not seem to be flushing right. and the sink faucet water line (cold) leaked drops of water after the faucet is turned off.
called mr. rooter and had professional plumber come over for inspection. true to form the faucet did not leak and he said that the toilet needs to have its guts replaced eventually but was not an immediate worry. i needed to do this anyway because of my lack of confidence in the quality of the work.
next, installed the shower curtain and the liner was 3" shorter than what the package said (68" instead of 71") which made all the difference because it doesn't reach the floor all the way and has to be returned to target.
...
note - mr. rooter's estimations were free, btw. but he gave me an estimate for $328 for chaning the toilet parts which sounds rather steep even to my ears.
note - cheesecloth is an investment you will not regret making when you do tile work. indispensable.
i had to re-grout two of the shower walls. on the first round of grouting we were a little overzealous and ended up wiping off most of it. when the grout had dried and contracted, there were cracks all over the place. only solution was to go back and re-do all of it. unexpected additonal grunt work that i could have done without.
next step was to seal all the vertical and horizontal seams with siliconized acrylic caulk for baths. that took much longer that i had anticipated. and it was tedious and frustrating. due to our less than precise tiling, the gaps were irregular at these joints and it took some doing to get all the gaping joints all filled out with goo. the process is pretty involved. you have to keep a wet rag and water handy. the smoothing of the caulk is done with one wet finger and you have to keep wiping off the excess as you move along.
third step, finishing the painting. back up on that ladder.
fourth step, remove lopsided towel bar (installed by the a$$hole handyman) and reinstall.
fifth step, clean clean clean...
in the middle of step 5, i realized that the toilet did not seem to be flushing right. and the sink faucet water line (cold) leaked drops of water after the faucet is turned off.
called mr. rooter and had professional plumber come over for inspection. true to form the faucet did not leak and he said that the toilet needs to have its guts replaced eventually but was not an immediate worry. i needed to do this anyway because of my lack of confidence in the quality of the work.
next, installed the shower curtain and the liner was 3" shorter than what the package said (68" instead of 71") which made all the difference because it doesn't reach the floor all the way and has to be returned to target.
...
note - mr. rooter's estimations were free, btw. but he gave me an estimate for $328 for chaning the toilet parts which sounds rather steep even to my ears.
note - cheesecloth is an investment you will not regret making when you do tile work. indispensable.
