July 23-24 -- running out of orange !

It's happening. I'm running out of orange ... Ditra that is. After a couple of heavy tiling days and many mixes of mortar, I'm at the endgame:

-- baseboard tiles for the bathroom
-- doorways
-- under the stairs
-- foot of the stairs

and then, of course, grouting.

Soon -- and I know that you're looking forward to this (and so am I), you won't be reading stories about laying tile, day after day after day. That is, of course, if you have not already abandoned reading this blog because it's so boring ...

Today I'll be making tile cuts that are visible. Almost all the rest of my cuts have been those that will be under the 3/4" baseboards -- so there is "wiggle room" with those cuts. The only wiggle room that I have here is the grout line between these cuts and the next tile or the post as in the case of the foot of the stairs.

Sandy is going into Sudbury today to pick up the new mattresses for the bedroom upstairs and some other odds and ends.

Enough about tiling, here are some pictures ...

The proud parents ... er painters -- even though this is just the primer coat, it looks a lot better than the rusted door. Kylie did a wonderful job sanding and painting, with Sandy doing the sanding (sounds like a pun) at the top of the door and painting the grooves. The color is so good perhaps we should just leave it ? or go with Dewalt yellow ?



Mixing mortar -- the Home Depot bucket gets heavier every day with mortar stuck on the sides, in spite of my efforts to wash it.



Spreading mortar (isn't this exciting ... !!! ) You may also notice that there is more than one use for a boat paddling cushion -- it makes a good kneel pad for this kind of work. I hate wearing those pads that tie to your legs.



Udo Klugesheid, our painter -- finishing up yesterday with the walls of the stairwell. Painting the stairwell was probably the single-most thing that makes the upstairs look finished -- no longer can you see any under-construction areas. Of course there are still trim ends to be stained and nail holes to be plugged ... but Sandy will work at that over the next year, and those are only visible on close inspection.



This is what I mean about "running out of orange" -- the Ditra is orange and we've been looking at it for a few weeks now. Here is the foot of the stairs, the wine cellar door in the foreground and the closet door in the background. With tiles in place, I can now finish doorways and install doors (when they arrive that is).