Lake House 2nd Floor Interior Project

[3RRL]

Paul,
Your progress is awesome and so is the quality of the work you've gotten done.
I've been pretty tied up with moving and all that stuff, but I check your progress every time I check in. It is truly inspiring.
I love those photos of your Lake House from down below like that, and the views must be outstanding. What a gorgeous site you have. Just for kicks, do you have any photos of the lake view from the house? I'd love to see those too.
Rob-

[linus69]

Thanks Rob, I hope your move is going well, I still have unpacked boxes from our move 2yrs ago. Here are some pictures from the upper deck.

South






East



West



My concrete board cutting station, under caine guard



Paul

[3RRL]

Thanks for the photos Paul, those are awesome.
I sure do envy you living on near the lake like that when it is a solid 100F here right now.
Rob-

[linus69]

Found some very nice porcelain tile at the place I`ve been getting the pine doors at. Started to lay some of it today, 13by13 on the floor, 6by6 on the tub amd it`s surround and 3by13 bullnose. I`m using modified thinset for the floor tiles and a very good quality mastic for the walls.







Paul

[linus69]

The whirlpool tub got set in 50lbs of StructoLite ,filled with water to capacity and tested at length.





Finished tiling the floor



Paul

[linus69]

Got the tub surround all covered in concrete board,the seams get fiberglass tape and thinset mortar.





Paul

[linus69]

I finished tiling the tub and in a week I`ll grout it. I like to give mastic a long time to dry before grouting. I also got the ceiling sheet rocked, I couldn`t get the lift into the bathroom so I held the boards up with my head and a lot of cursing.









Paul

[red]

L O O K ing Good Paul! What color grout are you going to use? Man I still can't believe the deal you got on that tub! -Ed

[linus69]

Thanks Ed, I appreciate it, the grout is called Driftwood, I`ll be honest, after I had decided on a tile which is hard when there are over 100 choices, and getting someone to help you in this contractors only type place. I lucked out and got this Jamician guy from the Island and he knew his tile.
When it came to grout choice I left it to him and he nailed it in my opinion, I learned long ago when you get someone who knows, listen to them. This is a great place to buy a lot of material, but they don`t cater to the weekend warriors/home owners, your expected to know exactly what you want in what amount, type, etc.
Just picked up a new in the box wet tile saw the one Depot and Lowes sell for $90 plus tax on Craigs list some woman bought and never used. She asked $70 but took $50, and the box really wasn`t opened yet. It like the saw my buddy had loaned me, it does a nice job for my needs.
Now the wife is looking at the vinyl flooring in the 1st floor bathrooms and is making that face, like she is smelling bad cheese, I see more tile in my future.

Paul

[red]

Paul-
When I buildt my house I tiled the kitchen/eating area about 300sq ft and it was expensive because home depot/lowes wasn't around yet (about $4.50 psf) but it still looks good (would look great it I didn't use amond grout). Have seen several friends drop twice as much on vinyl floors that they're replacing at 7-10yr internals The foyer I grouted in gray and that has been bullet proof. Now that you got the "saw" I see a lot of tile in your future!! ;D -Ed

[linus69]

Yeah Ed I too have made some poor grout color choices for tile jobs I did years ago, that`s why I let the Jamaican guy pick it, he had a heavy island accent right out of the movies, but he sure had good taste. I also took his advise and went with a fairly narrow 1/8in. grout line, I also let him choose the marble door thresh hold strip. They had like 10 colors available in marble and granite and my head was spinning at that point, again he nailed it in my opinion.
I finally got around to plugging in that new saw last night at work, it was as advertised brand new and perfect.I got some black granite commercial grade floor tiles from my buddy, I`m thinking about cutting it up to do a back splash behind the black granite vanity top, and maybe do a 4in. wide shelf on the built out plumbing half wall.
He saws our model saw cuts this granite like butter, I found a local Chinese tool store that has Korean made diamond saw blades in 7&8in sizes for $2.99 a piece, and they work well. my local lumberyard sells them for $27 a piece. Yeah this tile saw will be nothing but trouble.

Paul

[red]

Wow Paul!
I was going to tell you that the black granite really eats up blades but $2.99 for a new blade stock up before the Korean raises his prices. Is the store by home or work? Just bought an Hitachi blade 27-29 smackers and it's toast (picked it over others cause Made in Japan) -Ed

[linus69]

Hey Ed, the place I got the blades is called Marks Wholesale, it is about 15mins from my house in PA. It is a great place to find discount tools and hardware, the prices are usually way better than Northern Tool or Harbor Freight for the same items.
I just scored another wet tile saw on Ebay, it`s a WorkForce THD850, it said there is a problem with the motor, the motor is basically just a grinder so I took a chance. I won it for $22.50, it originally sold at Home Depot for $300.
It looked real good in the pictures,very clean and new looking,I figure if I can`t fix the motor I`ll just replace it with another grinder, the water pump alone is worth what I paid for this auction. I haven`t cut any granite for years, but I do remember how it ate up the diamond blade the last time I did.

Paul

[linus69]

The bathroom slowly advances, it has eaten up a lot of manhours but so far so good. I still have to trim out the window and finish the woodwork.



Still working out medicine chest issues



Did the small shelf in inlaid black granite with cherry wood trim



The rectangular shower rod worked out ok after I altered it to do what I needed







Enhaust fan/light made by Hunter, a very nice unit, fairly quiet as exhaust fans go



Paul

[linus69]

Here is a great place to buy diamond cutting tools, I found out about them on a tile blog and have since bought from them.

stores.ebay.com/THK-Diamond-Tools