Wednesday, June 17, 2015

The Daily Done: June 14

On June 14, I (almost) finished removing the tile floor in the bathroom. I've been working on this project in stages for a a while.

There were three different types of tile; not just different shades of beige, but different textures and materials. I guess this was a deliberate design choice by the previous homeowners and not a shortage of tile. The bathroom is small and it wouldn't be hard to find 25 of the same tile, even at a reuse store.  (You may note they also paired a beige toilet tank with a white bowl.)

The floor was a perfect example of how not to lay a tile floor. The tiles were not level, providing some sharp raised corners to trip over. The tiles weren't lined up properly, so the grout lines were crooked. Worst of all, they didn't plan the layout well. There was a big gap alongside the tub; they filled it with grout. That's the brown line on the left side of the picture.

The floor had to go. First, the fun part. Hammer time! I love demolition. :D

With the tiles gone, I was left with the thinset/mortar/whatever the heck they used to set the tiles.

For unknown reasons, there were two or three different types of thinset. You can see in the photo below that most of it is a sand color and was applied with a small-notch trowel. But in the upper and lower right part of the picture, it's a darker color and was applied with a larger notch trowel. Some of it scraped off easily. Some of it did not. After briefly laboring with a hammer and chisel, I called in reinforcements in the form of a carbide grout remover blade for my oscillating tool. I love power tools.

Even with a power tool, the job wasn't quick. Some of the thinset/mortar/kryptonite powder was practically indestructible. When it was finally all gone, I had a good laugh at the guide lines they had drawn on the cement board. (Why they didn't just use the pre-marked grid is another mystery.) No wonder the tiles were crooked. :P

All that remained was the ridiculously wide strip of grout alongside the tub. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to remove it without scratching the tub. But I was able to pop it loose in large pieces with my hammer and mini pry bar.

There are still two tiles left under the toilet. Obviously the toilet will have to be taken off before I can remove those. Then the new floor will be laid and the new toilet installed. As the house only has one bathroom, that operation will have to carefully planned.

Terrible tile floor removed... (almost) Done!

24 comments:

  1. What in the world! This reminds me of my office at work. When I moved to that office, there were three shades of beige on the wall. When I moved a bookcase they had simply painted around the shelving. Weird. I can't get over the two tone toilet. Maybe it was cheaper?!?

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    1. Everything they put in the house was the cheapest possible option. I suspect that the toilet tank cracked or something, and instead of buying a new toilet, they just replaced the tank. The beige was probably on clearance. :P

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  2. Wow, what a mess that floor was! Did they make children do it?? Lol

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    1. It was awful. And since crooked, mismatched beige tile wasn't enough, they used brown grout so the floor would look permanently dirty. :P

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  3. My father is turning in his grave! *shudder* It's called a ruler, people. Straight lines. UGH.

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    1. No kidding. Those lines look they were drawn by a drunk monkey.

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    2. HAHAHAHA! Drunk Monkey ... you're drunk, go home!

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  4. Sometimes what other people call design is mere chaos and stupidity. Good of you to get rid of that mess!

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    1. Yeah, it's astonishing what some people consider a home "improvement."

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  5. I want to meet the previous homeowner so I can grill them about their design choices. That 2 tone toilet. Why? O_O

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    1. With them, it was all about cost. Why pay for a whole new toilet when you can just replace half? :P

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    2. Sometimes, going the cheap route isn't always a good decision.

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  6. All I can say when looking at that disaster is... OMG. I could have done better than that; heck, my CATS could have done better! Seriously, whoever did it must have been on some nasty drugs at the time. As for the different-colored tiles and toilet parts, it looks like they got them at the very end of either a garage sale or at a thrift store clearance, and took whatever was left...

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    1. Ha ha! Yeah, it's hard to believe a sober person could do such a poor job. Here's the insane part... the husband was supposedly in the construction business. Maybe he used leftovers from other jobs.

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    2. Oh, that's awful!! What a disgrace to construction workers everywhere! You're probably right about the leftovers, perhaps he wanted to be economical; either that, or he was trying to be creative. Serious FAIL on both.

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  7. lol I live in a rental and this is exactly how crappily my bathroom was put together. It's just a mash up of second hand supplies that were already damaged and none of which coordinated. Everything was poorly installed and misaligned, but this is because the landlords are cheap and won't pay professionals to do it, they just get people off the street.

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    1. I'm all for saving money or even shopping secondhand, but some people take it too far. The local reuse store has boxes and boxes of tile. They could easily have bought 25 undamaged, matching tiles for about 20 cents each.

      I hate seeing sloppy work. I guess I'm old-fashioned, but I think if you're going to do something, you should try to do your best.

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  8. Those mini prybars are my jam.

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    1. They're awesome. Aside from scissors, they're probably my favorite non-power tool.

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  9. Hey, if you're still thinking about a black toilet Bane, I'd have to say not to bother spending the extra money. Yeah, they look pretty (and yes, you can tell when they need cleaning just as easily as a white one), but they get so dusty! Also, I like cleaning the toilet with wet toilet paper so I can just flush it afterwards, and now I can't because the cheap TP we have to use so it dissolves properly in the septic system leaves white TP dust all over. So many things I didn't consider. ;)

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    1. I had a similar (though reversed) experience with black towels. They looked nice, but they left black lint all over the white fixtures. I guess the key is to have your cleaning gear and your fixtures be the same color.

      I'll be getting a white toilet. The shower tile is white and the new sink I picked out is white... so it makes sense to stick with white.

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  10. The previous owners of this house are a trip, I'm sorry you've gotten stuck fixing their silly mistakes but it does make for a fun read!

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    1. Aren't they, though?! With this house, one thing is guaranteed - home improvement is never boring. :D

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  11. A lot of work, but so worth it!
    Look at my blog:
    https://everythinglovesyou.blogspot.com/

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