Laying the Floor

I had a wonderful day for my birthday yesterday.  The sun was shining, the temps were warm, and we did NOT spend all day laying tile.  In the evening, Rick took me out for dinner: New York style pizza and New York Raspberry Cheesecake for dessert.  Yum!

This past Monday, Steve came over and he and Rick spread the leveling compound on the laundry room floor.  Yesterday Rick checked for level and found that we still had a high spot near the north wall and a low gully down the center of the floor, so he and I (but mostly he) put two more bags full of leveling compound down. Then he quit so we could do some shopping in the afternoon for my birthday.

The "before" laundry room floor complete
with corner stains where the old water
heater used to rest.

Rick (out the back door) and Steve take care of
most of the uneven floor with leveling compound.

The floor after the second layer of leveling
compound.  Once this cures, we add tile!

Sadly, we ended up buying a single round placemat in bright orange for the center of the dining room table, but nothing else.  I actually told Rick I wanted some new pot holders for my birthday, but everything we found was too big, too stiff, or too thin.  Why can't anyone make a good, old-fashioned, well-cushioned pot holder anymore?  We also looked for a new rolling pin, and that, too, was elusive. Ah, well, the hunt continues...

Today we got into actually laying the tile on the floor.  Of course, I made it more difficult by wanting tile in a diagonal pattern, but I have to live with this for a long time, and tile on the diagonal makes a narrow room look more spacious.  Rick said that laying tile was the most difficult job he has ever done, and that is really saying something considering I have seen him install patio doors, re-roof our Wisconsin house, install full picture windows, move water heaters and re-plumb them, and completely build the afore-mentioned laundry room.  The pictures show the progress we have made so far.

The tile floor after the first day.  Tomorrow we need to make
all of the cuts and finish installing the floor.

I like the way the north wall turned out. Most
of the "cuts" will be under the washer and dryer
on the south wall when we are finished.

The floor will rest for tonight, and tomorrow we can tackle the cuts.  I imagine the measuring and the cutting will take the whole morning, but perhaps we can finish laying the rest of the tile by tomorrow evening.  That will leave the grout job for Friday, and I may be able to get my washer and dryer back into place by this weekend.

Tonight we are attending our last Art Center presentation. the painting under discussion will be Wood's "American Gothic."  We both are looking forward to an relaxing evening out.