House Projects

[CornFed2.4]

You should always use a small notch trowel and put thinset between floor and hardiboard. If you dont the tile/grout "could" crack overtime. I would just to be safe.

[rose0529]

+1 ^ the class I took advised to put thinset between the floor and hardiboard to make sure its flat and there isnt a low spot for the tile to crack at after time.

I think they advised to put a barrier between subfloor and thinset as well. I think the basic standard was to use some tar paper (like roofing) and but the thin set on that. There are more expensive options, but not sure its worth it.

[Halon]

So be it, I'll put thinset on the back of the hardibacker. thanks for the advice :)

[A//// Guy]

Did you catch my Thai Mai Shu reference :D

Yes I did baybee haha!

[CornFed2.4]

So be it, I'll put thinset on the back of the hardibacker. thanks for the advice :)

This is prolly common knowledge, but when you put the thinset between the subfloor and hardiboard. Make sure the thinset is wet when you screw it down. The goal is to create no voids between the two layers.

[scheides]

My garage is fairly modern, but the foundation of my house is from 1913. I have no idea when the current basement floor was cemented and the pipes under it were laid, but it was something I have been casually avoiding since we bought the place 5 years ago.

Last summer we had a few of our basement drains overflow after doing laundry or taking a shower. I snaked them myself and installed some backwater valves to keep the amount of overflow to a minimum. I treated the system with a few liquid plumber type products and it was fine for several months.

About a month ago the problem started to come back and we made due for a while, but after it backed up enough to flood the basement sink (next to the washer) I decided enough was enough and called up Auggie's drain cleaning. He came out and was like, 'uhh, you have no cleanouts' which answered a few questions I had been having--I had no idea how on earth he was gonna be able to clean out our pipes as I had tried everything!

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1705.sized.jpg

So after some investigative smashing and digging, I found our drain pipe to the city sewer about 3' under the floor near the water main coming from the city (facing the street).

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1701.sized.jpg

You can just make out the old-ass cleanout plug on the top of the pipe...I had a few other guys come in and they advised me that trying to open that would be trouble. It was basically at the edge of the foundation and if there was any problems at all it would turn into a massive PITA.

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1706.sized.jpg

So we opened up the hole a bit more and cleared away the pipe and a cleanout was installed a few feet away from the edge of the foundation. Unfortunately there was a problem...the floor had previously buckled a bit and the jackhammering didn't help things...the new hole was about 8" from a few buckle points/huge cracks.

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1709.sized.jpg

I made a tough decision but the jackhammer was let loose on cleaning up any buckles/big cracks in the floor.

At the same time we had a cleanout installed in the main stack...there is limestone foundation and wireframe lathe/cement wrapped up right next to the pipe. Some of it ha to be ripped out so I'm not sure quite how I'm going to fix this in the longterm.

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1707.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1708.sized.jpg

Back came Auggie's and they cleaned out the main, the source of the problem. When the pipe was opened up under the floor, it literally flooded the trench that was dug around the pipe....ugh sooo gross! He found a ton of tree roots in the pipe and advised having him back in 12-18 months.

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/IMG_1710.sized.jpg

I carried out all of the cement chunks by hand and I struck a deal to have the cement re-poured for not much more than it would have cost me to do it myself :)

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house-work/basement_done.sized.jpg

[95talonracer]

Nice! If you ever need a good plumber again, I used to work for one and can give you his name and number. He is kick azz.

[Halon]

Hardibacker is down using thinset and hardi screws.

I have some joint compound that I'll put on the seams later this week.

Money spent so far for anyone who cares:
- 3 sheets of Hardibacker = $30
- Thinset = free (from friend)
- Hardi screws = free (left overs from prior project)
- 12x12 Tile (qty=60) = $60
- Grout & sealer = free (left overs from prior project)
- Curved shower curtain rod = $10
- Shower curtain = $10
- Paint = $30 (used brushes I already had, so no cost there)
- Shower Head = $20
- Towel/TP holders = $50
- Light Fixture = $50
- Toilet = $3 (old toilet, but needed new Johnny Wax Ring)
- Carpet/Tile L-Bracket Transition = $10

TOTAL = $273

[tpunx99GSX]

My garage is fairly modern, but the foundation of my house is from 1913. I have no idea when the current basement floor was cemented and the pipes under it were laid, but it was something I have been casually avoiding since we bought the place 5 years ago.



My brother had a very similar problem with his house (older house) where the roots were clogging up the main line to the city sewer. He had a plumber come out and try and drill it out, but was having all kinds of issues. So they put a camera down the hole and found that a previous plumber/homeowner, had snapped off the drilling bit in the pipe, and left it in there. So the new plumber had to get special tools (forgot exactly what had to happen to get it out) but it turned out to be a fuck of cluster.

[Halon]

Started mocking up the tile to see how I want to lay it out. I think I like this pattern the best.

http://mitsustyle.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=11391&stc=1&d=1301006742