Re: House Projects
 

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.

Re: House Projects
 

+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.

Re: House Projects
 

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

Re: House Projects
 

Yes I did baybee haha!

Re: House Projects
 

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.

Re: House Projects
 

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...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...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...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...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...1707.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house...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...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...done.sized.jpg

Re: House Projects
 

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.

Re: House Projects
 

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

Re: House Projects
 

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.

Re: House Projects
 

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/attachm...1&d=1301006742

Re: House Projects
 

We're getting a new fence built on Weds/Thurs then on Friday we're getting this palm tree delivered/planted!

http://www.mitsustyle.com/photopost/...m/IMAG0009.jpg

Re: House Projects
 

Bump!

As some of you know, I live in a townhouse. I share my driveway with a neighbor, and in the middle, there is a tree. Due to the association being behind on projects due to recent storm damage, when questioned about this tree, they told me it was very low on their priority list.

The tree was growing so out of control, one branch was hanging down so far that it just about started to scratch my car.

I decided to take matters into my own hands. I borrowed a friend's truck and chainsaw, and with the help of my neighbor, I went into lumberjack mode.

http://www.polishmafia.com/tree/tree1.jpg

About 1500 lbs of tree removed, plus multiple cuts, bruises, blisters and some blood...

http://www.polishmafia.com/tree/tree2.jpg

Its hard to see in the pictures, but the tree is very tall, and still looks very healthy. Its amazing how much brighter the driveway feels now.

Re: House Projects
 

My bathroom project has been on the back-burner most of the summer. I went to town the last couple days though. All the tile is laid. Depending on how I feel tomorrow, I will either start grouting, or start painting.

Re: House Projects
 

Looks good!

So how hard is it to cut tile for all that? It's one of the only things holding me back from jumping into a bathroom project.

Re: House Projects
 

If you use a wet tile saw it is super easy.

Re: House Projects
 

Yeah it's not so bad. It probably took me a total of 8 hours to cut all the tile that I did for that bathroom. Which is a little longer than normal, but it was tougher because half the tiles I had to cut were at an angle.

And yeah like Flop said, use a tile saw. There's usually someone that has one that you can borrow. I'm borrowing Kerry's right now.

Re: House Projects
 

It's nothing as cool as a new bathroom, but I spent all last weekend cleaning up my house/garage.

Garage was first, I recycled 25 gallons of oil, I swear 10 of those are not mine, LOL. I got rid of the futon as it just became a place to set stuff and made a shelf instead. Mounted the last reminants of my evo8 on the wall, hung my skis and cleaned up all of the oil spills (there was a huge one in the corner) with oil dry.
http://www.scheides.com/albums/house...to_9.sized.jpg

I love my garage, that area alone is enough to do 2 engine swaps at the same time, but i still have this over along the other wall:
...hrm, I guess I don't have any pics of it but there's a 4'x16' workbench along the other side--enough to lay out all of the parts for a disassembled engine and work on any of them as needed.

So also built some shelves in the basement and cleaned up this little room behind my furnace to make my new storage/server/foosball room!
http://www.scheides.com/albums/house...o_12.sized.jpg

http://www.scheides.com/albums/house...o_11.sized.jpg

Beer fridge is still just around the corner :D

Re: House Projects
 

Update on the bathroom.

Tile is done and grouted. Toilet installed. New curved shower curtain rod and curtain installed, makes it feel so much bigger inside!!. New Towel Rack, TP holder, and Hand Towel Ring installed. New light fixture (found it on Uber Sale at Menards) installed. Old mirror put back up. New shower head installed. Also just grabbed the old floor mats and towels from before and put them back in. It'd be nice to get new ones, but trying to stay on a tight budget here. Walls painted Hirshfields Stone House 1039 Super Spec.

That's it for now. What's left is:
- Seal Grout
- Reinstall doors (need to trim since tile sits higher than old floor)
- Reinstall Trim
- CLEAN

Re: House Projects
 

I will have some before/after of my garage soon. I should finish up painting the trim soon. I recently decided that all of the garage was to be repainted. The previous owners had it white with pink trim, but they constantly smoked in there so the walls were yellow from the tar (could tell where they had pictures and stuff hanging on the wall. by the change in color), So i repainted the ceiling white, the walls grey and the trim and workbench black. Then i will be doing the garage floor a grey epoxy with a hi gloss clear over it. After that i need to get a beer fridge and deep freezer. :)
Pics as soon as i finish the trim painting, then another set after the epoxy, Just need to get this shit done before the winter gets too close.

Re: House Projects
 

High gloss clear? Hows that going to work out in the winter when it's all wet?