Tile Project - Day One

I woke up on Friday at 6:00 AM. I had set the coffee maker the night before, so I had fresh hot coffee waiting for me!

I finalized the two ToDo lists (the regular weekend one and the Tile Project one), printed them off and put them on the fridge.

I posted the Blog and a couple of pictures and then started thinking about breakfast. I made myself some soft boiled eggs (one of my favorites).

I am easing into this day, I noticed. I have to get to Home Depot, but I don't want to go out in the cold (it was 18 degrees F. when I woke up and the predicted high is only 30 degrees F.) with a 10-20 MPH north wind.

Note to my daughter, Melissa: According to the Weather Channel, where you used to live in Northern lower Michigan has 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and they are predicting another 8-12 inches today. So, revel in your redneck status.

I shaved and showered and then got dressed. Before leaving, I took out another frozen chicken to thaw. My 1/4 cow is coming this weekend and I need the room in the freezer! This chicken will be turned into stock and soup sometime over the next three days.

Man, I was right! It was brutally cold out there! But, I got everything thing I need (I think) plus the two pieces of trim I need to finish the storm door install. I stopped at the Subway and bought a foot long Italian sub. I'll eat half today and half tomorrow for my lunches. Back inside, I was warming up before unloading.

So, it's back to work. I cut down three wood blocks that I can set the bottom piece of the cement backer board on so it's a uniform distance from the existing shower pan. The plan is the radius tile will curve under and touch the existing pan tile, you see.

I measured and cut the first piece for the back (and biggest) wall. Then I got out the mastic adhesive I used on the counter top project. Uh oh, first problem. The bucket I remember as being almost full is less than half full. This means I may not have enough to glue on all the backer board. This then means I will have to use some or all of the bag of thin-set mortar and have to go buy more mortar tomorrow.

Second problem. I bought long (2 1/2 inch screws) to get through the foam insulation on the two outer walls. The biggest backer board screws are 1 5/8 inches and specially made to resist rust (which I assume would then leak through and discolor the tile or grout). So, I bought expensive, non-rusting screws for outdoor projects. They worked fine on the two middle studs. But angling then into the corner studs broke the backer board. Shit! But I managed to get enough into the corner to press the backer board onto the mortar. Please note: It's almost 5:00 PM and I have a total of one (1) backer boards installed. I am just guessing, but I think my timeline for this project is out the window!

I was just starting to mortar the wall for the second board when my son Jeremy called. I asked him if I could call him back and he said sure. So, I finished the second board, washed up a bit, made myself a drink and called him back. We chatted a bit and caught each other up on current and world events and then ended our call.

I decided to quit for the night. I never got my lunch and I'm hungry! So, I heated up a can of mushroom soup and ate that along with my half of a sub. Very tastey!

I started to watch TV, but I realized how stiff, sore and tired I really was, so I turned it off and went to bed.