BillyVance 35 #1 April 13, 2007 It's been a while since I had pictures ready of the ongoing work. A lot has been done in the past week and a half. The kitchen cabinets arrived via 18-wheeler, which nearly spanned my driveway from garage to street! 28 boxes in all, jammed into my garage! They're shown in the first two pics. Drywall patching... Next 3 pics. For the most part, I'm done, except for the wall to ceiling joints, plus the sanding (which I hate). In pic 446, you might think something's wrong with that wall, with the old wallpaper still on. I'm having floor to wall cabinets and backsplashes completely covering the wall, so fuck it. Just seal the joints and it's ready."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #2 April 13, 2007 Next batch of pics... First is the last of the drywall patch pictures. The next two pics show the durock boards laid down last Monday by the tile guys. Finally, the first tiles laid down Tuesday! I have one hell of a story to tell about chasing down this specific tile that we wanted... in another post...."Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BillyVance 35 #3 April 13, 2007 First pic, a good swath of the floor laid down. Second pic, a close up of the tile. Montagna Cortina 16X16 out of Italy. The story about getting the tile. I learned a lesson here... I bought nearly all the materials for the tile guys to work with. I expected I would just go to the Home Depot store and get everything the day they start the work, and I knew the week before that store had enough of that specific tile on hand. Well, the tilers and I get there. We get everything we need... except the fucking tile. They were cleaned out of it last week by some other buyer. FUCK... FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK!!! We talk with the flooring associate, who gets on the computer to check stock levels for the other stores in the area. Found 46 cases of that tile at one store 40 miles away, and 16 each at two other stores 30 miles away, but in opposite directions from home. I decide to go to the store with 46 cases that evening, as I needed 30 cases for the job. So we load up with the rest of the supplies and head back to the house, at least they have what they need to lay the durock for the day. So I head out to the store 40 miles away to buy the tile. I get there, I see the batch all wrapped up on the pallet on the top shelf and tell the flooring associate there that I need 30 cases. He checks the batch, finds a notice taped to it. Paid for and on "Will Call" by another customer. No available tile! FUCK FUCK FUCK!!! I had to have the tile for the next morning, goddamnit!! Shit out of luck! I make him call the other two stores and verify that they have 16 cases apiece. Nope they don't, 6 and 11 cases respectively. FUCK FUCK FUCK... Not enough!!! Then he shows me another tile that he has enough of. It's from the same company, just a little bit darker. So I buy one of that and one of the kind we wanted (they had a few left) to bring home and show the wife. Well she tells me she doesn't like the darker one. FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK... I told her "if we can't find the tile we want, we'll just have to push back the tile work AND the cabinet installation that's supposed to start next Monday, so YOU'll just have to deal with not having a stove/oven, sink and dishwasher for a while longer!" Well, I decided that I was gonna get up at 5:30 AM the next day, Tuesday, and head back out to the local Home Depot and talk to the floor associate there again. At 6 AM I walk in and make him get on the phone to every goddamn Home Depot store in a 50 mile radius. Apparently just because the computer says they have this quantity of that tile, doesn't mean it's there, and I'm not going on anymore wild goose chases. I'm in luck! A store 35 miles away has 20 cases and the nearest store to that one has 10 cases (was one of those that was originally said to have 16, but only had 11). So I hit the highway at 6:30 AM. Tilers are coming at 9 AM so it's going to be close. 7:15 AM, I buy the entire 20 case batch on the pallet and they load it into my pick up. It lowers the bed about 6 inches, holy shit! Later I weighed one case at home and it was 63 lbs! So including the pallet it was a 1300 lb load! I had 10 more cases I needed to pick up, but damned if I was gonna load any more. I decided to just go to the 2nd store and BUY the 10 case batch there and put it on Will Call so I can come back later to pick it up. I head back home. 8:45 AM, I'm home! 9 AM, the tilers arrive! PHEW! We unload and they get to work. So let that be a lesson. You want a specific tile and you're on a tight schedule with other phases tied in real close and there can't be any delays with the contractors of each phase, you had better buy the tile a week or two in advance and make sure it'll be available when you need to pick it up! I would have bought the tile and brought it home the week before but I had no place to put them due to all the cabinets sitting in my garage. I didn't think to just buy them and hold them at the store, although they have a one week limit to hold them. Fast forward to today. The floor's done! The tilers did the grouting this morning. All that's left is to wait until tomorrow morning and I will sweep and vacuum the sand bits, and start sealing the grout and it'll be all done and ready for the cabinet installation phase this coming Monday! I'll post some pics of the finished floor tomorrow. "Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
normiss 898 #4 April 13, 2007 Nice approach...cardboard boxes as cabinets! Why didn't I think of that?!?!?!?! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
