So much class

You're probably wondering why I would put such a nice door in my shop. I am a classy guy but the truth is we had an extra one and I couldn't return it as I had already cut the hinges in a couple of years ago. It was handy that the hinges were cut in on the correct side. When I finish the trim it will be really special.

A real fine lookin' door

 I will have to find a nice door knob for it, probably used.  I should have thought of that when I we were at the Restore in Kamloops looking for a vanity.  We did find one and I am modifying it for the master bathroom.  I used two sections of it and built another to make it longer.

Building a cabinet section 15 inches wide

The left section is new and the others have a spacer between them

We wanted a vanity 54 inches long and that is what we have now. The original was 4 feet so the one foot section that I didn't use is going in the laundry room. Tomorrow I will be creating the side panels and doors as well as new drawer fronts. Cathryn is still in Kelowna and will be till Friday. She is bringing some more Travertine tiles for the top of the vanity.

Len

The cats away

I finished all the grouting that could be done and rounded the edges of the shelves. Time to mount the glass. This piece is 3/8 thick and 39 x 48 inches so it's quite heavy. I put small stick-on rubber buttons on the bottom and my four clamps up the sides. It worked great and is very sturdy.

Sturdy and looks great too

Cathryn is gone to Kelowna for a week so I am going to build my little office in the shop to have a dust free zone for my computer and books. Firstly I have to drywall the ceiling and walls above as it would be hard to do later.

All done as far as required

Meanwhile a snow squall has moved in

 I'm making everything come out to 8 feet high to efficiently use material. We did some changes in the house and ended up with a 36 inch door left over so I am framing for that door.

First wall with door

Wall in place and wiring for a light as well

 The second wall was going to have a window but that will have to wait. I will be using plywood on the outside of that wall to hang tools but every where else will be drywall.

Second wall up ready for roof

I used 2 x 6 for the roof so I could store larger, longer stuff up there. We have some 1/2 inch plywood left over so that will be going up on the roof.

Ceiling in place just needs plywood.

Drywall finished inside and out

I better get outside and drag in a couple of sheets of plywood before it gets dark. I'm going to frame in the door tomorrow and then start on the vanity.  It will create a bit of dust so that will be my first test of a dust proof room. It's probably not possible but it will sure help.

Len

Yesterday they were but today they aren't

Yesterday I did some fancy tile cutting and got a very nice hole for the main valve without breaking the tile. All my measurements were great and the wall went up fine. The other surprise was the Home Depot valve showed up ahead of schedule so today I started more tiling after the water test was done with the installed valve.

All that waiting for this??

Mighty careful cutting and voila

 Now it's time for the next course. I found some white mortar and you can see the difference here.

Two tone mortar

Another row completed

Trim in place for the top row

All done and I need more tiles

As I was saying the tile gods were kind yesterday but not today. I broke 2 tiles and measured incorrectly on the third so it's off to Kelowna for more to finish.  We have decided to do the vanity top in the same Travertine tile so we will need 7 more to finish.  Cathryn is heading that way in a week so I will have to get the vanity finished soon. Tomorrow I will round off the edges of the wall shelf and do what grouting I can.

Len

I've gone about as fer as I can go

With the floor finished Cathryn went ahead and sealed up the grout.  That sealer is darn expensive. I continued with the shower and fitted all the bottom row nice and level.

Spray sealant, easy peasy

Some small spacers required to level up the floor

One thing I will say about this Travertine tile, they are all a nice uniform 18 inches square, which is more than I can say for the floor tiles.  I have found them to be plus or minus a 1/16th of an inch which makes for interesting gap alignment.

Fitting to the corner

Bottom row done and on to the second course.

There is a lot of cutting since you can't scribe and snap this stuff

Two rows and the little wall is capped

Two more rows to go

I put a small shelf in the corner and when I complete the wall it will go all the way to the corner up to the top. When I went to cap the little wall I realized that it was going to need some grinding to get it level.  This is where I changed gears and decided to install the bathroom door. This should help keep the dust localized and out of the rest of the house. Hah hah, lol etc.

Last door on the main floor

Tomorrow I will sand and round over the shelf and wall top pieces. I might even grout what I have done so far.  Then I will have to work on the vanity, building the cabinet and doing some plumbing.

Len

Chocolate grout

So the master bath continues with slow daily progress.  The tiling is complete on the floor of the shower so the grout has to be done before any walls go up 

Bathroom chocolate grout, cake anyone

We were worried the colour  wouldn't come out so the tiles were sealed first

Once the tiles were grouted I started finishing the floor. Soon I was on to the stub wall and I decided to go with the tiles at 45 degrees to match the floor joints

Finishing the floor

It turned out fine

The inside of the wall

The inside of the wall was a bit trickier with the shelf extension and it's angle.

A few clamps and voila

The grouted finish

 I then fit and secured the bottom section of backer board as it didn't interfere with any plumbing. We are still waiting for the secondary on off valve from Home Depot.  I guess they decided that we didn't have a real physical address and cancelled our order. Would have been nice had they told us this tidbit of information. Anyway, I am waiting for the valve to test all the piping before I put up the top section.

Lower section secured

Top section cut and fitted.

Bruce asked me if I had any progress on the important part, my shop. I have been spending my weekends starting the big organize and have gotten about half way there.

Still working on tool location, drawers would be helpful

I have placed my office area by the front doors and the window

I intend to close in the office area with a flat roof to accomodate some storage of larger items like the scaffold platforms and maybe some ladders.

Cessna landing gear

I couldn't help opening up a couple of boxes to have a peak.  I overhauled and painted these gear legs back in Kelowna a couple of years ago. They are all ready to go on, nice shiny white, but I digress.

Back to the bathroom

Len

Tiling R' Us

I took Sunday off and started organizing the shop. After a full day of work it still looks like a bomb went off in there but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I have decided to build a small room for my shop office to keep all the dust from my books and computer. More on that later. A dump run tomorrow will be helpful as well.

I'm really getting my share of tiling in this master bathroom. The shower base was done with thin set mortar for the tiles.  I did have to cut some tiles and found that they were a shale type of stone that separated as soon as you tried to cut them with the diamond disk. It took a number of cuts and clamps before I got enough for the edges.

Mixing more mortar

I'll have to do some cutting on a 45 degree

Tile trim and specialty tools

Ready for grout

Next task was the wall and since it was going to take 3.14 tiles to go from edge to edge I decided to try  them on a 45 degree.  Worked out fine but I had to cut most of the tiles with the grinder since they wouldn't fit in the tile cutter.

Wall started

Front face finished

Tomorrow I tackle the skirts and the inside of the wall. Still waiting for our other shower volume control before I can put up the concrete board for the shower walls. I want to test the plumbing before I cover it over. My luck has been pretty good so far but I don't want to push it.

Len

Off to Kelowna for supplies

Cathryn had to work out of Kelowna for a couple of days so I went along to pick up some supplies.  We found a vanity at the ReStore in Kamloops on the way down Cath had found some ceiling tiles on line so we will get them as well.  Our bluegrass buddy, Sid picked up the tiles and had a desk for me as well so lots to get in the truck. 

The load ready to go - Sanford & Sons style

Looks pretty well secured

I even swept out Kyla's garage

Get home to find a small drip from our chronic roof leak. I spent some time chopping away a foot (30cm) of ice so there wouldn't be any back-up.

Springtime will be the big fix

Back to bathroom work and some tiles by the hot tub. Tomorrow I will finish the bathroom floor and then we can do all the grout at the same time.

in the bedroom by the doors out to the hot tub

 I finished the pony wall ready for tiling. I couldn't add any plywood as the wall thickness was already at  the tile size.

Shower shelf

Wall ready for tile

Len