Project #3: Tile (Part 1)

A week ago on Friday night, Heidi and I

started our tile project in the laundry room.

Here are some pictures of the project:

A 'before' picture looking into the garage.

That's part of the hardwood floor in the

foreground. We put that in earlier

this spring.

Here is a 'before' picture looking the opposite

direction in the laundry room.

Here is a 'before' picture of the small pantry

that is in the laundry room.

First, we had to take off the quarter-round

along the bottom of the baseboard.

We then cut and dry-fit the backer board.

After the backer board is all cut and fit,

We put mortar on the floor and lay down

the backer board. The backer board is made

from cement and fiberglas. We have to screw

down the backer board at least every eight inches.

The mortar levels out the floor and gets rid

of any voids, and the screws attach it to the sub-floor.

We left the vinyl floor installed and mortared

right on top of it. It doesn't matter about the vinyl

floor because the screws go right through it and

anchor to the sub-floor below.

Then we chalked some lines on the floor to

get perfect 90-degree angles to follow for

laying the tile. We then dry-fit the tile in

the whole room.

We used two different ways to cut the tile.

This is a tool that scores the tile, then snap it apart.

This was by far the fastest, easiest,

and cleanest of the two methods we used to cut tile.

We also used a tile wet-saw for those tiles with

angle cuts that the other cutter couldn't make.

Here is a picture of the spacers we used to get the correct

space between each tile. Spacers can be bought for

different widths between tiles.

We used 1/4 inch spacers.

Here is a picture of all the tile installed.

A different angle of the tile all installed.

The tile has to dry several hours before

you can walk on it.

After waiting a few days, the grout was put on.

The grout is put all over the floor and rubbed into

the joints at roughly a 45-degree angle.

All grouted and time to clean up the tiles.

After letting the grout firm up a few minutes,

it's time to wipe up all the mess left on all the tiles.

After the grout is cured for a few days,

it gets sealed so it won't absorb water.

After the sealer is cured, it's time to paint the

quarter-round and then install it along the baseboard.

Then install the washer and dryer, doors,

and put the pantry back together.

Compare the next three 'after' pictures

with the first three 'before' pictures

of this post:

An 'after' picture looking toward the

the door to the garage.

Here is an 'after' picture looking

the opposite direction.

And an 'after' picture of the pantry.

Now it is time to do a weeks-worth of laundry!

We started on a Friday evening and finished a week

later on a Saturday morning.

Our next project is to put the same tile in our kitchen.

That will have to wait until the end of the summer

because we are going out of town for a few weeks,

and then having family visit for a few weeks.

This project had several stages to complete,

but I think it was much easier than installing

the hardwood floor. (Pictures of that

project are on an earlier post.) The tile job turned out

very well and we are quite happy with it. We are even

looking forward to getting the tile in the kitchen finished.

Relay for Life, 2010

Last Friday afternoon through Saturday about noon

was our town's annual Relay for Life- an event

of the American Cancer Society.

Once again, Heidi and I were the chairpersons for

the luminary tent. This is our fifth or sixth year volunteering

for this assignment. Katie was a big help as always,

as were our next door neighbors.

Here are a few photos of the event:

We spray-painted this on paper table-cloths that

we put on all the tables we used in our tent.

We arrived in the early afternoon to set up our tent.

Here is our tent mostly set up.

Up front is the registration table for luminary bags

and torches. The tables behind are for assembling

the bags and also decorating them.

Katie invited some friends to help us out.

Of course they had to get 'nourishment' first.

Katie and Heidi at the registration table.

Bags are a $10 donation.

Me by the torches that people can buy.

They go for $20 donation.

Here is the local police department color guard.

This is at the beginning of the opening ceremonies.

During the opening ceremonies they release

white doves in the crowd.

A view of our Luminary Tent located behind

the stage and surrounded by the track.

Walkers on the track. You can see all the luminary bags

lining the track. At the Luminary Ceremony at dark, they

light all the bags and they glow all around the track.

Here is a wide view of the track with out red and white

tent in the center. Most of the other tents and campers

are on the right, out of the picture.

There were about a thousand people in attendance

and we sold about 700 luminary bags.

We also sold about two dozen torches.

On Saturday morning they had a 5k race and Heidi

participated in it. She ran the whole way (no walking)

and got second place for her age group.

Here is a close-up of the medal that Heidi won

in the 5k race. Nice job Heidi!

Some more walkers on the track on Saturday morning.

Some of the luminary bags along the track.

You can also see some of the torches and

the stage in the upper left of the picture.

This is the Survivor Tent. They have a dinner here

for all the cancer survivors.

It would have been nice to get some night pictures of

the luminary bags all lit up, but that is our busiest time

in the luminary tent. We had a good time, and no rain

this year... maybe a first in the 11 or 12 years they

have had Relay for Life here.

For more information on the

American Cancer Society, click HERE.

For more information on the

Middletown Relay for Life, click HERE.

Last Family Trip to Blacksburg, VA

On Memorial Day weekend, Heidi, Katie and I drove down

to Blacksburg, VA to spend the weekend with Drew, Shelly

and the girls. This may be our last trip down there as a family

since they will be moving to Pennsylvania in July for school

Here are some pictures of our trip:

Isabelle loves to have people read to her, so

there were plenty of books that were read

during the trip.

Here is a picture of Aubree with the Playdough bag,

wondering how great it will be to be just a little

bit older... to eat Playdough.

Aubree and Papa playing on the floor

in the bedroom she shares with Isabelle.

We brought a tricycle for Isabelle and in the few

days that we were there, Heidi and I took her out several times

to teach her how to ride.

At first we had to push her and soon she understood

pedal-power and steering.

Here are a couple of videos I took of Isabelle

on her 'bike' for the first time:

The apartment complex that the family live in is huge,

and has several small parks along paved walking/riding paths.

Heidi and I took Isabelle on her 'bike' as she calls it, and

went to this park in the shade with swings.

It was rather warm during our visit and we had some

thunderstorms on some afternoons.

Isabelle took Heidi on a spaceship ride.

She climbs on everything!

She loves to swing on anything too.

She is transitioning to a 'big kid' swing and when

a girl about a year older began to swing on one,

Isabelle had to do it too.

One afternoon we went on the pathway from the apartments

clear to Virginia Tech. The path goes under the freeway

to the other side and comes out around a large pond.

We packed a lunch and some food to feed the ducks also.

Aubree with her full tummy look.

Almost everyone feeding the ducks.

I liked these roots by one of the park benches.

Here is a picture of the pond, taken near where

we ate lunch and rested.

Katie and Aubree posing for a photo

on the park bench. Right after this picture

Aubree threw-up on Katie. Ha!

Here is the throw-up shot, with some barf

on her arm. There was more that she discovered

in other areas.

All saddled-up and ready to head home.

Ho-hum, another day... another park.

Isabelle is at a real neat stage in life that

when you want her to do something, you tell

her not to do it. She will do it immediately.

It worked for Shelly at that age for a long time.

So I told her not to jump off the end of the slide,

and... well you can see what is happening.

Isabelle and I were out again while she practiced

riding her 'bike'. Here she is taking a snack break

in the shade before we head out.

One afternoon we went to the local duck pond for

a barbecue. There is a large grass area adjacent to

the pond, and we played games there for awhile.

Heidi cooked the burgers on the grill there in the

foreground, and they were great.

Just behind Drew, out of the picture is the local

sledding hill for when it snows. It is a great hill and

has a long area at the bottom to stop.

Aubree had a great time in the grass. She is almost

walking, but likes to hold onto things still.

Here is the area we had our picnic.

The paved trail that rings the duck pond

is in the upper left part of the picture.

After we ate, the clouds got thicker and we thought

that we should put everything away... just in case.

Well that didn't take long- just after we got everything

in the cars, the sky opened up and it began raining.

Here is a picture of us under a tree as it is raining.

The rain didn't stop Isabelle, she still wanted to

ride her 'bike'. So Heidi took her around on some of

the paths while the rain came down.

On the last morning of our visit, Heidi took Isabelle

and Aubree back to the duck pond. They said as they

were feeding ducks, some huge turtles swam up and

startled the girls. Shelly and I took a walk to go meet

all of them and found them on their way back.

Isabelle likes to pick flowers, even weeds with

little flowers on them. She actually picked this

whole plant out of someone's garden next to

the pathway. Oops! Shelly replanted it.

Aubree had a good time looking at everything

from the comfort of her stroller.

The apartment complex has two huge pools and each

has a baby pool. The pool opened for the season during

the weekend and Isabelle couldn't wait to go.

Katie enjoying the sun while she can... it clouded up after

a couple of hours and we had torrential downpours just

as we got home walking from the pool.

Aubree was having a ball in the baby pool

and playing with her toys.

Isabelle loves both pools and the one closest to

their apartment has a great shallow end for the

'short people'.

Isabelle can walk out in the shallow end clear

up to the ladder that leads out of the pool.

Katie going off the diving board.

Katie and Drew both doing cannon-balls into the pool.

The End

We had a great time and did a lot of things in the three

short days that we were there. It is a very pretty area and

the people are very nice. We will miss out trips to Blacksburg.

(If you are a fan of Shelly's blog and some of these photos

look familiar, well she stole them from me to use.)