When finishing our bathroom, the goal was to create a spa-like feel without spending a fortune, so I did a lot of comparison shopping, and at times progress was slower than I would have liked because I spent so much time looking for the “perfect” shower surround or tile.

It started with the shower enclosure. You can buy kits, but they range from about $400 – 1500, so I looked around for a few weeks trying to find one that would suit my needs and still be budget-friendly. To save money, I decided to go with a base and enclosure alone so I could tile the interior walls myself.

I found a Keystone/Maax kit that I liked (Magnolia Angle) at Home Depot for $449 and decided I’d bite the bullet and fork over the cash, but when I tried to locate the shower, it was nowhere to be found. I went to the customer service desk and discovered that it was on clearance. I ended up getting the kit for $290. Ka-ching!

On a budget yourself? Look for yellow tags, or ask the customer service desk if they have any items on clearance – they’ll happily point you in the right direction.

Before I could start tiling the walls of the shower or the floor, I had to install the shower base using the instructions included.

After installing the shower pan, I went to a few different specialty tile/stone stores to pick my tile, but the cost was outrageous. I looked at Home Depot, but the selection was limited, so I made the trek to Lowes. I usually like Home Depot better, and it’s much more conveniently located, but I was glad I made the trip – their tile selection was huge! I brought home a few sample tiles that I liked to make sure they looked okay. After picking the ones I liked best, I went back and purchased the tile.

I selected different tile for the walls of the shower and the floor, but made sure they matched. For the walls of the shower I paid $.77/sq ft for a glazed ceramic tile. For the floor, I chose porcelain, as it tends to be more chip resistant, shelling out $2.48/sq ft, because I found a tile that I fell in love with. I wanted to create a pattern, so I chose both a 12”x12” tile and a 6”x6” tile.

Like an elementary school art project, before gluing the tile down, I laid out all of the pieces. I then marked my cuts, and using the wet saw I rented a wet saw from Home Depot ($44/24 hours), made all of the cuts for the floor at once.

For the shower walls, I used 6”x6” tiles, but cut some in half so I could create a pattern as well.  Since I couldn’t lay the tiles out on the wall like I did on the floor, I used a spare piece of drywall, and laid out two rows, then did some quick math to determine how many tiles to cut, since the pattern simply repeated itself up the wall. To ensure I didn’t have another mold problem in the future, before adhering the tile to the walls, I lined the backerboard with “redgard,” a paint-on waterproofing membrane.

In order to start applying the tile, you just need to select a thinset mortar that suits your needs. I used one made for adhering both ceramic and porcelain tile to cement backerboard, and followed the directions on the bag for mixing.

Most bags, I’ve found, only list instructions for making an entire bag at once – since I had a small project, and plenty of thinset, I only mixed half. To mix smaller batches, the trick is to pour the water into your container first, and then add thinset mix until you have a cake frosting-like consistency.  A little water goes a long way, so start small.

Before you start, use a sponge to wet the backerboard or it will draw too much water out of the thinset to create a good bond. After you’ve moistened the backerboard, use a notched trowel to scoop the thinset onto the floor, and spread evenly in an area small enough that it can be covered with tile in about 20 minutes. Lay the tile in the pattern you like, using spacers to ensure your grout lines will be consistent across the entire floor.

After the mortared area has been covered, rinse and repeat.

Once the entire area has been tiled and it’s dried for 24 hours, you can grout. The color of the grout is really up to personal preference. Following the instructions on the packaging, I used a sanded grout for the floor, as the spaces were 1/4” and a non-sanded grout for the shower walls, as the spaces were 1/8”.

After mixing the grout, use a rubber grout float to press the grout into the spaces. To ensure all of the air is pressed out of the gaps, hold the float at a 45 degree angle and criss-cross the gap in a few different directions. After filling all of the spaces, wait 15 minutes to a half hour, then use a dampened grout sponge to wipe the excess away. Let everything dry for 24-48 hours and onto the next step in the process.

Tiling is pretty simple, just fairly tedious. I definitely recommend getting tile spacers, and if you don’t have your own wet saw, definitely rent one – it’s not worth the heart-ache of using a scorer to individually break each piece (I know from experience).

At this point, you should probably enjoy a beer (or 6) and a nice soak in the hot tub… you’re going to feel it tomorrow.

Today was my dad’s 56^th birthday and Helen just finished up her term at OHSU, so we took a break from working on the house and homework (yes, different things) to celebrate this weekend!

Turns out we picked a great time to celebrate, because it was such a beautiful weekend – helloooo summer!

Friday after work, I strapped the kayak on the roof of the car and we headed to Lincoln City, watched the sunset on the beach (aww) and then headed to a little place known as Kernville where my parents own a “cabin” on the Siletz river.

On Saturday morning, we unstrapped the kayak and jumped into the river. My parents also have a two-seater, and they put in right behind us.

We paddled our way up the river (the old folks got left behind), stopping to enjoy the scenery…

…and a few brewskies along the way.

It could have been the beer, or the heat, but while we were waiting for my parents to catch up, Helen and I started singing top-40 music… “I, know a place, where the grass is always greener – woah-oh…”

After a while, we decided to attach the geezers’ kayak to the back of ours, so they could keep up with us and we could go a little farther up stream. About 3 miles up river from where we started, we found this little inlet.

We paddled to the bank and hung out in the shade for a while before our return trip.  On the way back, we were able to mainly just let the current take us back, so we had a relaxing little stroll back to the dock.

After getting back on dry land, Helen, Bella and I jumped in the car and went to the beach, where it was 71 degrees and so incredibly windy. I laid under a blanket and took a nap, while Helen and Bella took a walk, followed by a little fetch, which was cut short by Bella nearly blowing away.

We headed back to camp, and had fire-roasted corn and smoked salmon (delish!)

And roasted marshmallows while the sun went down.

Despite the awkward sunburn on the front of my body (apparently my moobs are big enough to make a shadow directly below them), the nightmare I had last night about spiders that made me jump out of bed slapping at my head, and being sandblasted on the beach, we had a great summer kick-off weekend.

This week, I’m headed to Seattle for work for a few days, and then our new front door is being delivered on Friday – the transformation continues.

Happy Birthday Dad – I love you!

It took me about two full weeks to complete the demolition and repair the water damaged floor joists and wall studs. Before I could start putting the flooring back in, and replacing the drywall, I chose to replace the galvanized plumbing to the bathroom with Pex. Since there were already a few holes in the floor, getting access to the plumbing under the house was a simple task.

Simple, but not glamorous… I have a terrible fear of spiders, so I may or may not have suited up to go down under.

With the water to the house turned off, once in the crawlspace in my hooded outfit with duct-taped wrists and ankles, I was able to unhook the old galvanized piping to the bathroom and run new hot and cold Pex lines under the floor boards and through the walls.

Pex is truly a godsend. Rather than having to use Teflon tape at every joint, and screwing everything together, only hoping it will hold water, you simply cut the tubing to length, slide the fittings together, crimp, and voila. I borrowed my brother-in-law’s Zurn Multi-head Pex Crimp Tool. If you have a lot of plumbing to do, I’d say it’s worth the $95.

With the plumbing complete, I was able to disrobe and start re-assembling the floorboards. The focus now was getting the walls sealed up. Since our home was built in the early sixties, we have zero insulation in the exterior walls, just a strip of aluminum foil, stapled to the studs (I’m dead serious). The walls are also only 2×4” so they won’t hold the amount of insulation required to bring the house up to code.

To rectify that, I needed to “fur-out” the studs. To do this, I trimmed dimensional lumber (you can use whatever is cheapest – in this case, it was 2x10s”) into 1 7/8” strips using my circular saw and a guide. A table saw would also do the trick (or furring strips if you’re not on a budget).

I then attached the strips to the front of each 2×4”, including the floor and ceiling plates, using 3” wood screws. Once all of the studs were furred out, I could add R21 insulation to the walls, bringing this portion of the house up to current recommendations (check out this cool tool to determine how much insulation to use in your walls) and also making me eligible to apply for a tax credit under the ARRA for the cost of the insulation!

After the insulation was installed, I began replacing the drywall. To ensure I wouldn’t run into a mold problem again, I used greenboard liberally, on the walls adjacent to the shower, behind where the sink will go, and in the ceiling above the shower.  For the walls behind the shower, I used hardie-backer, and for remaining uncovered space, I just used typical drywall.

With the walls and floor sealed off, I could begin the rest of the job…