Before:
 The tile floor put in by the previous owners - blech! |
 There used to be a closet here. It had a vinyl floor, which I removed, and there was nothing under it but the subfloor. |
 The super-cheapo vanity installed by the previous owners |
During:
 The slab under the tile. I removed the old tile with a rubber mallet and brick chisel. |
 I had to build up the floor in the former closet area to match the height of the slab |
 I applied a floor leveling compound to get the height in the closet area to exactly match the slab |
 Starting the tile pattern - I had to start at the entrance, to make sure the pattern looks good when you first enter the room |
 Continuing the pattern - the tricky part was the curved corner of the tub |
 This is the section where I had to level the floor - it came out nicely |
After:
 The finished floor |
 The new vanity, from Ikea. The side cabinet still needs a small counter. |
I finally have pictures of my bathroom floor tile project for you. I did this work back in July. Maria was in Newport with the boys for a couple weeks, so it was the right time to put in a new floor, since we only have one full bathroom in the house. I was away on the weekends, so I worked on the floor after coming home from work each day, for about 10 days. It was quite an undertaking, but it all came out nicely.
Removing the hideous old tile turned out to be not very difficult (it took several hours with a rubber mallet and a brick chisel, but it could have been much worse), but I didn’t know what I would find underneath. It turned out be a massive concrete slab. I excavated a corner to see how deep it went - 2 inches of concrete over 3 inches of gravel. I was amazed to see such a thing on a 2nd story. As yet more proof that you can find anything on the web, I used an aggregate tonnage calculator to get a rough idea of how much it weighed. It worked out to almost 2 tons. Now, in terms of framing, there is no direct support under the bathroom - that is, there aren’t any walls, posts or pillars directly under the floor. The living room beneath is a large, wide open room. 2 of the bathroom walls are exterior walls, so they’re supported directly on the foundation. One of the interior walls is supported by another wall directly under it on the 1st floor. The 4th wall has nothing under it, other than the floor joists. I figured it’s been there for at least 80 years and hasn’t fallen down yet, and it would be an absolute nightmare to try to remove the slab. So I decided to leave well enough alone. But I’ll be sure to never put a waterbed in the bedroom that’s over the bathroom!
The section of the bathroom that used to be a closet was not covered by the slab. It was lower than the slab, and incredibly warped. So I had to put down a couple pieces of plywood of different thicknesses in different parts of it, to get it roughly equal to the slab (that’s the 2nd picture). Then I had to use about 60 lbs of floor levelling compound to get it completely smooth (that’s an awful lot for a 3′x4′ area, especially given the plywood is doing most of the work). I also ended up having to move the light fixture in the ceiling! Raising the floor a couple inches in that area resulted in our Ikea closet unit coming close enough to the ceiling that there wasn’t enough space between it and the ceiling for the light. Overall, I probably spent as much time working in this tiny section of the bathroom as the rest of the room.
We decided to go with in-stock tile from Lowes - it all cost less than $300. Even the cheapest special order tile would have cost 3 times that. The plain white tile was boring, so we decided to jazz it up by running it diagonally, and putting in a black border. To make sure the diagonal cuts looked good in the entryway, I had to start in the front of the bathroom, which is the opposite of what you’d normally want to do - the mortar takes 24 hours to set, which can make getting out of the room a challenge! But I discovered I could leap into the hallway from the tub, so it turned out to be not much of a problem.
I’m probably most proud of the tile cuts around the curved end of the tub. I figured out how to do it with an electric wet blade tile cutter, which is intended only for making straight cuts (call me and I’ll tell you the secret technique ;-)). The grout work was probably the most boring and labor intensive part. I’ve worked with small tiles like these only once before, and I forgot how much more work they are to grout than the big tiles!
After I finished the tiling, we had a contractor refinish the tub. He did a good job, and had a nice technique for putting the finish over the caulk as well, so we’ll never have to worry about leaks in the caulk.
For installing the faucet for the new sink, I learned how to do cold pressure welding. The faucet had a specialized flex line, and it didn’t reach the valves. I went to my local hardware store to see if I could figure out how to patch another flex line to it, but the guy who worked there considered that an unacceptable solution and simply wouldn’t let me leave without agreeing to do it the “right” way! So he explained cold pressure welding, drew me a picture, sold me the stuff I needed (which ended up being cheaper than the stuff I was planning to get), and sent me home. I had a couple false starts, but after I got the hang of it, it came out nicely.
Today I sent out my template for having business cards made. Since I’ll be in Japan for six months, I’m getting two-sided cards: one side English, and the other side Japanese. Having business cards in Japan is vital. Learning the correct procedures for exchanging and handling cards was one of the first things we learned in my Japanese class. Your card indicates your “group” identity, your status, and serves as a social ice-breaker. If you don’t have a card, chances are you’ll be considered unimportant.
My Japanese teacher (who is a native speaker) was kind enough to translate my card for me. I showed it to Maria, and she thought it was unusual that she translated my first name as マイクル which is pronounced “Mai-ku-ru” (the Japanese phonetic syllabaries simply don’t allow for the English pronunciation of Michael). Maria thought it should be マイケル “Mai-keh-ru,” which she said is a more common translation. Jen, who also speaks Japanese, concurred. Then today I showed it to my co-worker Chris, who spent his childhood in Japan, and he agreed with my teacher’s interpretation. So I was feeling inclined to go with Maikuru, given it’s support by two native speakers (Maria and Jen both learned Japanese only as adults). Chris then decided to put it to the ultimate test: Michael Jordan is quite popular in Japan - how do his Japanese fans spell his first name? A Google search of Japanese sites for “Michael Jordan” generated a lot of hits, and quickly revealed a clear consensus: everyone spelled it Maikeru. A bazillion online Japanese Michael Jordan fans can’t be wrong, and if it’s good enough for Mike, it’s good enough for me.
So you can call me マイケル トッパ (Maikeru Toppa). My last name translates perfectly: トis “tō”, パ is “pa” and ッ indicates that the following consonant should be doubled. The nice thing about a phonetic syllabary compared to an alphabet is that you never have to guess pronunciation (almost everyone mispronounces my last name if they’re going just by reading it, but with Katakana, you can’t get it wrong).
We have cracked the code. Eidan is now back to just two wake ups per night (midnight and 5am). After a month of sleep deprivation, this feels like the best thing ever. The main part of the solution is to not go to him every time he wakes up and cries, which became easier to do once Maria’s mother was no longer visiting. But another big part of it was turning his room into a fully optimized sleep chamber. He’s got a space heater to keep his room warm (since he always throws off his blankets), white noise to help him fall asleep and stay asleep (he has a clock that makes the sounds of ocean waves and seagulls - he’s a very light sleeper, so this makes a big difference), and a night light that slowly pulsates (I have to admit even I found it oddly soothing). Next he’ll get a humidifier, since the heater makes the air dry.
My deepest thanks to the inventors, manufacturers, and distributors of all these devices.
502|1
My life outside of work and parenting has ground to a halt over the past month. We thought we had put Eidan’s sleeping problems behind us, but now he’s gone back to getting up 6 or 7 times every night. I haven’t had more than a few hours of sleep per night for weeks now. Jen has moved in already (she’ll be renting our house while we’re away in Japan) and Maria’s mother is visiting, so all our beds are full and there’s currently nowhere in the house to escape for a quiet place to sleep (although I’ve become desperate enough to seriously start considering the basement…). In order to get through the day - especially the days when I have Japanese class after work - I’ve been doing something I’ve never done before: using stimulants. I’ve limited myself to the most popular, legal option however: caffeine. I hate coffee, and I hate Coke, so Dr. Pepper is my new drink of choice. I’m using it only in moderation though. Unlike the many people who can’t even start the day without coffee, I haven’t developed any tolerance for caffeine, and it sends me for one hell of a loop if I have too much.
My situation made me think of the old “I’m a Pepper” and “Coffee Achiever” ads of my youth. As yet more proof that you can find absolutely anything on the web, here’s the Dr. Pepper ad and here’s the Coffee Achiever ad. I had forgotten about how star-studded the coffee ad was. I also came across this interesting tidbit about the guy on the Taster’s Choice jars - apparently Nestle used his image without permission and never told him his picture was on label (once he found out he won a $15.6 million lawsuit against them). At this point I should point out that when I’m sleep deprived and on caffeine, I really tend to ramble….
Eidan was due for shots, so Maria took him to the pediatrician a couple days ago. She asked about his frequent wake-ups, and the doc said we simply have a hyper-alert, very active little boy, and that the 14-16 month old period is a time of major brain development (walking, acquiring language, etc), which often results in sleep disruption.
Eidan really has become incredibly active over the past month. He wants to be outside all the time. When I take him downstairs at 7am, he goes right for the door, yelping at me and trying to pry it open with his little fingers. He’s particularly fascinated with kicking and throwing balls. He kicks and runs with the ball really well - like a little soccer player. He fell down a lot teaching himself how to do it, but he was determined. Actually, the ball is big enough compared to him that he often would end up rolling himself right over the top of it - it was quite something to see ;-).
He also said his first word a few days ago: “no.” He probably hears it more than anything else, so he definitely knows what it means. He was pulling CDs out of my CD drawer and dropping them on the floor, and Maria told him “no.” He then grabbed another CD, held it up, said “no” with a little smile on his face, and dropped it on the floor. And he did that a few more times until Maria got over to him to stop him.
He’s damn lucky he’s so cute.
Update: We’ve made some progress with Eidan’s sleep situation over the past couple of nights - we’ve got him down to 3 wake-ups now. Hopefully it’s a sign of things to come!
The tile floor put in by the previous owners - blech!
There used to be a closet here. It had a vinyl floor, which I removed, and there was nothing under it but the subfloor.
The super-cheapo vanity installed by the previous owners
The slab under the tile. I removed the old tile with a rubber mallet and brick chisel.
I had to build up the floor in the former closet area to match the height of the slab
I applied a floor leveling compound to get the height in the closet area to exactly match the slab
Starting the tile pattern - I had to start at the entrance, to make sure the pattern looks good when you first enter the room
Continuing the pattern - the tricky part was the curved corner of the tub
This is the section where I had to level the floor - it came out nicely
The finished floor
The new vanity, from Ikea. The side cabinet still needs a small counter.
