Friday, May 30th, 2008
I am going to put this one out to the masses. I recently became stumped with what to do with the basement floor. Unfortunately, the stump”ness” came about after I tore the whole thing up.
If you don’t know me all that well, I oftentimes shoot first and aim later. At first, I thought this was bad, but later on, I realized that by doing this, I don’t mosey around over-thinking the whole thing. Since many of my projects come out very decently, I intend to stay this way.
Ok, here goes. We have this finished basement that is very dry. It has a concrete floor that used to have carpeting covering the majority of area and those linoleum tiles covering the rest. There is a dehumidifier downstairs keeping any moisture in the air down to a nice level.
Yesterday, I decided to peel up the linoleum tile and carpeting. This took me a few hours, but it’s all nice and clean now. I cut the carpeting up into squares and took up the underlayment. Everything is now out in the garage. As for the sticky goo, underneath the tiles, I used mineral spirits and a brush to get that up. Then, I used Simple Green to clean the entire floor.
Why did I do all this? Well, for one, I don’t really like carpet. I like hard wood or tile. Dogs like to pee on carpets and dust mites like to live in them. Also, I never like to think about what’s growing under a carpet, especially in a basement. Even thought basements feel dry, there is always moisture coming through the concrete. That doesn’t sit well with me.
The basement floor is in very good shape. It’s dry (as I mentioned above) with no cracks. There is one small hairline crack, but it’s hardly noticable. There are gaps between areas where they poured the concrete.
My initial idea was to tile the entire floor. We pretty much had tiles all picked out. Then, I started doing a little research on the internet. That may have been a bad move. One guy says, “Yeah, go ahead and tile right over the concrete.” The next guy says, “Sure, you can tile down there, just use cement backer board.” The third guy says, “You can’t use cement backer board on concrete.” This goes on and on across any number of websites. It seems like no one knows what in the world they are talking about, but love to give uninformed opinions. I am going to call the tile guy who did the old house for advice.
Since my reading, I have had some other ideas. I thought that we could put down a bamboo floor or laminate. I promised myself that I would never use laminate again, so that’s going to be hard.
What I am looking for is ideas and advice. Will those gaps in the concrete affect the tile? Will temperature differences from outside to inside make the tile crack or pop up? There is going to be a pellet stove down there too, so the temperature will be quite different from outside, especially when it’s a cold January night.
By the way, we don’t mind a cold floor.
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Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
Well, that was pretty quick. The tile guy came at about 9AM and left around 11:30AM.
I am pretty happy that there were no hiccups. When he first showed up, I went outside to greet him. I told him that I was going to be the best little helper he ever had. Then, I came inside and did some work. He hardly even saw me. Whoops.
So, here are some photos…
This is the empty bathroom. I made a little mess while taking the toilet off this morning. Also, the wood in the corner was a little wet from the shower, but still strong. He stomped on it just to make sure.
He put a layer of thin set down and then put a cement-type board on top of that.
This is all the cement board down.
This is the cement board fastened to the floor.
Ok, here we go with the tile.
…and it’s done. Well, tomorrow morning he is coming back to do the tile grout. I ordered a brown grout to match the tile. From the pictures above, it doesn’t look like the tile matches the walls much, but they do match the bathroom. The wall tiles have more of a shine to them, but it’s ok. The floor tiles match the upper portion of the walls.
People have told me how easy it is to tile and that I could do it myself. After watching him install this tile, I am going to have him do the kitchen as well. I don’t feel like it’s worth it for me to buy the tools and find the time to learn how to tile, especially when it’s a once in a blue moon kind of thing. I am happy he did it.
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Tuesday, October 30th, 2007
…and I hope it stays that way. I hate surprises.
Just a nice day to writet a post about what’s in my head. Nothing too much has happened today. I am starting to have some issues with the second server with the horrible hosting company I choose not to mention. The server was unavailable for a few minutes today, so I sent support an email. I got two replies with the canned response…”We are working on it.” If I believed them every time they said that, I would be out of business.
I already set up two domains today, to move over to the new server. These domains matter, so I want them taken care of. I also plan on getting a fifth server for two other websites. Yeah, this is getting to be fun. I just need to get these sites away from this company.
In other news, I finished sanding the bathroom ceiling and walls last night and gave them some paint. The ceiling is white, so there were no surprises there. The walls were supposed to be a “bone” kind of color. We wanted them to be very neutral, so the dark furniture would offer a nice contrast. As I was putting the paint on the walls, I was pleased that the green was being covered up. After I was done, I stepped back to view a semi-pink bathroom. Laura even thought so. The good news is that the pink turned into more of a bone color after it dried. I wanted to get up the crown moulding last night too. No such luck. I plan on making the cuts tonight and getting that done. Then, I need to caulk the gaps in the moulding and paint it. After that, I need to get in touch with the tile place down the road and pick some colors. We also need to go shopping for a vanity and a mirror. It should be good.
That’s about it. Laura gets home late tonight, so I hope to have this done before she gets home. I hate surprises, but I love to give them.
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