Down to Zero

The countdown is complete: all the wall tiles are up in the powder room.

Next step: wall grout

Then: subfloor, and then I can start the countdown on the floor tile. Fortunately, the floor tiles are larger and cover much less surface, so I think the count starts at 18, or maybe 21.


OK, some lessons have been learned, I could have done more tiling at any one time had I realized that the thinset mortar doesn't set in the tray quite as quickly as I'd originally thought -- I could have mixed the mortar, set a majority of tiles, and had time to cut edge pieces and set them in place as well. Conversely, the mortar sets quickly once it it on the wall and the tile set -- because it's a thinner coat and probably the ceramic tile starts sucking out the moisture once it is set. Thus, in areas where I thought the tile needed to be well set before I started mucking about measuring for an edge on the perpendicular wall -- the time needed to allow for that would have only been 15 minutes or so. I could probably have done everything above the leveling line (the temporary wood rail) in one if I'd known these things and had set aside enough time then. I also know more about prep, so the next time I do this is should go smoother.

I'm sure the grouting will provide a new set of lessons.

On other weekend items: Ellen and I did get out to celebrate our anniversary on Friday, one day late. Ellen was in the mood for steak, and since our previous favorite steak place had closed I had to find an alternative. We wound up at Foxfire in Geneva. A very nice place, though a bit too pricy to fit into our normal rotation -- nice for occasions. Part of that was that we each had a glass of wine with dinner. I think I'm going to have to give up on the idea of wine with dinner, though. It doesn't excite me, doesn't add to the experience, and I know squat about it. I should have done what I heard another table do (after we'd ordered) and found out what beers they had on draft. A good beer I can appreciate.

On Saturday Kalen, Ryan and I did something I've been meaning to do for a while: we took an inventory of all the electrical circuits in the house so that I now have a list of what outlets and fixtures are on each circuit. Of course, I only think about doing this when I have some electrical work to do and need to find what circuit is involved by trial-and-error. Now we have a complete list, but for two outlets. The reason I don't have those -- and the reason we set about this task in the first place -- is that the wall outlets in the garage got shorted or something, and now don't work at all. The outlet in the backyard is also not working, and I need to figure out if that is also related or that's a separate outage. At any rate, I'm a bit puzzled as to what is going on on those and I'm afraid that I may have to get an actual electrician to sort it out, rather than being able to handle it with my amateur standing.

And, while we were messing with the electricity, I also wired a new branch of the phone line and relocated the DSL modem and wireless LAN router to the entertainment center in the living room rather than have it down in the basement.

Tonight, I'll take another stab at the garage outlets.