Re: Major kitchen remodel
Posted: Wed Aug 15, 2018 4:21 pm
Day 7:
Floor work finally began after a lot of concern and hang wringing on my part. The tile foreman came out on Monday and looked at everything and talked through everything. Learned some things about ceramic vs porcelain tile (porcelain tile can contain up to 30% ceramic legally). Ceramic is also helpful as part of the composition of a porcelain tile to help mechanically bond to the thinset.
We talked about the plywood and everything. He said they would screw it down like every 4" and use this product called DITRA by a Canadian company Schluter. According to the tile guy who has been doing floors for 10 years, this is the best you can do, even better than cement board. He did not end up screwing down every 4". He just went around and secured it where he thought it needed it. I had him add extra screws on my marked soft spot and it got a lot better afterwards. He used 2" drywall screws...
Pictures from today: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNIfbQVxYGcb4jPPNw
We also discussed the tile layout and transition. I think we are going with the long way instead of diagonal as originally planned. There is a bit less than 6 feet of exposed finished floor between each base cabinet FWIW. It just works better with the rest of the house. The boards run that way and the bathroom tile also runs that way. And for the transition, Schluter also makes an aluminum piece that will be a minimal step up from the existing hardwoods.
The rest of the job is about what I would have expected, which seems to contradict what I had heard from Nick the foreman. Juan said today was laying the DITRA. Tomorrow the carpenter will cut the floor and patch in more plywood for the transition. Juan will lay the tile. Then Friday he will come back to grout. It will get the entire weekend to dry which is great. I would presume cabinets will be arriving promptly on Monday. The windows will be in soon, too. Counters. Finish electrical. Finish plumbing. Backsplash. Appliances. Cabinet hardware. Sweet. I bet there are only like 5 or 6 work days left. We'll see.
Floor work finally began after a lot of concern and hang wringing on my part. The tile foreman came out on Monday and looked at everything and talked through everything. Learned some things about ceramic vs porcelain tile (porcelain tile can contain up to 30% ceramic legally). Ceramic is also helpful as part of the composition of a porcelain tile to help mechanically bond to the thinset.
We talked about the plywood and everything. He said they would screw it down like every 4" and use this product called DITRA by a Canadian company Schluter. According to the tile guy who has been doing floors for 10 years, this is the best you can do, even better than cement board. He did not end up screwing down every 4". He just went around and secured it where he thought it needed it. I had him add extra screws on my marked soft spot and it got a lot better afterwards. He used 2" drywall screws...
Pictures from today: https://1drv.ms/f/s!An5lt1BKvFKdqNIfbQVxYGcb4jPPNw
We also discussed the tile layout and transition. I think we are going with the long way instead of diagonal as originally planned. There is a bit less than 6 feet of exposed finished floor between each base cabinet FWIW. It just works better with the rest of the house. The boards run that way and the bathroom tile also runs that way. And for the transition, Schluter also makes an aluminum piece that will be a minimal step up from the existing hardwoods.
The rest of the job is about what I would have expected, which seems to contradict what I had heard from Nick the foreman. Juan said today was laying the DITRA. Tomorrow the carpenter will cut the floor and patch in more plywood for the transition. Juan will lay the tile. Then Friday he will come back to grout. It will get the entire weekend to dry which is great. I would presume cabinets will be arriving promptly on Monday. The windows will be in soon, too. Counters. Finish electrical. Finish plumbing. Backsplash. Appliances. Cabinet hardware. Sweet. I bet there are only like 5 or 6 work days left. We'll see.