Well, the reason I've decided to type this here is that I'm feeling very proud of what I'm achieving by myself, but have no family or friends in the area that can come and admire what I am doing. Therefore I'm going to share it in detail with the forum in the hope someone else can benefit from this process.
Back to step one, I had saved up the money to have my laundry and bathroom tiled but recently a second hand car came by that was too good an offer to refuse. I did my figures and decided it would be cheaper over the next 5 years to upgrade to a '96 Calais (amazing condition) and sell my '93 Courier Dual Cab Ute (double the km's of the Calais and going to need work soonish). So my saved monies went towards the new car.
But the dilemma was I needed my bathroom and laundry tiled before I had the next valuation done for my next IP. I was getting desperate in my thinking and I decided "I can do this myself".
I knew Bunnings did short "how to" courses so I went up there 2 weeks ago and lucky me, they had a tiling course starting in 1 hour time. It was pretty basic, but enough to gain a bit of know how. I also picked up one of their DIY brochures. I also googled some DIY tiling sites on the net for a bit of a read.
I already had the tiles - white Italian tiles, 20 x 20cm - that my brother gave me (gotta love brothers). I sat in the laundry for over an hour contemplating what had to be done and the more I looked, the more I saw. Originally the idea was just to tile, but on closer inspection I saw a lot more little bits to be done - more on this later in my list. I decided to start on my laundry as it will need less cut tiles and I can gain some experience and then tackle my bathroom.
Weekend 1 - Saturday - the laundry has small 4 x 4 cm tiles in it. I started with a hammer and bolster but after 10 minutes, my 'office hands' were starting to feel it. I looked around and knew I would be there for ages and remembered Dad had hired a Kanga hammer when he chipped the tiles up in my dining room years ago. Another trip to Bunnings and I came away with an Ozkito Rotary Hammer Drill for $80. I knew I would need this for the laundry and also on a future job (chipping the concrete coving on the front porch), so it seemed more cost effective to buy one now rather than hire one twice for $40 plus a pop and I would still own it at the end of the job. WOW, this hammer drill is amazing. 20 mins and all the tiles are up. I then tackled the concrete coving around the perimeter and it ate it up like it was icing on a cake!!! I love this machine
I then pulled out the laundry tub and on closer inspection will probably repaint this rather than buying a new one.
Weekend 1 - Sunday - pretty much a write off as the MotoGP was on and *had* to watch it all day - yeah, I'm a bike girl - heheh - go Rossi!!! As soon as it finished, another trip up to Bunnings to buy all my tiling paraphenalia.
Weekend 2 - Sunday - pulled off all the joining strips and quad from the fc sheeting. Sawed the bottom 15mm from the architrave so I can tile under. Felt this will be easier than attempting to tile around an extra piece of timber with a curve on it. Was glad I did as one of the architraves was rotten inside. Should be more waterproof now. Three of the walls have a concrete kerb around them. This was the way the house was built 55 yrs ago. It's an ex housing commission fibro cottage. The one remaining wall was built at a later stage to separate the laundry in half (the other half is now an ensuite to the granny flat). When my washing machine or tub leaked, the water used to flow into the granny flat under the stud wall. There is no floor waste in either the laundry or the ensuite so I at least wanted to stop the water flowing through. I bought a 90 degree plastic flashing and glued this onto the floor with the appropriate glue. I didn't glue it to the wall as it is a different material and I wanted some movement if the house moves. I'm thinking that the skirting tile can overlap it and act as a type of flashing. Then I layed out my tiles so I would know where I wanted to start. This is one of the most important things as glueing a tile down in the wrong spot could mess up the entire job. I decided to mix my own glue to save money. So far, I now have all full tiles glued down.
Plans are to cut and glue all 'cut' tiles next Saturday and then grout them on the Sunday. The washing machine is now out of the laundry so it looks like I'll have to find a local laundromat this week. Either that or go and visit my best friend
If any other tiling 'wannabes' are out there, I'll continue the story as it unfolds. At the end of the job today, all I wanted to do was to share my success with someone, but there were just the dogs. It's a bit lonely doing this type of thing by yourself so I thought the next best people to share it with would be the forum.
Here are some links to the current pics:
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1458&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1459&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1
Back to step one, I had saved up the money to have my laundry and bathroom tiled but recently a second hand car came by that was too good an offer to refuse. I did my figures and decided it would be cheaper over the next 5 years to upgrade to a '96 Calais (amazing condition) and sell my '93 Courier Dual Cab Ute (double the km's of the Calais and going to need work soonish). So my saved monies went towards the new car.
But the dilemma was I needed my bathroom and laundry tiled before I had the next valuation done for my next IP. I was getting desperate in my thinking and I decided "I can do this myself".
I knew Bunnings did short "how to" courses so I went up there 2 weeks ago and lucky me, they had a tiling course starting in 1 hour time. It was pretty basic, but enough to gain a bit of know how. I also picked up one of their DIY brochures. I also googled some DIY tiling sites on the net for a bit of a read.
I already had the tiles - white Italian tiles, 20 x 20cm - that my brother gave me (gotta love brothers). I sat in the laundry for over an hour contemplating what had to be done and the more I looked, the more I saw. Originally the idea was just to tile, but on closer inspection I saw a lot more little bits to be done - more on this later in my list. I decided to start on my laundry as it will need less cut tiles and I can gain some experience and then tackle my bathroom.
Weekend 1 - Saturday - the laundry has small 4 x 4 cm tiles in it. I started with a hammer and bolster but after 10 minutes, my 'office hands' were starting to feel it. I looked around and knew I would be there for ages and remembered Dad had hired a Kanga hammer when he chipped the tiles up in my dining room years ago. Another trip to Bunnings and I came away with an Ozkito Rotary Hammer Drill for $80. I knew I would need this for the laundry and also on a future job (chipping the concrete coving on the front porch), so it seemed more cost effective to buy one now rather than hire one twice for $40 plus a pop and I would still own it at the end of the job. WOW, this hammer drill is amazing. 20 mins and all the tiles are up. I then tackled the concrete coving around the perimeter and it ate it up like it was icing on a cake!!! I love this machine
I then pulled out the laundry tub and on closer inspection will probably repaint this rather than buying a new one.Weekend 1 - Sunday - pretty much a write off as the MotoGP was on and *had* to watch it all day - yeah, I'm a bike girl - heheh - go Rossi!!! As soon as it finished, another trip up to Bunnings to buy all my tiling paraphenalia.
Weekend 2 - Sunday - pulled off all the joining strips and quad from the fc sheeting. Sawed the bottom 15mm from the architrave so I can tile under. Felt this will be easier than attempting to tile around an extra piece of timber with a curve on it. Was glad I did as one of the architraves was rotten inside. Should be more waterproof now. Three of the walls have a concrete kerb around them. This was the way the house was built 55 yrs ago. It's an ex housing commission fibro cottage. The one remaining wall was built at a later stage to separate the laundry in half (the other half is now an ensuite to the granny flat). When my washing machine or tub leaked, the water used to flow into the granny flat under the stud wall. There is no floor waste in either the laundry or the ensuite so I at least wanted to stop the water flowing through. I bought a 90 degree plastic flashing and glued this onto the floor with the appropriate glue. I didn't glue it to the wall as it is a different material and I wanted some movement if the house moves. I'm thinking that the skirting tile can overlap it and act as a type of flashing. Then I layed out my tiles so I would know where I wanted to start. This is one of the most important things as glueing a tile down in the wrong spot could mess up the entire job. I decided to mix my own glue to save money. So far, I now have all full tiles glued down.
Plans are to cut and glue all 'cut' tiles next Saturday and then grout them on the Sunday. The washing machine is now out of the laundry so it looks like I'll have to find a local laundromat this week. Either that or go and visit my best friend
If any other tiling 'wannabes' are out there, I'll continue the story as it unfolds. At the end of the job today, all I wanted to do was to share my success with someone, but there were just the dogs. It's a bit lonely doing this type of thing by yourself so I thought the next best people to share it with would be the forum.
Here are some links to the current pics:
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1458&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1
http://www.somersoft.com/forums/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=1459&password=&sort=1&cat=500&page=1
