Think We Like Slate?

We finished installing slate tile in the front hall and fireplace hearth (the same tile we used in the bathroom). We still need to caulk between the tile and hardwood (which will cover the light gray mortar that shows up a lot around the edges of the tile in the photo below), but we had to special order caulk to match our grout and I didn't want to wait to do a blog post. The cutting in this job was pretty simple ... just a matter of making sure everything was centered and symmetrical. Laying the tiles was a little more difficult ... trying to get the tile to be even in height with the previously installed hardwood proved to be quite a task ... it pretty much just required doing trial and error to see how much mortar was needed under each tile. It worked out though and should look good once we get baseboards installed and stuff. We have started discussing the plan to cover the ugly brick on our fireplace, but that's a topic for another post.

Featured Tool: QEP 7" Tile Saw

I just finished my seventh tile job with this tile saw, which I bought about five years ago for less than $100 (the cheapest one available at HD). I considered buying a tile snapper/cutter at the time, but was talked into getting a wet saw instead, and it was definitely worth the extra money. I know there are tile saws out there with better features (e.g. faster RPM's, larger blades, better guide systems, larger reservoirs), but for my DIY stuff this saw works quite well.

Here is a quick run down of the evolution of the tile work I've completed with this saw:

1. House in Dallas - Guest bathroom shower wall patch job
2. House in Dallas - Master bathroom floor
3. House in Dallas - Study bathroom floor and shower
4. Meredith's Parents' House - Upstairs bathroom floor (no pics)
5. Our House - Bathroom floor and wall (angle grinder was used for circular cuts)
6. Our House - Kitchen floor
7. Our House - Front hall and fireplace hearth (pics coming soon)

We have about four tile jobs left (fireplace wall, kitchen backsplash, basement bathroom, basement laundry/furnace room), so we'll see if this saw can last just a little while longer.

Featured Tool: SawStop Table Saws

I had a minor accident with my table saw last winter, whereby I cut through the tip of my left index finger down to the base of the nail. It was an incredibly scary incident, but could have been much worse (the finger healed slowly and after several months I got 95% of the feeling back). I personally know at least three people who have cut off one or more fingers with a table saw, but luckily they were all able to have the fingers re-attached.

I came across this video tonight via finehomebuilding.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3mzhvMgrLE&feature=player_embedded. This table saw uses a special blade and stopping mechanism to prevent cutting accidents like these. If the saw blade detects electrical conductivity (such as that provided by human skin), it stops the blade within 1/1000th of a second; otherwise, the saw operates as usual since wood is not very conductive. The video is an interesting watch; at the 3:02 mark the creator of the saw uses his finger to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology.

Plus, the SawStop website actually has a page dedicated to "finger saves". Imagine coming close to losing a finger, and walking away with a cut barely the size of a paper cut.

Post Re: Posts

We have installed the posts for the new railing, which was the first task of our project to fix the lower part of our staircase (see discussion of the plan here and here). The posts are 58" tall above the finished floor and are very solid; they continue below the floor where they are secured into the floor joists with carriage bolts, as well as being secured to the landing with carriage bolts and screws. The posts are 4.5" thick, and will eventually be finished with 3/4" thick oak to match the existing post.

Long Overdue Vent Cover

Have you ever had a small task around the house that just didn't get done because you had too many big tasks dominating your time? Cutting and installing this vent cover was a super easy/quick task, but for some reason I procrastinated doing it for months and months. It's finally done!

Estimated procrastination time: 11.5 months

Estimated time to complete work: 4.5 minutes

Hardwood Floors Installed

We finally finished installing the new hardwood floors throughout the first floor of our house. Here are some thoughts and lessons learned from this project:

• Following some advice from the 416fixeruppers, we bought a used floor nailer on craigslist so that we wouldn't have to deal with rentals. This proved to be a very wise decision as it allowed me to be able to do a few hours here and there, rather than trying to do a ton of work in 24 hour periods.
• The most difficult part of the project was having a quality transition from the hardwood onto the kitchen tile and into the kitchen cabinets. We were able to shave down the first piece of wood to avoid the need for a transition piece. We had similar difficulty installing up against the built-in bookshelves in the living room, but we can use quarter round there, so it wasn't too bad.
• We had to change directions using slip tongue splines, which is not generally hard to do. However, our house is not open concept, so moving in and out of five different rooms was very time-consuming, especially when we had furniture to move around and couldn't do the whole thing at once. Installing hardwood in a big rectangular space would be soooooo much easier.
• Cutting around supply/return vents was a pain, but not too bad. We started out with five supply vents and four return vents on this floor, and now we have six supply vents and two return vents (two of the old return vents were previously closed off). We bought beech vent covers, which we will stain to match the hardwood when we finish the stairs project.
• I was surprised by how many pieces needed to be hand nailed (typically the last 4-5 rows) because the floor nailer did not fit close to the wall. I drilled pilot holes above the tongue and hand nailed these rows, and then used a brad nailer for the last row (those holes will be hidden by the quarter round). By doing this, we limited the number of face nails that require touching up to about a dozen (around the kitchen cabinets and tile).
• We decided not to install hardwood in the front hall. Instead, we installed a wood frame around the front hall (see third photo below) and plan to install slate tile in that space so that we don't have to worry (as much) about the wood getting ruined by wet boots.
• We removed the old tile hearth, which was not adequately supported (only 2x4's for joists). We installed new 2x8 joists, replaced the subfloor, and then framed wood around the new hearth (see fourth photo below). We plan to install slate tile here as well.
• Finally, I would not recommend installing dark hardwood if you have two big dogs. We love our new floors and it is a 1,000% improvement from our dirty old floors, but our dogs have already put a number of scratches in the floors. They don't scratch off the finish or anything, but you can see the scratches are there when you look in certain light. This would be less of a problem with lighter coloured floors.

Here are a few reveal photos ... we'll have bigger ones as we do the finish work on the first floor ... it's currently a little messy with lots of reno/baby/Christmas stuff.

Next up: tiling the front hall and hearth, and installing new steps/railing.