Finished (Mostly)!

 

Mike The Demo/Reinstall Guy was here this morning (yes, Saturday morning) to reinstall everything he took apart on Tuesday morning.  It’s amazing to think this project was “completed” in less than a week.  I put completed in “quotes” as we have to reinstall all the trim. 

I think the cats are very happy their lives will no longer be interrupted by loud noises and they’ll have the run of the house again.  They have inspected every inch.  I think we’ve learned it is worth hiring professionals to do the job if you want it done right in a timely manner.  Mike left his card here for any future projects we have. (Perhaps trim installation???)

We certainly won’t miss going all the way to the basement to use the bathroom! 

Orange Cat-approved upstairs bathroom.  This tile looks a lot more interesting in person. 

Main Floor Bathroom

I think everyone in our neighborhood is glad they don’t have to look at this in the backyard anymore. 

We wholeheartedly recommend and thank Bauer Flooring for their great work and professionalism!  Ravel asks you not to forget to celebrate National Black Cat Appreciation Day today! 

Third Mike

Here's my artful black and white photo from yesterday of the Duluth Lift Bridge. I did a ride along with James Clark on his parts delivery run from Minneapolis to seven stops up I-35 to Superior and Duluth. I scouted out a few potential 

A German Boy In Duluth 

tourist opportunities.

First Mike was here to do some grouting today and tomorrow he'll finish up the grouting. Saturday, second Mike will come to re-install the toilets, gas stove, etc. We (Sue, Third Mike (Berg)) have some tricky molding issues to resolve. Hopefully Third Mike will be interested in helping rip a few boards.

Sue and I really like this. In a week or so we'll put the sealer stuff on the grout 

The tile floor sits up maybe 3/16 of and inch above the wood floor as expected. 

This tile has a nice lined texture that is not visible from this height.

This job was money well spent! While the grout dries we have the cats sequestered in the basement to prevent little claws from getting stuck in the grout.

Tile–Day 2

It’s definitely worth letting the professionals do the job. Mike The Tile Guy arrived about 9am this morning.  When he started cleaning up around 2pm, he had done both bathrooms, kitchen and had started in the back hallway and closet.  He was adamant that we not walk on the tile until tomorrow morning at the earliest.  This may prove difficult for people want to drink coffee and cats who want cat food.   

It’s really hard to say how long this would have taken us to do it.  He’ll be back tomorrow to finish up and do the grout.  As you can see, the in-house inspectors have been busy too. 

 

The kitchen/bath/hall tile has a nice mix of colors with some gray, beige and cream.  We may have achieved our goal of toning down the “orange” in the cabinets. 

Not much left now!

Inspector Orange checking out the first floor bathroom. 

The tile looks nice with the wood, the cabinets and the orange cat. 

Boogie Woogie Bugle Cats of Company BW

After day one of the project and a short day at that, the floors are ready to receive the mortar (or whatever they call it) and the tile. Mike the tile guy will lay tile tomorrow and Thursday and then grout on Friday. The cats were not thrilled by all of the pounding but they came out as soon as we opened the basement door--release the cats!

These guys are very professional and quick! What took Mike the demo guy about three hours would have taken us a week and a half.

You can see a couple of the tiles sitting on the floor. There is a lot of good color variation in this tile so we think depth will be perceived by the average viewer. The gunk under the stove (around 13 years worth) was fairly disgusting.

 That's the pedestal for the bathroom sink. Sue has her WEB day training tomorrow morning and then she's golfing with two of her cohorts. I'm road tripping to Duluth with James Clark.

Here's my band concert from Sunday night. Sue was volunteered to run the sound board. She's lucky someone didn't hand her a piccolo and ask her to play the tweeting solo on Stars and Stripes Forever.

Here's Vickie, the excellent vocalist who sang the premier of Tom's and my arrangement of Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B.

 During the pounding today, the cats enjoyed some soothing classical music from the cable tv.

Toilets Everywhere!

Well, Mike and Mike from Bauer Floors (only one of them is a Bauer) are here tearing out vinyl and putting down tile floors in our upper 2nd floor bathroom and 1st floor bathroom, back entryway, and kitchen.

Sue wondered where they'd put the toilets. . . this should help Ann sell her house!

They should be done with everything by Friday this week.

There's now a stove and a refrigerator in our living room. The cats are sequestered in the basement.

Awesome.