It’s been a while since my last post.  Things have been busy.  We finally found some porcelain floor tile for the master bathroom that my wife liked (yoohoo)!  It sat on our front porch for a couple of weeks while I leveled the floor and smoothed it out as best I could.  I also had to prepare the area for the shower pan.  Then the fun began.

With four bags of thinset mortar, we set about mixing cement and laying tile.  The entire area was about 230 square feet.  Not a lot for an experienced tile-layer, but that wasn’t me.  It took two days, the second one until 1:00 in the morning.  I had rented a tile cutter and needed to get it back the next morning to avoid another day’s charge.  We decided to buy a small wet saw tile cutter when we do the shower.

The next day, I grouted it all and washed it down.  Only a few odd tiles didn’t quite end up exactly level with their neighbors, but not bad for an amateur.  I have to admit, it looks great.

I just finished planing the log walls to remove the aged discoloration.  The things had been there for 30 years.  I tidied up the corners with a small hobby plane, then used backer rod to fill cracks in the logs.  hopefully, tomorrow I can caulk the cracks and put a coat of polyurethane on the whole thing after a couple of days.  Then plumbing and drywall and other wall treatments; after I put in the exhaust fan, utility light, and receptacles.

It’s moving along, although, slowly.  We still have a 4′ x 6′ shower pan on our front porch that has been there over a week.  I ordered one of these prefab jobs.  It just sits on the floor and the cement board sits inside the little walls around it.  It was a bit more complicated than it should have been because my wife insisted on a “walk-in” shower, the shower floor on level with the bathroom floor; no curb.  Now, I can see the value of a walk-in shower for a disabled person, but the bathroom is on the second floor that is accessible only by a stairway.  Go figure…

In order to accommodate the pan, I had to remove the plywood floor and subfloor down to the joists, install ledgers around the joist opening, and cut the old plywood to fit into these openings, 1 1/8″ below the bathroom plywood floor.  That only took a couple of days.  I have the shower framing in place and just need to put in blocking between the studs so I have something to attach the cement board to at the top and bottom.  Piece of cake.

Now I have to figure out how to run all the plumbing lines.  Oh joy!