Tiling progress

This holiday weekend was our big 'get things done' weekend for the flooring. And we are trucking ahead!  Eric's sister and her husband came out on Friday to assist with distracting Kaylee and getting the underlayment cut and attached.

I went for additional supplies that were needed through the day. Not all of the underlayment got attached or cut, but enough did that if we finish what's been cut, we can go back to a normal semblance of life and use of the kitchen by the end of this weekend. 

Kaylee left with them to go to their house where Grandma was going to pick her up. We were suddenly child free!   We went out to a late dinner at a BBQ place about 30 minutes away and it was delicious. Then we crashed in bed. 

Today was tile cutting and placement day! 

We tested out how we wanted the tiles arranged. The manufacturer of the tile didn't recommend a 50% overlay so we experimented with other options.

Then we put the new tile saw together and got cutting! 

The dining room is coming together!

Moving into the kitchen

All the pieces have been cut. Eric then measured them in preparation for the thinset to attach them down. We didn't finish the whole kitchen because he ran out of spacers! But we did get a good amount of them done. The plan for after dinner tonight is to get this set of tile of attached with thinset  and tomorrow, finish putting down underlayment, then use the spacers to finish laying out and cutting the rest of the tile.

I've been doing a ton of laundry in preparation for losing access to the laundry room and I bought lots of water since we'll be losing access to our drinking water once we start actually attaching tile and grouting.

Grouting will be late tomorrow and mostly Monday. Sister and her husband are returning hopefully Sunday but definitely Monday to assist. We've also purchased a special additive that preseals the grout as you apply it so you can reduce a step in waiting for the tile to be done.

Update!:

Tiling is DONE! FINITO!

We moved into the angled space and Kaylee helped

Cutting pieces to fit

Not mortared in yet

To the entry way!  We changed how the flooring flowed so that when you come in you can stay on a more durable surface with snow/mud on shoes rather than worrying about getting the carpet (for now) wet and dirty. Before, you'd come in on tile through the front door, and have to step on carpet before getting to hardwood. We really love how this flows much better.

Eric got all of the tile set in place.

On Sunday BIL and MIL came out to help grout. No pictures, sorry! Due to varying techniques we have significant grout haze to remove but I'm handling it well. 

You can see the two tiles where I've used vinegar and water to remove the grout haze. 

We swept up the loose particles and vacuumed the tile. Now all that's left is using the vinegar/water solution to wipe down the floor. The grout can't be mopped for another week but I'm going by hand as I'm able.

Aquaponics Update!

We made some headway getting things set up. That progress in photo essay below!

First off was drilling a hole into the stock tank for water to drain out of. 

More supplies that have arrived, included our LED grow light and bulkhead fittings for the hole we're drilling.

Hole is in place! We had to shave away some excess on the edges since the drill bit didn't create a large enough hole for the bulkhead to fit. But any larger drill bit would have created too large a hole. 

Fitting the bulkhead. There are teflon and rubber washers that help create the seal as the nut is tightened on.

Fitting the spout onto the bulkhead so we can turn the flow on and off. 

Adding Hydroton! This is an expanded clay media that doesn't absorb water. It's very lightweight (and expensive) but also pH neutral, which is important for the system.

It's also very dusty and needs to be rinsed before you fully start running the system!

That is a job for a 3 year old!

The first moment of truth... were our fittings tight enough so it wouldn't leak?  The answer was no, there was a tiny amount of dripping from the bulkhead, so we tightened that down and voila, all better!

Water drains well into what will be the fish tank.

All filled with hydroton. 

Out in the barn, Gwyn has started shedding. It's SPRING!

Velociraptor took an open door opportunity to hang out on the porch on an unseasonably warm day. 

Kaylee decided to play in the remaining snow piles. In a shirt and underwear only. 

Reflooring Post 3! Plus around the Ranch picspam

We had a slight melt for a while and you can tell which bag of pellet bedding was on the ground vs which one was on top.... Also, the supplier who makes the newspaper bedding changed their packaging from paper to plastic.

Saffron ears. She gets quite insistent when it's dinner time.

We (and by we, I mean Eric) started tackling the hardwood removal in the dining room. This was actually decent wood, it was nailed down. The black stuff you see is roofing felt. It's used as a moisture barrier. 

Before all the flooring went away, I used the nice open space to cut some fabric!

We got more snow (UGH GO AWAY) but the animals don't seem to mind. 

They were unsure about the snow shoes Kaylee was wearing

Kaylee is a good barn helper. She also learned that peeing in a stall is acceptable if you can't make it to the house in time. 

This is from today. The wood is now all removed from this room. Kaylee helped!

We also took the time to fix the squeaky floor. There were places where the subfloor was not actually connected to to the joists below. So screws were the solution. Now the floor doesn't creak! Progress!