Shower Adventure Part Deux
After discovering that the bottom row of tiles were held onto the wall only by mildewy caulking, our Heroine returned to The Oracle for information, advice, and more tools.
Our Heroine knows that there is always more than one way to skin a cat. Or to accomplish any home repair project.
1) The Right Way (which usually involves professional quality materials, tools and often years of practice. It will look great, and will often out last the craftsman.)
2) The Cheapest Way (often referred to as The Bandaide approach; It may look good but it won’t last long term.)
And 3) At least one other way in between those two options.
She went seeking a Third Way and was rewarded with someone who understood her quest and rewarded her with information, a new tool and supplies she needed to continue.
The new plan involves:
1. scraping all the loose caulk, grout, old glue/cement and mildew off the walls and the backs of the tiles
2. vaccuuming up all the dust and crumbs
3. spraying the walls and backs of tiles with a 5% bleach solution and leaving it over night to dry.
On Tuesday evening (after a 6p.m. meeting), she will reattach the tiles with construction adhesive because the mortar/tile adhesive only came in bags large enough to re-tile an entire bathroom and the tools to spread the mortar were all 4 inches wide but the tile course that needs to be reattached is only 2.5 inches wide.
On Wednesday, after letting the construction adhesive set for 24 hours, our Heroine will use silicone caulk instead of grout. Silicone would have to be used between the wall and the floor joint anyway, so it’s just easier to use it all around the tiles. Also, the bags of grout were more than 5 times the amount needed for this project and the grout she has downstairs wouldn’t match the rest of the grout anyway. The caulk will match.
It has certainly been a day of surprises. Our Heroine doesn’t want to speculate on what tomorrow will bring.
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- More tools! (what's up with the blurriness?)
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- All the tiles on the left edge came off as I pulled the top caulking off.
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- I put a towel over the drain to keep some of the junk out of the trap. All I need now is for that to get plugged up.
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- Scraped smooth (mostly)
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- All sprayed down. Hopefully the mildew will be killed off but I'm not holding my breath.
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
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It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
neighbors are great 2006
Local organizing - block club style 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
-
It was a dark and stormy morning… 2007
seems topical, somehow… 2007
neighbors are great 2006
Local organizing - block club style 2006
ISAIAH retreat 2006
— — —
A year ago (or longer) on This Journey…
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:39 am
try Mold*Off it will eliminate mildew and inhibit it from growing back for months at a time.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:44 pm
Wow, you’ve been busy.
Homer Simpson once said there are three ways to do things: The right way, the wrong way, and the Max Power way. The max Power way is the wrong way, but faster.
June 4th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Your blog doesn’t like me to comment anymore. good luck with your project. It sounds necessary but time consuming.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Wow, what a project. I re-caulked the edges of the tub in my old place, and MAN was that tough. Scraping scraping to get all the old crap off. I may take a tiling class, as the tile in my hopefully new place is BRIGHT blue.