Grouting tile (Day 466)

Valentines Day. Its been raining a lot lately, so I've gone back inside the house with the exception of the post for the street-side lamp. Needed to put one in to mount the lamp on, so I took a pressure treated 4 x 4 and added an inch to the side to hide the 3/4" conduit that comes up from underground. Then around the bigger post, I layered it with 5/4 cedar (1" thick) and copied the recessed corner styles that we used elsewhere on the house. Bored a couple holes near the top and lead the electrical wire out the front. Then I routered a hole in the facing board to accept the electrical box. Painted the cedar boards and when they dry in a couple days I'll mount them and the top cap. Should look good but I'll wait to post a picture until we get the lamp fixture, which is another story.

Nancy tried to buy what we needed off ebay, which isn't usually a problem except when she went to check out with Pay Pal she couldn't get it to accept our account although we've used it a number of times in the past. After struggling with it for an hour and seeing a commensurate increase in her blood pressure, I found some phone nos. for Pay Pal and called them up. Spent about an hour on the phone (3 calls), closed two accounts and opened a new 3rd one. Then this one still doesn't work. Ebay likes you to use Pay Pal cus they own it (i.e. revenue $$$). Anyway the purchase is still hanging out there because they have to wait 3 business days to confirm our bank account (which we don't intend to use with them anyway). Long frustrating story short--I have a couple weeks to finish the post.

Meanwhile, Nancy and I started grouting the tile in the guest bath room and kitchen. Got about 2/3rd done with the first batch of grout I mixed, so after I finish laying the last 20 sq ft of tile (coming Tuesday), then we'll go ahead and finish the rest of the grouting. Its takes about an hour to grout and then clean 25 sq ft, so the entire grouting job is about 20 hrs of work for us. Then it has to be sealed (silicon penetrate), which is pretty fast. Hopefully, we'll be done with this first batch of tile by the end of the week (kitchen, guest bath, mudroom and sauna). Next comes the master bath, but at least we've agreed on the type and color. The shower is another challenge, but it can wait a week or two before pushing that "Purchase" button.

On Sunday I started on the cork floor for the pantry. Didn't get too far because the box says "Obtain and thoroughly read the directions for installing this flooring tile; see www.expanko.com". Now that's a pretty cheap and shoddy way to treat your customers. How expensive can it be to include one or two pages of instructions in a box of tile that costs $200. They get my vote for Assholes of the Week, which I might start to feature regularly on this blog. Last weeks winner is Pay Pal. More later, after I find the instructions.