Topic: Hardie Board & Birthdays

[Ken (OP)]

One of my TinyPortal friends posted a question about Hardie Board after I had said this in my reply to a birthday greeting, "Today the main activity will be going to my fav store, the Big Orange Box to pick up some Hardie Board".

Have to ask - what's 'Hardie Board' ?

http://www.tinyportal.co.uk/index.php?topic=32904.msg264171#msg264171 date=1277387681

That got me to thinking, I haven't posted a picture essay on any of our projects in a long while, so maybe we need to do just that on the remodel project upstairs.  :disted:

So, over the next few days I'll take some pics and post a few along with all of the *exciting* details.  :08:

[Ken (OP)]

Started off with a few 'before' pictures, the one below is of the bathroom sink of course.
The material with the hole in it that's propped against the tub is the Hardie Board that goes under the tile. If you look at the front edge of the counter you can see a piece of it screwed to that edge.

... see more pics in the Gallery.

[Lesmond]

Good work Ken

[IchBin?]

Looks like fun Ken! I can't tell you how many bath rooms and kitchens I've done over the last 7-8 years. Being as thick headed as me, I finally figured out that I shouldn't let other people know I know how to do that kind of stuff...

Post more pics and you progress!

[Ken (OP)]

I hear you on the letting them know part.  :bigteeth:

Yes, there will lots of pictures. 

[Ken (OP)]

The Hardie Board is finished on the countertop, so we've started to dry fit the tile and the sink. This part of the process is tedious, but you've got to get the fit right if you want it to look good when finished.
Those of you who have done tile before may have noticed that I didn't take the v-cap into consideration when cutting the mosaic tile panels for the left and right sides of the counter, so now me gotta re-cut both pieces. :yikes:

 We're going to need to re-visit the painting part of this job, I missed filling in a really big gap between the cabinet and the wall. 

[Ken (OP)]

The tile is done!  :hah:
Just finished doing the grouting and now it only needs to have the new sink installed. That comes tomorrow morning... just in time for all the kids to use as they return from the beach.  :08:

Grout is a very messy proposition, first you mix up some grout mud, then you slather it all over the tile and take your 'float' tool and rub it around to make sure the grout gets well down into the joints between the tiles. After that sets for a while you take a wet sponge and remove the excess.
And while doing all that you get the grout all over everything else, including the walls, the floor and your self!  :yikes:

[IchBin?]

wow, you go Ken! lol The one thing I hate is how dry it makes your hands if you don't use gloves. That stuff is hard on the hands.

It looks great though!

[Ken (OP)]

Brad, I make sure to wear gloves, after seeing the hands of some of the old time concrete workers I'm very cautious around anything that contains Portland cement.  :disted:


Here's what it looks like after being cleaned... more pics here.

 

[Lesmond]

Nice job Ken, cant wait to see it with taps in too

[Ken (OP)]

Nice job Ken, cant wait to see it with taps in too

Thanks Les.
The sink and fixtures should be finished tomorrow morning.

[Skhilled]

Great job!

[Ken (OP)]

Thanks Steve.

[Ken (OP)]

Sometimes a novice (like me) will get in a hurry (I did) and get a little off track with a job. Lots of times if you do get a bit off  it's fairly easy to back up a few steps and then take a little more time to get it right the second time around.

With mosaic ceramic floor tile that's not so much the case. 

In the picture below you can see in the red circled area where my distance between panels of tile was starting to be off... for the next course the gap for the grout line was going to be really big and there was just no way to adjust it out. This was made ever worse by the fact that the tiles that were already installed had been laid down a couple of days back and so had plenty of time for the thin set (glue) to harden up... So, time to break out the big boy tools and rip it out!  :belly:
Actually, I'm laughing to keep from crying because this is hard work. 

More pics in the Album.

[IchBin?]

lol, oh man Ken that sucks. Especially since you didn't catch it right away. If I get a chance I'll show you my major screwup in my bathroom around my tub. I put tile around the walls of my shower/tub. I did the last wall a few days after doing the other two walls. When I did it, I didn't even line it up to match the walls that were intersecting. I didn't catch it until about a week later. At which point, I just said screw it! lol Fortunately it's not very noticeable, but it still bugs me.