The Kitchen Sink

Wow, what a very long weekend.

When I left here last Tuesday at 4 pm it was 75 degrees. So what do I run into while home....SNOW. I even ran into a snow squall while I was out and about. Don't miss that stuff at all. I think we had a total of 12 inches this year down here.

So now the house is under contract with a target closing date of May 18th. Alot can happen between now and then so we are keeping our fingers crossed. The buyers are a military couple so we have to go through a VA inspection. That shouldn't be an issue since that is how I bought the house and it is in better condition than when I bought it.

With lots of help from my father-in-law and Shelly lots got done this past weekend bless their hearts. All the moulding in the bathroom and laundryroom is up and just needs some touch up painting. The living room is finally done!!! I put in new outlets and covers and painted the trim so I just need to vacuum that this weekend when I am up there again. Baseboard for the kitchen and window jams for the upstairs windows are painted and just need to be cut and installed.

I signed a contract with my contractor to paint the house so My realtor and I decided that if for some reason this sale falls through we will quickly relist the house for a higher price. :)

So that brings me to the the big project for the weekend. The kitchen countertop. It was laminate and pretty dated. I had bought porcelain tile to put on it. First step is to remove the laminate so you have a better surface for the thinset or mastic to adhere to. Laminate doesn't want to come off by itself so we scored it with a circular saw and chiseled it off. That took a bit of time. Oh...almost forgot about taking out the sink. They used clips to hold the sink to the counter....about one every 4 inches and in that corner....can you picture me with half of my body in a corner base cabinet??? That must have been a sight.

Tiling is easy in itself. You just need to make sure you tile all line up. I used Venitian Stone Realto White, from Lowes and imported from Italy with a Delorean Gray sanded grout. Sanded workes better with a wider grout line and I like to use a 1/4 inch grout space. So I put down all the full tiles I can first. I measure the ones I need to cut then put those in.

Here's when it gets interesting.

I thought I would leave an overhang on the tile (1/8 - 1/4 inch) to give the sink a little more support. Wrong!!! LOL I figured I would come back and run a diamond bit dremel saw and trim it later. I did the same thing for the bathtub deck and it cut through the tile like butter. So all the tile is up and grouted, back splash and cap is put up and grouted and the oak trim on the front is in and yesturday morning I go to put in the sink and of course needed to trim the tiles.

OOpsy

Don't do that with porcelain tile. There might be a different tool to use but a diamnond bit won't cut it lol. Damn, I should have cut them BEFORE I put them down. laughing yet? I'm smiling cause it is something I learned lol. That diamond bit got red hot but wouldn't do anything. So....I need to get the sink in and have it usable in case the house gets inspected before I come back this weekend so I absolutely needed to get that sink in before I left.

So the dilema. The handful of tiles that needed triming had to come up, be trimmed on the tile saw, then put back down. But what about grouting?? You really shouldn't grout until the adhesive or thinset you use to put the tile down has had time to cure. So what about the grout?? You remove the tile so you remove the grout. If you grout before the tiles have set they will move when you go to sponge the tile.

Sooooo, that's why God created caulk, and caulk in sanded Delorean Gray form at that. Why not put in the sink now and grout up to the sink this weekend??? Sounds good to me. Ok, so I put a 1/4 - 1/2 inch bead of white silicone caulk on the underside lip of the sink all the way around and set it in place in the opening. A couple hits with my hand and it gets into place. It now has a water tight seal. When I go back this weekenend I will put caulk into the grout lines that run under the sink and then grout up to the sink then finally running a think gray caulk line around the outside of the sink. It will then be sealed and I will pitty the person that ever tries to pull it out in the future.

And the final selling price of the house you may be thinkin??

I'll let you know after closing :)