Gettin' Down and Dirty

So it's been about 2 weeks since our basement went from this:

To this:

... In one night. So it's time that I bring you up to speed on where we are now, as I feel we've come a long way for two weeks of labour.


B had Thursday off while the guys came to install our new tankless water heater. After the guys left, B got to work getting the tape and the first coat of mud onto the drywall. We let that set and on Friday, B got another coat of mud onto the wall and then got to work, redirecting all of our plumbing, to the whole house (we moved the location of the water heater from the front of the house to closer to the back. So B had to rework the plumbing so that the hot water had a shorter distance to travel to ALL faucets/shower heads in the house).


Sunday we were up bright and early, sanding the walls (dust masks required FOR SURE!) and cleaning up the room in preparation for laying tile. 

My Dad headed over to help us out with laying the tile, as it was our first tiling job, and I was certain I wanted our square tiles laid in a diamond pattern to give it that something extra. (B didn't want to attempt this pattern on our first job... I don't blame him). We're both really happy we went with the diamond pattern though. One of those little things that will make a big difference in the look of the room.

So for the day I was in charge of the tile saw (to cold to work outside, so we set it up in what will later become our new and improved basement bathroom), while B and my Dad worked quickly to lay the tile and then we'd work together to clean up the thinset from the spaces between the tiles and double check the lines. It took most of the day, with a break only to stop for dinner. By the end of the day our laundry room looked something more like this....

Not too shabby, huh? Tonight was all about getting the grout in between the tiles. I mixed it up and B got it on there as quickly and efficiently as possible. We used a light grey, quick set grout that I think is going to be perfect for our light grey tiles! 

Now we just have to let it sit so we can get that white "haze" off top. Tomorrow... we paint! I can hardly wait!