Tile Removal- Phase 1 of Kitchen/Bathroom Remodel

a.k.a. why I haven't blogged in a month.  

We had planned to re-do our bathrooms for our house project of the year.  Pink countertops, cream colored sinks and tubs, you get the 80s picture.  New tile, new vanities, sinks, mirrors, new shower in our bathroom.  It seemed do-able.  

When we started figuring out the cabinets we decided as long as we had a connection to a custom cabinet guy, who was giving us a good deal through Matt's grandpa, we should do the kitchen cabinets too.  And just like that our whole house is under construction!  So far we've tackled phase 1: demolition of the tile- one check mark X for all that work.  We'll see how well the plumbing, electrical, cabinets, counters, etc. go while still living here- with 3 small kids!

Our bathroom before pic.  I asked Matt to please start in our bathroom when he tried out the tile removal so if it went badly it would be in our least conspicuous tile room.

Helping daddy get ready.  I've never been very good at being loud when my kids are sleeping.  I don't vacuum, I even avoid dishes and I sprint to answer the door or phone.  Charlotte is well trained in being quiet when they are still sleeping. Getting 3 kids to sleep at the same time is real work- and I don't mess with it!  I was super impressed they slept through all the hammering.

Both bathrooms and some of the family room he did with a sledge hammer and chisel.  

Taking out that first tile was pretty scary.  As much as we've both wanted this tile gone- there is something about cracking your own flooring that makes you feel like you must be a little crazy and you're suddenly very committed to the project!

3 hours later- 24 tiles gone= 7.5 min per tile  The second bathroom was more like 4 min a tile- he got his technique down.

When Matt makes up his mind he is like a force of nature.  He decided to take on the great room.  We decided the best way I could help- my sledge hammering muscles are not twin carrying muscles I discovered- was to take the kids up to my parents for a few days so he could do this room without three helpers.  Plus it is SUPER dusty- these tiles don't pop off- they shatter.  It looked like we'd just moved in.  We just didn't want to empty everything out of our cabinets just yet so Matt taped them off.  The blue tape shows where our new cabinets and desk will go on the red wall and how we'll turn the peninsula into a small square island.

Possible window seat option with the blue tape.

Matt was tempted to take out the fireplace too but we decided against it- at least for now.

Upgraded to a power tool- he did about half of the 450 tiles in one day by himself.  He was pretty delirious by the end.  Matt says it was the most manual labor he's ever done in one day.  He did the other half and clean-up the following 2 days with some help from his cousin.  I missed out on all this fun!

Adios Mexican tile- we won't miss you.

When I got home I walked all over the yard looking for the ginormous pile of tile.  How could I not find 450 tiles?  I finally texted Matt and found out he had put a posting on craigslist to have someone come take tile away and had multiple responses within a few minutes.  Within the hour two people showed up and spent 4 hours shoveling it on their trailer and hauled it off for $200.  What a nice surprise to have it all gone!  We didn't ask where they dumped it.  If you see a pile of satillo in the desert we're sorry.  After all the work of taking it out we didn't want to haul it off too- or spend the next year sneaking it into our garbage can a couple bags at a time!  I'd say it was money well spent! I kept telling Matt to hire some of the young men from church to come help but he wouldn't do it.

By the time I got home it was all gone- he did leave me one tile in the dining room to do myself.  He had already taken all the plastic down and mopped 4 times.  It is still pretty dusty but living on a concrete slab is still an improvement over that tile.  I don't even mind the chaos (yet)- I'm just so happy to finally be doing our BIG project!  I'm super proud of Matt- he took out all of our tile in about a week and only took one day off work to do it. I'm pretty sure his hand might never recover from the meat tenderizing it got, but overall he survived in one piece.  I can't say the same for the tile!