Home Improvement Today?

Ended up looking like this behind the walls. With about 8 inches of solid concrete for the base.

Just installed on drywall with concrete ties every 2 feet or so. I hate messing with stuff I didn't do. I always find something that causes me more trouble.

Guess im renting a jackhammer this weekend for the base.

 

Damn.. That looks like a huge pain in the ass

 

I'm building some window boxes out of cedar pickets and pressure treated pine. I am winging it as far as the design goes and I want to know if anyone has any comments on how I built them ie: how to build them sturdier, etc.

They are pretty sturdy already and I'm going to line them with landscaping fabric and drill 4 holes in the bottom for drainage. Also, the ends will be closed up, left them off to see the frames better.

 

For some reason, I don't think these should have come up that easy nor do I think the slab should be that clean...looks like either a crappy thinset or builder hired someone who didn't know wtf they were doing...I think a little of both.

 

Be happy

 

very true...these 3 were cracked so that must be why.

 

I was being cheap last night and tried to bust it with a sledge. Laid an old blanket down to stop the pieces from flying everywhere, and stepped back and took a big hit. Sounded like somebody hitting two pieces of metal together and my sledge bounced about 3 foot in the air. My arms tingled for like 5 minutes....lol

Off to the rental shop tomorrow morning. Big demo hammer or just a regular jack hammer.

I might try to drill some holes in it tonight just to try and give it a path to crack.

 

We started our kitchen renovation. Here are some shots of the original.




We took down all the wall paper and demo'd the countertop. We're going to do a concrete countertop like we did in the laundry room. Here's a shot with the countertop gone. We also took down some cabinets over the bar area to open it up.




I was curious what was under the tile. Turns out it was about 1 1/2" thick concrete, which they then covered over with tile.

 

Got all the tile off the walls. I also took out the range hood. The previous owners were short so the hood was real low. There's a small extension piece between the hood and the curve in the soffit so it should give us about 3 1/2" of extra height. The hood ducting in the picture was at about the height of the line running on the back wall and around the cabinet.

 

... ^^^ ... good luck EM ... looks like fun ...
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So the drywall is pretty beat up from removing the old tile and it needs to be replaced. I'm going to install two types of tile for a backsplash, horizontal glass/metal mosaic tile similar to this but lighter and stainless steel tiles. What should I put up on the walls after taking the drywall out? Hardibacker? Also, what adhesive should I use?

 

Hardibacker would be ideal, but since it is on the walls it might be a little overkill. Couldnt you just use some green board, that water resistant drywall?

 

In the kitchen ?

Regular drywall

 

Yes, kitchen. I've read that drywall is not preferred because it soaks up water. The old backspash was drywall covered with cement board (looked like 3/4" cement board).

 

Soaks up water from where ?

 

I don't know. Sink spills maybe or steam from cooking pots? Some say it's okay, some say it's not. One guy said if it's painted it's fine. I just want to make sure it's something that will last. If I use drywall, does it have to be sealed with something prior to tiling?

 

We never use anything but regular drywall in kitchens , never had a problem

Drywall should be primed with a drywall sealer , I usually do that before the cabinets are installed

 

Okay cool. What about an adhesive that works for glass and stainless tile?

I've seen some that say mastic if fine while others say thinset with an additive.

 

I'm not entirely certain what is best but it is important to use the correct adhesive for whatever particular tile , also back buttering can be required on glass tile cause sometimes trowel notches can telegraph through

 

Replaced all the busted up drywall. Cut and mounted the cement board for the concrete countertops. Started sanding the wood. We're going for a lighter color on the cabinets. New sink is in place but not mounted yet. We're going to do undermount. The old sink was 45" across so I had to build a support for the newer sink. The old sink was wide but it wasn't very deep (7") and it had a small garbage disposal sink that wasn't useful for much. The new sink is 9" deep and is two large squares.