Welcome to the Machine

After many attempts, mostly unsuccessful, to remove the thinset from my floor after busting up tile, I have broken down and will rent a machine.  Yes.  A machine.  This machine is designed to grind down the thinset with carbide bits so that I once again have a smooth concrete surface. 

I have mostly resisted the machine idea, thinking instead that I would chip away at the alien spaceship thinset from hell with my trusty hammer and chisel.  As much as I love my hammer and my new chisel, they just aren't getting the job done...at least in this century, and that's saying a lot since we are still early on in the century. 

Tomorrow I will drive to Green Valley, where I have reserved the floor grinding machine of destiny.  Evidently it's a big machine and will require two people to load it into my vehicle.  That should be easy since I assume a person there will help me load it.  The interesting part will be getting it out of the vehicle and into my house once I get home.  Unless Bhodi and Myrtle get super motivated and decide to help, machine removal from the vehicle will have to get creative...or I will have to call someone in a fit of desperation. 

I am hoping it grinds without jacking up the slab underneath the thinset.  I am also hoping that the rental people are going to give me some kind of training on how to use the thing.  If not, we're winging it, because I am sick of trying to figure out how to get this crap off my floor. 

Sunday will be wallpaper removal and drywall fixing day.  If anyone is bored, come on over to Octopus street. 

It's Electric, Boggie Woggie Woggie

Keith Graham of Graham-Electric-fame is hanging out on Octopus Street today to try and make sense of the Medusa head of wires I have hanging from walls and the ceiling in the bedroom.  As if my demolition tendencies haven't been productive enough, in addition to drywall destruction, I have also exposed lots of wires and outlets and the like. 

In order to re-secure and place the wires, outlets, and switches, Keith and his trusty companion are taking down more drywall and busting holes where they are putting junction boxes.  What have I gotten into?  At least 4 hours of electrical work.  That's what I have gotten into...oh, and lots of drywall repair.  Let's not minimize the joy that will be drywall repair.

Unlike the plumber, who took a nosedive for the worst, Keith Graham and Graham Electric are still electricians to the gods.  Seriously.  It is shocking how nice they are.  (sorry.  I couldn't resist that little pun.)

Tearing it all down

Thanks to the kindness of friends, I had a massive wallpaper removal day at the house, which also turned into a massive demolition party again.  Raymond, Sean, and Kip succumbed to the siren song of free beer and food and spent more than 8 hours stripping wallpaper from the bedroom.  Friends are the best, especially when you buy a home with wallpaper in the bedroom. 

Kip also ripped out the stupid arch the former owners built into the doorway leading to the bathroom.  Remember about 15 years ago when there was a shortage on nails?  It was because the former owners purchased all the nails and used them in framing up the stupid arch. With a hammer, a crow bar, and lots of determination, Kip showed that arch who was boss!  Woohooo! 

So, now I have a bare concrete slab in the bedroom, walls that are mostly wallpaper free, exposed wiring and insulation on parts of the walls, and some drywall repairs to make. I just want to make sure I have it ALL stripped and bare and as destroyed as possible before I start to fix things. 

Next update:  selecting tile for the floor.  Oh the agony!