Stick house kitchen tile work

[Ozz]

We had to do something about the worn, outdated carpeting, so we discussed tile, we looked at each other, and shrugged our shoulders; How hard could it be? So off to Lowe's, optimistic and energized we went. It was a pretty involved job, lots of aspects to it, but we pushed through it.
I have to tell you about our floor squeak, one part of the kitchen had a few bad ones, I got a box of ring shank nails, used them all.... still the same squeak, I used 30 or so 2 1/2" screws, still the squeak. I screwed one between the Joice's, went to the basement and measured to find the exact wood center, snapped a chalk line, as some of my screws missed the floor Joice's, then used two handfuls of resin coated 16 penny nails. At this point, I was having trouble finding a clear place to nail them in. Yep, still squeaking.
I went downstairs, sat on a paint can and looked up at the cross braces, says to myself, "Hershel, you don't suppose...?" I had Sue jump up and down on the floor, squeak squeak, I went over and got a big hammer, pounded out 2 of the sets of braces.... no squeak.
Slap my hand on my head, how could I have missed that. Oh well, it is quiet now.
Next, the small basement entry, then both bathrooms.
Here is a slide show of the job:
http://tiny.cc/Tile

[SlickWillie]

Very nice looking job there OZZ. Of course, I should have known you would do a nice job. I've laid quite a bit of tile myself, but never over wood. I have a pallet of tile at the stick house just waiting for the kitchen. Maybe the son will have someone lay it; I lost interest in it. It is a job, down on the hands and knees, but I did our tile simply because it is so hard to get quality work done now days.

[Ozz]

Thanks, Will. We built this house 30 years ago, built it the way we wanted to live in it, but people don't want carpet in the kitchen and bath, so we figured we would bring it up to todays standards, and the standard the majority of folks want it.
I just hate to hire someone if we can do the work, (and not mess it up too bad) besides, I don't work too much anymore and the fuel-sucking Super Duty, takes a ton of bucks to keep it rolling...
Take care, don't let that heat and humidity get to you.

[stiles watson]

Speaking of fuel sucking Super Duty, I got 6.5 towing into that 30-40 MPH head wind. I talked to the tow truck driver on the way to the dealership about the question you posed on another thread. He said restarting a Powerstroke, after running out of fuel, is the toughest of all the diesels. He ran through the steps involved. I don't remember all that he said. Suffice it to say that I want to avoid emptying the tank at all cost.

Back to this thread, you have it looking very nice. I will have to put you in the category of a craftsman. I don't understand how you got that swimming pool in the kitchen.

[Hemlockusa]

Ok, Jim great job as usual... NOW The big question..... How close are we getting to listing this house... It is getting close to heading south. The geese have all their new feathers and are starting to look south... Time is a wasting..... OR have you done so much to the house that your going to keep it????????

[sailer]

Lets get this thing on the market now and find a real go getter to list it with ,, you need a great sales person , not you brothers uncle or a best friend, you need a real good sales person to sell it and work at it ,, good luck sailer

[Ozz]

We have so much to do, I fear it will be next year before it will be ready, Sue and I are working 7 days a week on it, we have done a ton of work, really turned things around, but by my calculations, still have around 50 days work to do.
We will probably just Winterize it this October-November and head South, start on the house in the Spring.
Sailer, I was a real estate investor for 7 years, I went to real estate school, got a good education, and have bought and sold 35 or so properties. I got to the point of holding a property with an option, and selling it at closing, owning the property for 1 minute or so. (Double closing it)
I took all the REO properties of a bank here in town, found other investors, packaged their loan papers and made a cut on those deals. I think I can sell my own home. Hope so.