#admittedly i’d like to keep away from supporting amazon

[muse-write]

I’m considering getting an ereader sometime soon. Do any of you have opinions or preferences regarding Kindle or Kobo?

[raincitygirl76]

I love and greatly miss Farscape. And yes, its characters all start the premiere episode strangers to each other, thrown together by chance. And crucially, all the characters start out in that episode utterly isolated from any previous support systems and biological families. Those strangers, over the course of time, really do become a family. Sometimes a very messy and dysfunctional family who can barely stand each other. But family all the same.

Farscape was an uneven show. It could be and often was absolutely fucking brilliant. Particularly in seasons 2 and 3. That show could make me bray with laughter at how funny it was, and cry my eyes out when it was sad. But there were, admittedly, some episodes that were absolute turkeys. But Farscape’s creators took creative risks. Those risks didn’t always pay off, but they kept right on trying. And when the risks did pay off, the show was spellbinding.

Farscape (1999-2004) is also the last major tv series to avoid CGI alien creatures, shortly before CGI took over Hollywood. All the aliens for the show were puppets created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. The actors frequently physically interacted with the puppet characters in scenes. It was so much better than acting against a green screen for a CGI alien that will be added later via pixels.

I realize that puppetry is expensive and labour-intensive, while CGI gets cheaper all the time. Mostly due to the exploitation of digital effects artists, who are not unionized and are often expected to work 60 to 70 hour weeks while only being paid for 40 hours. But relying on CGI special effects is a race to the bottom, from an artistic POV. As we see from the puppet aliens on Farscape, who are unmistakably real. On my most recent rewatch, I realized just how shitty supposedly “state of the art” CGI on movies and TV shows released in 2023 looks compared to a TV show that started in 1999 and avoided green screens.

John Crichton talking to the non-humanoid alien character Rygel (just as one example from an early episode in S1) was absolutely believable, because Ben Browder literally had his hands on Rygel (voiced by an actor but onscreen, “played” by a puppet). Now, obviously, that scene, like every other “hands on the puppet” scene, must have been meticulously choreographed.

The director, Browder, and the puppeteers operating Rygel must have worked together to do the scene without damaging the very expensive puppet or injuring any of the puppeteers. But the effect of the actors physically interacting with the puppets is bloody amazing. I didn’t think of Rygel (or the other non-humanoid characters) as the creation of puppeteers and a voice actor. They were as real as any other character. Here’s a scene from Season 1 between Crichton and Rygel. It’s not an especially physical scene, but it was the first I could find on YouTube.

I also recently discovered Farscape is available digitally for purchase on the iTunes Store. The advantage of buying it on iTunes is I now have digital copies that I own. Apple can’t take them away from me, even if they lose the rights to sell downloads of the show in future. Those digital downloads remain my legal property. Which is great! Although pay attention to the pricing. iTunes Store Canada was offering all 4 seasons plus the miniseries for $79.99 CAD. But if you buy each season and the miniseries as 5 separate purchases, it only adds up to $73 CAD.

I’d gone looking for it digitally the first time a few years ago. At the time, it was only available digitally on one of the streaming services with a monthly subscription. Can’t remember now which service (possibly Amazon Prime?), but you only have access to the content as long as you keep the subscription. And of course, when the streaming service’s contract with the production company that made the show expires, the show can easily disappear from the platform.

Yeah, i still have my Farscape DVD box sets from back in the day, and no plans to get rid of them. But I watch less and less TV on my actual television set these days. My couch isn’t very comfortable, and the living room blinds let in too much sun, the glare make it hard to see the screen sometimes. Over the past few years, with more and more of what I watch being streaming on Netflix or other platforms, or with digital downloads I own, I often grab my laptop and watch TV in bed. The bedroom has blackout curtains, and my bed is comfy. Also, the laptop screen is much smaller than my TV, but I’m sitting or lying much closer to it. And my laptop screen has excellent resolution.

Obviously, not everyone is in a position where they can drop $73 CAD to buy digital downloads of a show they already own on DVD, and/or could access much more cheaply via a streamer’s monthly subscription. Owning the show both digitally and on DVD is an optional extra. But for me, it was a nice treat to myself a few days after I got my tax refund.

Everybody who’s ever called a group of people who vaguely get along “found family trope” owes the farscape crew $500 for appropriating the term. You WISH you had what they have

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #434

“i hate this town, it’s so washed up, & all my friends don’t give a fuck  /  they’ll tell me that it’s just bad luck, when will i find where i fit in?”

You get a text from your ex. He/she wants to hang out. How do you respond? Admittedly, I would. Do you have a friend of the opposite sex that you secretly want to be more than friends with? No. Well, there are times where I think I WANT to like-like Girt, but I just don't. And yet he's always been there for me without fail, is super funny and kind and chill... but I think we were just friends for too long; he feels like my brother by this point in time. If your partner smoked, would that be a problem for you? If it was cigarettes, yes. Even weed (UNLESS it was for medicinal purposes and not a constant thing) I'd be iffy about. I just don't want to date a smoker. Lung damage is lung damage and weed actually has more carcinogens, and I don't want to sign myself up for all that. I don't want to watch my partner wither away from nonstop smoking and also have myself suffer from second-hand smoking. When will you next see your best friend? There's no telling. Right now I'm trying to be realistic and responsible with the money I DO ever get and put it towards more important investments, but I really do want to take a plane up there at some point. But that's also waiting until Covid is in the past. Heeeell no would I be stepping into an airport right now, even being vaccinated. How many tattoos would you like to have? Too many to count, ha ha. I want LOADS. Paint me, baby. :') Do you like your first name? I actually do. Have you ever talked to a boyfriend about an ex-boyfriend? Yes. It's kind of inevitable when you go into a new relationship, hoping it'll go well and be seriously invested, that you let your partner know "oh hey, this happened and seriously affected me to where I'm going to have 'my days.'" Greatest birthday gift you ever got? My snake Venus was technically a birthday present, though I obviously picked her out. Worst memory you have? Losing Jason. I can't say enough that the night of the breakup still doesn't feel real. First memory you can remember? My brother going down our slide into the Hurricane Floyd flood in our front yard, ha ha. I was around two, I wanna say? I don't feel like looking up the date of the hurricane. Oldest object you own? When did you get it? I'm sure that would be a stuffed animal we have stored away somewhere. Or my baby blanket, also safely tucked away. Meanest person you know? Why do you feel this way? I don't "know" Colleen anymore, but God knows she fit the bill. She was so fucking rude to people (yes, she was one of those people that bitched out store employees that have no control over things that inconvenienced her), the world revolved around her problems, she started drama with the damn grass... It's funny even picturing how she was my best friend once. My standards were lower for who I could befriend back then, but goddamn. Ever been dumped? By who? Yes, Jason. Technically Sara as well, but "dumped" seems like an unfitting term? Like we just talked it out and sorta mutually agreed that it was wiser that we weren't together at the time. Have you ever dumped someone? Why? Yes, mostly because I didn't like-like them. Juan was more so because I believed a rumor by Rachel, and Tyler, I just wasn't invested in and had NO desire to put up with the "we need to talk every five minutes" crap. Where do you buy most of your food? Wal-Mart. Last house you have been to: whose was it, and why were you there? My sister's, for my nephew's birthday party. Have you ever been a drunk driver? No, and fuck you if you've ever put others (and yourself) at risk like that. One kid you cannot stand? None that I know, and that's very few. Has anyone ever saved your life? Jason and Mom literally have. Last thing you cried about? Ha ha, I finished watching another SOMA playthrough earlier, and I will ALWAYS start to cry at the end. Without fail. Would you sacrifice your life for someone else's baby? I honestly think I would if it was a split-second decision. Tell me about your latest dream: I think my APAP mask wasn't positioned well last night, because I had a SHITLOAD of nightmares. Too many to even remember. Have you ever been in a limo? No. I've always wanted to experience that once, man. Have you ever been the maid of honor in a wedding party? No. Has anyone ever seen you naked? I was born naked, my man. Mom used to give my sister and I baths together, and I took a bath with a best friend once as a kid. Then one other person has. Do you have a calendar? If so, what is the theme of it? Not a current one, no. Nicest thing you have ever done for a complete stranger: I have no idea. Meanest thing you have ever done to a complete stranger: *shrug* Have you ever been sent to the principal's office? If so, why? And how did you feel? Yes, I think because they wanted to ask the reason behind all my morning tardies. I was soooo scared, just being a kid. Person you hope you never run into again: Colleen. Have you ever streaked? Heeeeell no. Why do you hate your ex? I don't hate any of them. What animal did you last pet or hold? Roman, my cat. What color is your hair? It's my natural brunette right now. I want to dye it SO badly. Have you ever fallen asleep in someone's arms? Yeah. Have you ever had to clean a cat box before? Yeah, seeing as I own an indoor cat. Christmas is coming. Who are you buying gifts for? In the hypothetical situation where I had the money, I'd buy things for my parents, my stepmom, my two immediate sisters, Ash's kids, as well as her husband, but only because I'd feel obligated to as he's considered a close member of the family. I'd also totally get something for Sara! When somebody intimidates you, how do you usually act around them? SCARED. I get quiet, stutter if I do talk, and possibly cry. Is your favorite singer in a band or does he or she ride solo? He was originally the singer of Black Sabbath, but he's been solo for forever now. I prefer him solo, honestly. Did your parents ever hang your old artwork up on the walls? Ohhh yes. Mom still does, ha ha. What is the weirdest obsession you’ve ever had? Nothing really "weird," I think... How long can you be in a car before wanting to get out? It depends on if I have my music or not. If I do, I can last hours, but if not, I don't really like being in the car at all. Have any songs ever inspired you to play an instrument? No. Do you ever use Pandora?No. Are you better with creative writing or writing essays? Creative writing, but I'm fine with both. What is the weirdest animal you’ve ever seen as a pet? I know OF someone who rescued I want to say a baby bobcat, or something along those lines, but I didn't know that guy personally. I don't think I've ever actually met someone with a truly *strange* pet... The most unique I've seen is probably just a chinchilla. If you had to change one, would you rather change your hair or your eyes? My eyes. I don't like them much, mainly the shape. What was your favorite computer game as a kid? I loved the various Oregon Trail games, as well as one I think was called The Amazon Trail 3. Then there was a few dinosaur games I LOVED, and then there were the classic kids' games like the Putt-Putt and Fred the Fish series. Any shows on TV that you flat out refuse to start watching? 13 Reasons Why. I don't even support that show existing. Pajamas with feet: yay or nay? NOOOOOOOO, that is so uncomfortable. What is your opinion on fruitcake? That's an even BIGGER "no." Who did you last dream about? I don't remember. Do you have trouble remembering important things? Yes. .-. I barely remember anything. Which animal can you imitate the best? I dunno? Have you bought any drugs this month? I don't do drugs, so. Have you ever set foot in a tanning bed? Nope, never will. Do you know the Soulja Boy dance? Ha ha, I did as a kid. My then-best friend, younger sister, and I wanted to learn it. I don't remember it now, that's for sure. What is the best ice cream flavor? Ben and Jerry's "Phish Food" is GODLY. Wallpaper on your computer's desktop? Teddy, my late dog. Do you clean when you’re upset? Hell no, I do the opposite: nothing. Do you sleep with the door open or closed? It stays open. My cat would pitch a fit otherwise. Do you know anyone who has actually been in an alcohol or drug related crash? Yes, actually. It was incredibly tragic; the both of them were high (maybe drunk, idr for sure), and my friend was driving with her best friend in the passenger seat. They crashed, and said friend's best friend died. For YEARS she would share pictures of them together on Facebook, "talking" to her, and it was just so heartbreaking. I doubt she's forgiven herself to this day, but she seems to have mostly moved on the best she could, being married with a daughter now. Have you ever gotten a professional massage? No, and I do NOT want one. I don't want some random stranger touching me in ANY way. Do you have a good relationship with your first love? No. We haven't talked in years, so maybe he feels no hatred for me at this point, but I do for myself. I don't hate him at all. Do you feel like you have life figured out? bitch hell no What would you do if you were faced with an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy (at your current age)? Was I raped? I'd almost certainly abort because I would be traumatized as FUCK. If it was my own fault, I think I'd go through with the pregnancy, but give the baby up for adoption. There is no way I could raise a kid right now. Or probably ever. Water or Gatorade? I don't like either, really, but I HATE Gatorade. Have you ever thought about getting your nose pierced? It's been pierced twice, and I'm thinking of getting it redone again, but this time use a hoop instead of a stud to keep the damn piercing from falling out and closing in my sleep. Have you ever slapped someone? On the arm as a kid. That doesn't excuse it, though. Who are the pictures of in the room? I have a lot of posters, but no real photographs of anyone. Have your parents ever smoked pot? Dad did a lot of drugs before I was born, but Mom's never touched anything. I think. Would you ever consider moving to a different country? I'd love to live in Canada, if that didn't entail leaving my family. What is your favourite food from your culture? Cheeseburgers, alsdf;alwer Do you know any pick-up lines in a foreign language? No. What degree are you or will you pursue while in college? I've dropped out of college three times. I am never going back to major in anything. I changed my major quite a few times while I was there. Favorite arcade game? I don't really have one. One of my life goals is to go to an arcade that has Silent Hill: The Arcade, though. There are very few throughout the world, and it looks fun. Would other people consider your sense of humor inappropriate? I don't see how. Some inappropriate things can make me laugh, but it's definitely not my favorite form of humor, and I myself don't really make jokes of that sort. Who is your biggest celebrity crush right now? Mark Fischbach. :'') What are they famous for? He's a big YouTuber, aND WILL ALSO BE A MAIN ACTOR IN A SHOW NEXT YEAR. LET'S GOOOOOOOOOO. Have you ever had a controlling boyfriend/girlfriend? No, I would NOT stand for that bullshit. Do you have any gay family members? I know my mom's... cousin I want to say is gay. Somebody related to her is. Was your first kiss romantic? I feel like it was. What are you most likely to go to jail for? Pirating shit. Well, can you even be locked up for downloading minor shit? Shows what I know. Have you ever liked someone that was in a relationship with someone else? Boy, have I. Would you ever get a boob job? When (or if...) I lose all the weight I want, I can almost guarantee a breast lift will be something I'd want. Certain things happen when you lose a shitload of weight alsdkf;alkwe Have you ever tried to break up anyone because you liked one of them? Not intentionally. What would you think if you found out your ex was gay? If we're talking THE ex, safe to say I'd be shocked. Did you ever think someone didn’t like you, but come to find out they really did? It's weird, I've felt both ways with Girt? Like there were times I was pretty much 100% certain he liked me, but I'd also be like "nah, no way, he sees me as a sister." Turns out he like-liked me. Are you worried about anything right now? I can't possibly recall the last time I WASN'T worried about something. When you are home alone, do you still close the door when you shower? I don't shower when I'm home alone because I'm afraid of ever fainting and busting my ass again. What noise do you hear? I'm currently listening to "All Signs Point To Lauderdale" by A Day to Remember, and I can also hear my fan going. Do you go online everyday? Pretty much without fail. It'll probably be a cold day in Hell before I willingly don't come online, ha ha.

[lilyjcollins-news]

Lily Collins - Carita Rizzo.

Usually the words “celebrity” and “unfiltered” indicate a series of explicit photos, the involvement of a tabloid magazine and a juicy exposé. Not for Lily Collins. The 27-year-old (turning 28 on March 18) English-American actress’ first book, Unfiltered: No Shame, No Regrets, Just Me. ($14, Harper Collins), which releases March 7, is an honest look at the person behind the public persona and the glamour of the silver screen. But those salivating at the thought of behind-the-scenes gossip may want to simmer down. This is not a tell-all. In her debut essay collection, the actress pens a poignant, honest conversation about things young women struggle with, including body image, self-confidence and relationships. Nevertheless, Collins has jitters. “I’m anxious,” admits the petite actress, looking impeccable in black Paige jeans, Stuart Weitzman suede boots and a loose white Tularosa top.

Her nerves are understandable. The last time we chatted with Collins about her award-nominated turn in Warren Beatty’s Rules Don’t Apply, she said: “Keep private whatever you hold dear,” a reasonable mantra in a celebrity-obsessed world where privacy is hard to come by. Now, she’s about to willingly open the door to some of her deepest secrets, from her yearslong battle with eating disorders to an emotionally abusive relationship.

“I still believe that,” she says, when reminded of her mantra. “But these are things that I felt I wanted to put out there. Not necessarily so people know that I experienced them, but to create, hopefully, a space for more open conversation about the topics I discuss.” And some things are still off limits: “When I talk about relationships, I don’t reveal any details about it or names because that is not important. That was not the point of why I was going there.”

Collins’ life has certainly appeared charmed from its inception. The daughter of English musician Phil Collins and American Jill Tavelman was born in England and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 6. Collins has always been a self-starter. She cold-called magazine editors as a teenager, which landed her a column in ELLE Girl UK, and initially pursued a career in broadcast journalism before her role in The Blind Sidetook her on a different path. Leading roles in Mirror Mirror; Love, Rosie; and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones followed, but it is in the past year or so that Collins’ career has really hit its stride, with Rules Don’t Apply (for which she received a Golden Globe nomination); the upcoming Amazon series The Last Tycoon, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s last book about 1930s Hollywood; the Netflix original film Okja, in which she stars alongside Jake Gyllenhaal and Tilda Swinton; and To the Bone, which premiered in January at Sundance to rave reviews and was purchased by Netflix for $8 million. Even her colleagues can’t stop gushing over her. “She’s very much in charge of her life and her professional life in a way that I think is really admirable,” says her Rules Don’t Apply co-star Annette Bening, who refers to Collins as a “badass” who “has her sh*t together.”

Yet despite a successful career and her Audrey Hepburn-ish looks, the actress was anxious to reveal she is susceptible to the same feelings of inadequacy and insecurity as the young women who look up to her. “What really inspired me to write the book is that I was getting all these young girls interacting with me on my Instagram, and they would tell me their stories about what they’d gone through, but they would always add in there that they didn’t think I could understand because I’m an actress,” she says. “And I thought, ‘Oh, my God. You have no idea.’”

Collins understands them better than most. Her intense struggle with body image started at age 16 and continued in ebbs and flows for 10 years. And right as she was revisiting her own harrowing journey with eating disorders for the sake of sharing her story, To the Bone—Marti Noxon’s script about an anorexic girl confronting her addiction—happened to come her way. “When I read the script, and I knew what the story was about, there was a slight hesitation at first because it’s something that’s very close to me,” says Collins. “You have to re-enter that mindset.”

In the end, her deep understanding of this character won out and the ability to revisit the struggles of her youth with the help of a nutritionist and a support system is an experience Collins calls “the best form of therapy.” She adds: “I think most people will assume the movie experience was probably hell, and it wasn’t at all. It was one of the most fun, freeing experiences I’ve had. Within playing Ellen, I got to come to terms with a lot myself. That was a proud moment for me.”

Collins also credits her ambassadorship with Lancôme as grounding her among an incredible set of women, including Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz and Isabella Rossellini. “It’s the most inspiring group of women,” she says. “We do amazing work with making women feel good in their own skin and enhancing their inner beauty.” Collins is grateful the company’s message encourages what she has always been passionate about encouraging within young women.

Admittedly, the hardest chapter for Collins to put down on paper is the one in which she sheds light on a long-term relationship during which she experienced an incredible amount of emotional abuse. “For a long time, I wanted to shy away from talking about that experience,” she admits. “But it’s a part of my story, and it’s a part of how I interact in relationships with friends, with family and in romantic situations. And to write all that stuff down, and to then say it out loud, made it so much more real. And it actually made me feel strong because I’d moved through that, and I’d moved past that. And I’ve learned so much more about myself and about what I deserve or how I deserve to be treated.”

She offers no details on who this man might be, but hints that any cross-referencing with her public relationships might be a fruitless exercise. “It’s funny because I think everyone’s going to assume certain people I talk about are famous people, but they’re not,” she says. “Just because I kept people anonymous doesn’t mean that people would have known who they were anyway.”

There is, however, one man in her life she cannot keep anonymous. “I couldn’t not talk about my parents in this story, obviously,” she smiles. In her book, Collins reveals to readers that her father’s absence took a toll on their relationship. “It’s hard when that person isn’t around a lot,” she says. “I have amazing memories of being able to travel and being able to have family all over the world. Were there things that would have been nice probably to experience as a family? Of course. But it didn’t happen that way. And I’m me for a reason. I mean, everything that happened made me who I am.”

Collins addresses these feelings in an emotional letter addressed to her father. “That was a hard chapter to write because he is public. It’s a weird situation to be in, to be writing about someone that people already know, but they don’t know my experience with [him],” she says. “I am just a daughter talking to her dad, and I think that a letter felt appropriate because it can be translated to any relationship with daughters and dads. As a girl, you always want them to see you as their little girl, and you’re always going to need them and want them. And even if you say you don’t, you really do.”

It feels oddly comfortable delving so deep into one somber topic after another with the actress, perhaps because Collins radiates such peace with herself. Hers is a lesson that even the seemingly most impenetrable package comes with some fragility. After opening up about her experiences, Collins says she feels truly unleashed. “I think it’s allowed me to let go a lot more,” she admits. “I kept hearing from certain directors or people in my life, ‘You should just let go more. Let go more.’ And I said, ‘What does that mean? I am free!’ or ‘I am letting go!’ But I realized I was holding on to a lot. And the second I put it out there, I could just kind of live and breathe in the moment.”

She now dreams of starting a family, but is in no rush—especially since there is currently no man in the picture. “I’m in a relationship with myself,” she quips. “I think a lot of young girls should do that. I think it’s important to figure out you and to have fun and to be dating and to figure out what you like and what you don’t like. It’s what growing up is all about.”

Besides, right now, her focus is on work and living life to the fullest. “I want to keep doing what I love to do,” she says. “Last year, I would never have said, ‘This year, I’m going to shoot a TV pilot, three movies and finish a book.’ Never, would I ever have thought it was possible. So I want to keep being terrified to try new things. That’s what pushes you beyond your limits—and to never take any of it for granted.”

Photography by Andrew Eccles | Styling by Jordan Johnson and Jill Lincoln//Photo Assistants: Jason Johnson and Tarik Richards | Digital Tech: Maxwell Tiggas.

vía caritarizzo.

[jeremyau]

Dropbox Leaves AWS, Should UPS and Fedex Be Afraid?

Posted onWednesday, March 16, 2016Monday, March 27, 2017 Author by Ben Thompson

Good morning,

Today’s Update is related to yesterday’s Weekly Article on The Amazon Tax, so make sure you read that first if you haven’t.

On to the update:

Dropbox Leaves AWS

Most Stratechery Weekly Articles take shape over several days, if not several weeks (or months: Daily Update subscribers know I made both the Amazon-Costco and Logistics-by-Amazon points last year). Because of this, though, occasional monkey wrenches come flying in at the last minute — like Dropbox moving away from AWS. From the Dropbox blog:

Dropbox stores two kinds of data: file content and metadata about files and users. We’ve always had a hybrid cloud architecture, hosting metadata and our web servers in data centers we manage, and storing file content on Amazon. We were an early adopter of Amazon S3, which provided us with the ability to scale our operations rapidly and reliably. Amazon Web Services has, and continues to be, an invaluable partner—we couldn’t have grown as fast as we did without a service like AWS.

As the needs of our users and customers kept growing, we decided to invest seriously in building our own in-house storage system. There were a couple reasons behind this decision. First, one of our key product differentiators is performance. Bringing storage in-house allows us to customize the entire stack end-to-end and improve performance for our particular use case. Second, as one of the world’s leading providers of cloud services, our use case for block storage is unique. We can leverage our scale and particular use case to customize both the hardware and software, resulting in better unit economics.

So…maybe AWS isn’t so great after all? Should I have changed my article? Well, obviously I didn’t; indeed, I’d argue the Dropbox news reinforces my point.

First, given that Dropbox is premised on storage, hosting on a 3rd-party provider, no matter what discounts the company might obtain from Amazon, is going to be expensive: a low price times a lot of volume is still a lot of money! To that end, keeping whatever margin Amazon was earning will help the bottom line. Relatedly, Dropbox likely has enough scale that they can drive their component prices not to Amazon levels but close enough.

Second, and again related to scale, Dropbox’s static storage needs are almost certainly exponentially larger than the company’s dynamic storage needs. One of the big advantages of using AWS is that a company can not only quickly bring resources online but just as quickly take them offline; that’s almost certainly much less of a need for Dropbox relative to the company’s early days.

Third, as the blog post notes, by virtue of building their own backend Dropbox can build exactly what they need, increasing product performance. This isn’t a surprise: integrated products generally work better (the question is usually whether or not modular products are good enough to leverage their price and scalability advantage).

Most of these factors are unique to Dropbox: they are an exception that proves the rule (the rule being that AWS is better for most companies). Few companies have Dropbox’s storage needs, most companies derive significant value from AWS’ flexibility, and most company’s aren’t differentiated by their cloud infrastructure.

Actually, I’m not entirely sure that Dropbox is, either: the problem for Dropbox has never been the quality of their technology. Dropbox sync remains noticeably superior than any of its competitors, and while as a Dropbox user I won’t complain if it gets even better, if a superior product for Ben Thompson is all that mattered the company wouldn’t be facing the skepticism it now is (including from me).

Nothing about this news changes Dropbox’s core problem: the company delivers a superior user experience, but a superior user experience matters most in consumer markets; consumers, though, aren’t willing to pay for a commodity like storage (at scale). To be sure, when it comes to businesses the user experience matters more and more with the advent of the cloud, but business brings its own contraints, including lots of arcane requirements that pertain to permissions, data retention, etc, and here Dropbox’s product has fallen short for years (I laid this out two years ago here).

That’s why I actually find this announcement really disappointing. Apparently Dropbox has been devoting significant resources for at least two years to a project that will no doubt have a positive impact on the bottom line but a minimal impact on the top line. It’s all well-and-good (and honestly impressive) to announce 500 million registered users, but the reluctance to disclose both active users and especially the number (and size) of its business customers speaks even more loudly. How might have the product and company evolved if the company had continued to rely on AWS and devoted its resources to fixing its product-market fit problem?

This gets to the other reason this news actually reinforces my point about the value of AWS: the variable versus fixed cost and flexibility benefits are obvious; what is perhaps most under-appreciated about the public cloud, though, is the degree to which it allows companies to focus on what really makes or breaks their business. I’m disappointed Dropbox didn’t value that nearly as much as I think they should have.

It’s not all bad news: lower costs mean a lower burn rate, which it seems Dropbox will need. It’s hard, though, to escape the conclusion that the company can’t break out of its tendency to view every problem as a nail in need of its engineering hammer. The blog post even bragged about this:

Dropbox was founded by engineers, and the ethos of technical innovation is fundamental to our culture. For our users, this means that we’ve created a product that just works. But there’s a lot that happens behind the scenes to create that simple user experience.

I honestly dislike being so harsh, because this paragraph captures what is so great about Dropbox: it is a fantastic product that “just works” and occasionally even delights, no small feat for a utility. This paragraph, though, also captures why I am so discouraged: the culture needs to value marketing — as in knowing which customers are willing-to-pay, and what they want — just as highly as it does the tech. Said culture would not have made the decision to build this product in 2013 when product-market fit was still an open question.

(Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a big company that needed an infusion of folks who focus on the user experience and have excellent cloud development chops…)

Should UPS and Fedex Be Afraid?

In yesterday’s post I laid out why it seemed likely Amazon was going to attempt to do to the logistics industry what it is doing to the cloud computing and retail industries: meet its own needs with a services-based offering that can eventually be extended to 3rd-parties, gaining scale that cements Amazon’s competitive position. I forgot, though, to link this Bloomberg article that reports the details:

A 2013 report to Amazon’s senior management team proposed an aggressive global expansion of the company’s Fulfillment By Amazon service, which provides storage, packing and shipping for independent merchants selling products on the company’s website…Amazon’s plan would culminate with the launch of a new venture called “Global Supply Chain by Amazon,” as soon as this year, the documents said. The new business will locate Amazon at the center of a logistics industry that involves not just shippers like FedEx and UPS but also legions of middlemen who handle cargo and paperwork associated with transnational trade. Amazon wants to bypass these brokers, amassing inventory from thousands of merchants around the world and then buying space on trucks, planes and ships at reduced rates. Merchants will be able to book cargo space online or via mobile devices, creating what Amazon described as a “one click-ship for seamless international trade and shipping.” ‘Ease and Transparency’…

Amazon will partner with third-party carriers to build the global enterprise and then gradually squeeze them out once the business reaches sufficient volume and Amazon learns enough to run it on its own, the documents said. If the logistics business takes hold, financial services could follow, with Amazon giving loans to merchants, processing international payments and consulting its network of sellers on customs and tax matters.

Admittedly, this seems like a taller order; both Amazon’s e-commerce and cloud computing businesses had the advantage of being greenfield opportunities: Amazon was making new markets instead of overtaking entrenched incumbents like UPS or Fedex that already operate at scale.

On the other hand, Amazon has reasons, opportunities, and resources to do exactly what they propose:

The current package delivery system in the U.S. was not designed for e-commerce. UPS and Fedex were traditionally more focused on businesses, with the former focusing on packages and the latter on speed. UPS’s more integrated system and package capability meant they have been able to retrofit to supporting e-commerce the best, but just as a company like Dropbox can benefit from custom-building infrastructure for their needs, it’s reasonable to think that Amazon could do the same if they were building a global e-commerce delivery service from scratch

The theory that the logistics companies are better able to meet Amazon’s needs because they can leverage scale falls apart when it is Amazon that is providing most of that scale. I’ve linked to this Wall Street Journal article before that says as much as a third of UPS residential deliveries are for Amazon; given that Amazon is taking over 50% of e-commerce growth that percentage is likely higher now, but the problem from UPS’ perspective is that those packages are very low margin. Actually, that’s a problem from Amazon’s perspective too: UPS doesn’t have the incentive to care as much as Amazon does

As I noted above, cost savings are not always enough of a reason to integrate; Amazon, though, has both the organizational structure to build out this business without losing focus elsewhere and the proven capability of realizing top-line opportunities by extending a service like this to 3rd-parties

Frankly, if I could sum this up, it’s that Amazon has earned the benefit of the doubt here, and I am loathe to bet against them. And, frankly, were I UPS in particular I would be worried: it seems likely that Amazon will build out this network from the inside out, by first connecting its fulfillment centers with each other and with suppliers, leaving the more logistically challenging and expensive last mile delivery to whomever wants to fight for it. That doesn’t sound great for UPS’ already low e-commerce margins.

One more thing: a persistent myth about AWS was that Amazon was selling excess server capacity that resulted from the need to ramp up for the holidays; this never made sense, because what would happen when the holidays came around in the future? Would Amazon kick everyone off? Interestingly, it seems like a similar myth is developing around this logistics effort. Namely, most reports suggest Amazon wants to bring on extra capacity to avoid the 2013 Christmas disaster when many packages were not delivered in time.

This, though, also makes no sense: are Amazon’s planes going to twiddle their thumbs the rest of the year? I’d think about their efforts from the opposite perspective: the company is building a baseline logistics capacity and will use UPS et al to handle peak demand. Until, of course, the company gets such scale that their static volume drowns out dynamic peaks and valleys, and then the existing logistics providers will really be in trouble.

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How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

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How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[homejacksite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

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[sherlocklexa]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from car2 http://ift.tt/2tE8RgK via as shown a lot

[chocdono]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

from mix1 http://ift.tt/2tE8RgK via with this info

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j

[endlessarchite]

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile

Man oh man… I am tired. I have spent the better part of this past week installing the new shower tile, grouting, replacing the shower head, and more in the master bath. Given that it was also Independence Day in the U.S. and most of my family and friends were out celebrating the holiday, being stuck in a small bathroom with bits of water from the wet saw in my hair (a missing splash guard will provide the ultimate hair texturizing spray) and thinset under my fingernails (the ultimate nail whitener?) was not exactly how I pictured a “vacation.”

Those posts — including how I wound up waterproofing the shower, installing the new tile (and some nifty new gadgets that helped), and all of that is coming soon. But first: let’s go back to the floor tile and fix a problem that’s long past due, shall we?

If you read the post about the master bathroom tile floor install, you probably already knew that this post would be coming eventually. If you missed it (it’s right here!), then let me summarize as follows:

If you’re an accomplishment-seeking, DIYing perfectionist like me, never hire someone to do a job you know you’ll be more satisfied doing yourself… even if that takes longer on your timeline. No one else will pay obsessive attention to detail like a homeowner working on their own home.

I wound up almost instantly regretting my decision to hire out the job. I came home to find tiles that weren’t level with each other, uneven grout lines, and messy tile adhesive everywhere. Since my instincts are almost always “wait until I have the time to do it MYSELF,” I was really kicking myself over this error. Most of my anger wasn’t even on the guy who did the installation (as it was a family friend and not a pro/stranger I’d hired, and it was more or less just someone trying to help me out and get at least one thing off my very long to-do list). My main point of frustration was with myself for not realizing that I just needed to have put the project on hold until I was ready to do it.

To be clear, I don’t claim to have more know-how; I just know that I’m going to eyeball every single little imperfection and would always wonder if it could look better if I’d done it instead. That what-if haunts me whenever I see something go wrong (if you’ve ever looked over someone else’s work in your home, you know what I’m talking about).

In some ways, I got lucky: when I arrived home after the tile was in, the adhesive hadn’t get cured enough in some of the worst areas, and I was able to pry up a few and fix them in time (I was admittedly frustrated and almost in tears, but it was not as bad as it could have been if I’d arrived just an hour or two later).

But some, unfortunately, had already dried enough that prying them back up might cause damage to surrounding tiles that were ok enough to leave alone. I hadn’t purchased enough of the tile for me to install the whole floor twice, so I decided to let things finish drying and then fully inspect things once I had enough time to walk away from the project and regroup (for me, a big hiccup in a DIY project can lead to thrown objects, temper tantrums, and a host of other behaviors usually reserved for toddlers and drunk party guests… so, best to just walk away).

That “break” that I needed wound up being weeks… and then months… up to now. I was so bitter and frustrated with my “bad luck bathroom” and all of the weird setbacks it’s had since I first took it apart that it was easier to ignore the problem and use the guest bath (footpath-wise, it’s actually closer to my bed in the master bedroom because of the long hallway that leads to the closet and then the bath).

The thing that finally narrowed my focus again?

One: I got other rooms in the house like the laundry room back to working order and saw how much nicer things are when things are in proper working order (less chaos? what??); and

Two: A few sponsors came along recently who are very good at providing deadlines (I know that sponsored posts are easy to hate — and when they’re a bad match, they’re noticeably bad — but it’s also sometimes very hard to beat a combo of a supplied budget and a deadline when you’re way too good at procrastinating! Those sponsors will be revealed with their coordinating blog posts/projects, but the point is, they got me back in the bathroom and working on things enough to make this fix something I was constantly being reminded of by proximity.

So, that’s how I wound up finally sitting down one evening as I finished the shower tile, hammer in hand, and began to take care of the last remaining tile on the floor that needed to be replaced. It had been cut in such a way that one edge was resting on the toilet flange rather than fitting around it, leading to the entire tile lifting too far up on one side. And, it cured that way — meaning that once the toilet was installed, the toilet would likely rock on top of this uneven tile joint.

Lots of things that rock are kind of awesome — horses, chairs, concerts — but not a toilet. I’ve sat on one before… in my sister’s house. I forget every time I use that bathroom and it has surprised the crap out of me (accidental pun!) every time. And I really don’t want that in my master bath.

*this post contains affiliate links*

How to Replace a Porcelain Floor Tile

Since these were rectified porcelain tiles, they were a little different than your average ceramic tile (at least, from my experience). I’ve drilled holes in normal ceramic tile in the laundry room, but my existing arsenal failed when it came to these porcelain ones (I actually picked them out because they’re known to be solid and durable!), so the next best option was to just hammer and chip away at it until it was out. I worried that trying to pry at anything might damage the edges of the surrounding tiles, and any contact they’d had with a power tool also failed (grinding at the tile was louder and more shrill-sounding than I could stand, even with ear protection).

Remove grout (if needed) and grab a hammer.

The grout hadn’t yet been finished, so I didn’t need to first remove anything (if you are trying to replace a broken tile in an existing floor, you’ll need to remove the grout first). So, I just started hitting the tile in a single spot with the face of my claw hammer.

By concentrating on one spot with multiple hammer blows, the first piece cracked. I then moved the hammer a few inches away and hammered again. Once one spot broke, I moved a few inches over again. The trick was to concentrate the hammer in a single spot before moving onto the next section — jumping from one spot to another didn’t do anything except impress me as far as the bathroom floor’s future potential for not showing wear and tear.

Wear proper ear and eye protection.

It wasn’t quick, but it also wasn’t tough to do. Be sure to wear earplugs and eye protection though — little bits will come flying. After I got enough of the tile broken apart, I scooped it into the trash with a dust pan and worked on the next section until the entire tile was removed.

Remove cured tile adhesive.

Believe me, I was hoping I’d get to skip this part. I cut a new tile to account for the toilet flange (remember: around, not on top — not even a little!) and did a dry fit to see if I needed to remove the old adhesive underneath, too. But I could already tell that the added height from the dried adhesive plus the putting down new adhesive plus the new tile was definitely going to cause the new tile to not sit level with the others, which would be a real pain when it came time to grout (and doesn’t really solve the non-rocking toilet thing I was trying to avoid by removing it). So, removing the extra layer of dried adhesive was best.

At first, I tried scraping it with the small pry bar set I had and one of my putty knives. It got a decent amount, but I still needed to remove more.

For once, though, I had luck on my side. Instead of using thin-set like you would in a wet area, the adhesive I’d used for the porcelain floor is vulnerable to water exposure (this is totally fine as long as it’s not a shower floor or a steam room). So, all I had to do is pour some water onto the adhesive, let it sit for a bit (it will bead up at first and then eventually absorb into the adhesive), and then start scraping.

I have a heavy duty 6-in-1 tool I use for painting, but since it’s got a nice tapered edge, it came in handy (nothing against a decent putty knife, but it really didn’t get the job done). A little elbow grease, and most of the bumps and ridges from the dried adhesive were either completely removed or smoothed out enough to allow space for the new tile.

Cut and install the new tile.

If the tile is near an area that needs to be cut, mark and cut your tile on a wet tile saw per usual. Since I was also installing the new shower tile and grouting it this past week, it was easy just to include this tile in with the rest of the items I was working on. Back butter the tile and use spacers that match the existing width of the other grout lines in the tile (I prefer these).

Related: How to fit tile around an existing feature (windows, outlets, etc).

Grout

That’s on the to-do list next, but there you have it — all in all, pretty simple.

The updates on the shower are next, but that will include several parts because I nearly screwed everything up right from the start! I’m serious when I say that it’s like this room has really fought against me…

P.S. Hey! Don’t forget, today is Amazon Prime Day — where Prime members can get some really great discounts on the site. If you click on my Amazon affiliate links today (either through a blog post like this one or through the social media links I share), it supports The Ugly Duckling House at no added cost to you (which is one of the ways I keep my site free). I’m listing a few of my picks below, but even if you don’t wind up buying these smart home products specifically (and buy something else you’ve had your eye on), it still supports the site. Thank you! You rock.

Amazon Echo Dot – I have one and just now got another; lowest price I’ve seen on it yet!

Instant Pot – this thing is all the rage with some of my friends — pressure cooker, slow cooker, rice cooker, etc. I have a crappy crock pot that isn’t easily programmable and it drives me nuts, so this sounds like a cool upgrade!

Roomba – robot. vacuum. ’nuff said.

The post How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.

Website // Subscribe // Advertise // Twitter // Facebook // Google+

How to Replace A Porcelain Floor Tile published first on http://ift.tt/2qxZz2j