Adventures In Remodeling: "Miss" Meadowlawn Dr.: Busy Day

Grout Master Eduardo

05/12/14

We have had a lot going on the last couple of days. Yesterday we preped the tiled floor to grout. This involved inspecting every joint between the tiles and using a utility knife to cut away any high spots in the thin set, creating a space for the grout when it goes in.

I spent a couple hours doing that last night. I have blisters on my fingers from it, which weren't too sore yesterday, but caused a lot of discomfort today. The upside is it's pretty cool to say I have blisters from using a utility knife.It makes me feel kind of badass. But moving on.

We also had some guys out to the house to clean the vents and air returns. We know what we could see of the house, so we could only imagine what lay lurking in the vents after 20 years. They had a huge vacuum and an air compressor that blew all the crap down and then sucked it all out. It cost $200 but it was well worth it to know that all that stuff won't be periodically blown into the house when the heater goes on.

While we were waiting for the vent guys to do their thing Eduardo and I decided to work on assembling the fan for the pink room (which is no longer pink, but that's the name we still use). While trying to unscrew a particularly tight screw from the mounting bracket Eduardo accidentally stabbed himself with a screwdriver. It wasn't a particularly clean screwdriver either. I raced to the grocery store for alcohol (the medicinal kind, not the tasty delicious kind) and hydrogen peroxide and band aids too.

He was feeling a little lightheaded when I got back, and was looking a little pale too. He laid down on the deck for a few minutes. I can't imagine what stabbing myself in the hand with a screwdriver feels like, but I bet would have been crying at that point. I am sure of it.

Anyway, after the duct guys left, Eduardo and I grouted the entire downstairs, with him leading the way and giving me direction. He did the grout (wounded hand and all!) and I went behind him washing the floor.

It was hard work! Just scooting around on the tile floor on my knees was hard enough, but then constantly wringing out the sponge in the bucket, and having my blistery fingers sloshing around in my gloves was...super uncomfortable. I didn't complain seeing as how Eduardo was working with a screwdriver-stabbed hand.

But it get me thinking a lot about my Dad. He's been doing this very thing for years. It's what he did to support our family when I was growing up, and it's what he headed off to do everyday when he left for work. I find that so...I don't even know the right word to use. I feel enormously grateful to know that while I was enjoying life and doing kid stuff, he was going out everyday to do what I just spent the last several hours doing, for me, for us, for our family. My mom had the equally difficult task of taking care of us kids while he was at work, and the house, so it was a joint effort for sure. Being an adult now and understanding the reality of the situation for both of them, what it meant to be parents, and to have a family and the responsibility of providing for them...shit. That stuff is not for the feint of heart. It honesty blows my mind.

So now after my singular day of "doing" tile, when technically all I did was scrape a few grout joints and wash a floor, I am exhausted, my fingers are sore and my knees hurt like hell, and I am just so glad to be done and have a hot cup of coffee in my hand. The floors look great though, and I am really excited that I got to help out on it, despite all my complaining;) It was a really good day.