Making progress. Grouted the chicken wire a couple weekends ago. After taking so much care to protect tile from damage, almost painful to smear adhesive-laden mud all over the job. But a few hours sponging, swabbing, wiping and it came out nicely. Used the tile saw at a local shop (free!) to re-cut a few pieces of coving, then installed that last weekend and grouted it yesterday. The corners are a bitch (can’t believe they don’t make pre-fab corner coving pieces).
Today set out to install toilet and sink. The old toilet (excuse me, “closet”) was bolted to the floor through the sub-floor. New one didn’t have such holes, and is attached only to its own drainage flange. But surprise! Previous workers cut a big hole out of sub-floor around the drain, no place to screw down a new one. Ended up cutting a big donut out of 3/4″ ply with hole- and jig-saws. Screwed that in, which provided a platform for new flange. Worked out nicely, but knocked a big hole in the day.
Finally tracked down a source for chrome sink feed pipe covers (so you don’t see plain galvanized pipe when viewing from the side). Stupidly hard to find these, but they cut nicely and make a world of difference. Now if I could just find a source for ceramic toilet bolt covers; these are apparently officially extinct in favor of plastic. The modern world blows.
Assembled sink fixtures and prepared to install pedestal, when I discovered that the new sink has a 1 1/4″ drain, while we have a 1 1/2″ drain in the wall. Also needed more height for new drain assembly. And I’ll have to remove a hex from the floor to bolt down the pedestal, which meant I needed a grout saw. Fourth trip to hardware store.
The cable guy arrived (90 minutes late, we get a discount!), which meant it was time to drop everything and reprogram the Tivo. First night with cable learned how to change sprockets on a dirt bike to suit muddy conditions, watched the removal of immense face tumor from poor Malaysian boy, and was reminded of just what an ass Sean Hannity is. Sink will have to wait.