Hardibacker

I finally got all the cement board up and after a close inspection, deemed the plywood subfloor in good shape, which is great for me because I don't have to replace it. I scraped off all the adhesive/cement particle bumps with a hammer and chisel.

Taking off the toilet was a definite first for me in home renovation. I wasn't sure I could pull it off, but it was really easy, and from now on, I am going to recommend it to all my girl friends. First, take off the lid of the tank, and set it somewhere safely out of the way--because it's ceramic, a toilet is actually pretty fragile and easily cracked. I laid out a towel in my dining room in preparation for the toilet. Then I turned off the water, and flushed the toilet, and sponged all the remaining water out of the tank and bowl using a sponge, a bucket, and of course, a rubber glove. There are three bolts that connect the tank to the bowl, and I unscrewed the nuts and lifted off the tank. Simple. Now for the bowl. I unscrewed the nuts on the bolts on the base, and then wiggled the toilet a little, and then lifted it off. Much heavier than I expected. After the toilet was safely placed on it's dining room towel, I grabbed a scraper and got as much of the wax off from around the sewer drain, and then stuffed the hole with an old rag to keep the sewer gas from escaping.

Here you can see the chaos that is my house with my tools and toilet everywhere and barely a place to walk.



Now I could start on hardibacker-ing the floor. I used half a bag of thinset mortar on the plywood before laying down the hardibacker, which I had cut earlier with my trusty jigsaw. Mortar is necessary because it helps level the floor and prevent movement of the board. I had to have help with this, since sheets of hardibacker are deceptively heavy and unruly, so I had to pull Ross away from whatever he was doing to grab an end. Once it's placed on top of the mortar, it needs to be screwed down while the mortar is still wet. This job was a breeze thanks to the screw gun that I borrowed from my coworker Tina, an awesome lady whose I hold in high esteem, especially after this part of the project. The screwgun also made short work of mixing the mortar, after I attached a long mixing paddle to it.



I filled the joints between the hardibacker panels with mortar now I have one smooth surface to lay my slate on.