Tearing Out

One of my upcoming projects is to update the downstairs half bath. I need to strip the wallpaper and paint, replace the vanity/sink/faucet combo, and replace the old tile floor with floor tile that matches the kitchen backsplash.

This tile flooring is ancient and looks horrendous. It's so out of style, it's funny. No--it's not funny. It's embarrassing! It's also the same tile that's in both upstairs bathrooms.

When the kitchen tile man was here last year, I had him look at the bathroom floor to confirm that it was, indeed, tile on it and not linoleum or vinyl. He said it was tile and that it would have to be removed before anything else could be put down.

Now I understand that tiling a floor is a relatively good project for a beginner, and I know that both Home Depot and Lowe's offer "classes" for newbies like me. Also, these bathrooms are small, which should mean that I would be able to complete a floor in less time than it's taking me to do my daughter's bedroom :-)

But first, the old gunk has to come up. I found this site today that shows, step-by-step, what needs to be done. And you know what? I actually think I could do it! When I was in Mississippi on our hurricane relief trip, one of the things we did was rip out tile. We even had one of those tile scrapers. And though the guys I was with did most of it (there were several large rooms of it!), I did enough to know that I could handle my bathroom.

Maybe this will be a good project for the summer. When everyone else is outside in the sun, I can be inside with a scraper. At least it'll be air conditioned.