Ontario members for ceramic tile setters

	This photo shows the kitchen in this house, cica 1954. The cabinets are original, the flooring and appliances vary in age, the electrical and plumbing are all original and in poor shape.
	View of kitchen from dining room (before demo).
	This is the kitchen after the tear out. The diagonal 1 X 6 subfloor is exposed and in remarkably good shape. Just to the right of the broom is an area of crumbling plaster that revealed a potentially dangerous electrical situation. An earlier remodel of the downstairs bathroom included adding lights and GFI outlets with out the required junction box. Incredibly, the ground wires were cut off and the existing "home run" wire was in bad shape, with the frayed insulation and carrying more current than it should have. Our electrician spent a bit of time redoing all of that before proceeding with the scheduled work in the kitchen. We added circuits to the kitchen and dining room. The original wiring included just one circuit for the outlets in the kitchen and dining room. We also will replace all switches and outlets, since all are original and in poor condition.
	Here is one wall which we have started to cut through the plaster and install solid blocking. The cabinets are fairly heavy, and the homeowners are gourmet cooks and will likely have a lot of heavy dishes, pans, etc. I want these cabinets to stay firmly attached to the wall, and it is the wrong time to go hunting for a stud after you are holding a cabinet, drill, and level. Tony and I used a Dremel and a sawzall to cut through the plaster and blueboard, which were about 1 inch think. We installed 5/4 lumber and 2X lumber every where the upper and lower rails on the back of a cabinet lined up. All of this will be patched and plastered before hanging cabinets.
	Here Tony and I are cutting through the side of the house to install the ductwork for the Faber Perla stainless steel range hood. This is going to be a nice appliance, with halogen lights and a 600 cfm fan to pull cooking odors out of the house.
	Here I am on the ladder, looking at Tony through the opening we made through the wall. This house has solid masonry walls up to the eaves, so the wall is a nearly a foot thick (4" brick, parged mortar, 4" block, furring strips, blueboard, plaster). We used cold chisels and hammers, a rotary hammer, and an electric demolition hammer to make this hole. Much of this was done from ladders, 15 feet off the ground. We haven't gotten close to setting any tile yet!
	Here Tony and I are adding angle iron to the bottom of three joists under the kitchen floor. Even though the span is only a little over seven feet, these joists had considerable bounce (deflection). The rest of the kitchen floor spans about twelve feet, and is quite solid. This angle iron is 1/4" thick X 2" X 3", with 1/2" bolts spaced about 24" O.C. Tomorrow, we will add blocking between the joists.
	Here are the kitchen cabinets, ready to be installed. Tony and I brought them over to the job and unpacked them well before the start of the job. I've learned the hard way to not tear out any cabinets until I know that all the new cabinets are without problems. The corner cabinet (left side of photo) was missing the panel in the door frame, and the manufacturer will send a replacement. These cabinets are a natural maple finish, made by Legacy. The kitchen design was done by Lorrie Addison of Smoot Lumber (Alexandria, VA)
	This is part of our stuff in the basement. It takes a lot of material and many tools to do a kitchen remodel.
	The tile is Attra Palazzi Orsini, 13" x 13", porcelain Now we are finally starting to set tile! We installed the Ditra yesterday with Laticrete 317 thinset mixed with 333 latex additive. The tile is being set with Laticrete 253 modified thinset. We installed 3/4" tongue and groove plywood over the diagonal 1x6 subfloor. We rolled out 15 pound felt over the 1x6's so the plywood wouldn't squeak with any movement between the rough sawn 1x6's. We left the required gap between the ends and tongue/grooves of the sheets, and fastened the plywood down with plenty of cement coated 16d nails. With the hundreds of nails that need to be used, having a pneumatic framing nail gun saves time and our wrists. It is also important to have a clean joint around the perimeter of the installation, so the plywood is held a bit off the wall. The Ditra and thinset is also held off the wall. This gap will be covered with base molding and quarter round.
	This is our new saw, an IMER COMBI 250. It is a pretty nice saw, with a large cutting surface and a plunge cut feature.
	Having a snap cutter close by saves a lot of time. Many cuts can be made with the snap cutter rather than the wet saw. This is a Tomecanic cutter.
	Only another tile setter can truly appreciate this picture. It is raining and cold outside, but we have a nice basement to do our mixing in. As a bonus, there is a laundry sink close by to clean trowels and buckets!
	Here is the wall that we will start hanging cabinets on. We usually do the upper cabinets first. All of the holes have been taped and finished with EZ Sand 20. The layout lines are drawn on the walls.
	The ductwork is installed and ready for the range hood.
	The corner cabinet is set first. Plenty of shims are used to plumb the cabinet.
	Cabinets are screwed together and to the wall, with shims to keep them plumb.
	Here I am cutting the extended stile on the side of this cabinet. It's hard to know what the exact dimension will need to be for the cabinets at the end of a wall, so an extension was included on the face frame of the cabinet that goes over the fridge.
	Here is one wall of cabinets. The cabinet in the middle will have a shelf custom made to hold the microwave. There is an outlet roughed in this area. There are two other outlets at counter height, and another outlet behind the fridge. The cabinets are held a bit off the ceiling, since there will be crown molding above the cabinets doors.
	This is the waste pipe for the sink. It comes out of the wall at angle, plus the sweep of the "Y" fitting is partly in the room, so it will require a tricky cut to get the cabinet to slide in the corner.
	As usual, Tony is a master with the Dremel and everything fit in nicely. We start in the corner with the base cabinets, just the same as with the wall cabinets.
	The base cabinets are starting to go in. We have placed scrap drywall over drop cloths on the floor to protect the tile.
	The 8' straightedge is used to check the long run of the cabinets for level. Granite is going in for the countertops, and requires a really flat and level surface. A 24" opening is left for the dishwasher, and a 30 1/8" opening is left for the range. There is still a small bit of drywall to touch up, including some of the corner bead.
	Here we are clamping and screwing in a piece of material to make up the gap between the sink base cabinet and the blind corner cabinet. This piece is used in the same way as the extended stile was used on the wall cabinet above the fridge....it is ripped to the width needed to take up the space needed to make the layout of cabinets on this wall fill in all the space available.
	Tony and I used an epoxy grout made by Laticrete. An epoxy grout consists of two liquid components mixed with an inert filler material that gives the grout its color. The color selected was Marble Beige. This grout has very low absorption and has high resistance to staining.
	The original stove was electric, but the new appliance that was selected will be fueled by natural gas. This valve was roughed in by a gas fitter before the start of work on the kitchen. The washer and dryer are right below this, so a gas valve was roughed in there as well.
	Here Tony is re-attaching the cover to the hydronic baseboard heat fixture. Since the new floor is slightly higher than the old floor, we had to cut the sheet metal off the bottom of the ends and corner pieces.
	Todd Muse of Victory Electric is installing recessed lighting in the room where our cabinets were stored. Now that all of our stuff is out of his way, he can get the additional electrical work done in the house.
	Here is the sink base cabinet. We have roughed in the water lines, with a "T" on the hot side for the dishwasher. Strips of wood have been added to the upper portion of the cabinet to support the undermount sink. The drain has been extended into the cabinet, and is ready to be hooked up.
	The range hood is installed, wired, and hooked up to the ductwork. The manufacturer sent the wrong brackets, so we can't install the chimney until the correct brackets arrive via UPS. This is a Faber Perla stainless steel range hood with matching backsplash.
	We used a table saw, surface planer and jointer to make oak thresholds for the three doorways into the kitchen. The red oak will be stained to match the recently refinished oak floors in the rest of the house. My ancient Craftsman jointer fell apart right when we were getting ready to use it, so I had to run to Lowe's and buy a new Delta jointer.
	We installed the thresholds with construction adhesive and 8 penny finish nails.
	The granite has been installed. The sink is made by Elkay and the faucet is a Moen Puretouch with built in filtration.

	Here is the microwave cabinet made by Eric Cullop of A&E Woodjoinery (Alexandria, VA). This cabinet is a perfect match for the rest of the factory made cabinets. Eric also installed the crown molding.

	Tony is installing all the door and drawer hardware. The dishwasher will have a stainless steel cover on the door.
	The chimney has been installed on the range hood. The 3/4 inch gap above the crown molding represents the out-of-level condition of the ceiling. This gap will be floated down with plaster.
	Everything is finished.

	Everything looks really nice Dad, but ... how come you built the counters so high?