day 11: hardibacker, done!

After what seemed like weeks of dinking around the Hardibacker is installed. I feel like I've said so much about it at this point that everyone must be growing tired of the saga. The 3x5 sheets are a bit of a patch work to deal with, but it wasn't the most tedious job to date (just close).

Tomorrow is Michael's first day of vacation and I will formally hand the bathroom baton to him. We have to thin set the seams and put the remaining floor tiles in place. After that "sets up" we're ready to get going on the wall tiling and cedar. I more than likely will remain the tile cutter throughout the endeavor.

Now that we're done hanging the Hardibacker just a few parting notes. Jeff noted today that high speed cutting tools are not recommended according to the website (solely for silica dust production). The truth of the matter is we did use a tile cutting blade on the skill saw to make a few of the long cuts on pieces that were impossible to snap like drywall. Yes, it did produce large volumes of dust. But, 1) I did it outside (with the windows closed), 2) I wore a pretty decent dust mask, 3) I cleaned up the dust after each cut, and 4) where we used the dremel tool to shape a piece once in place, we always did it in concert with the filtered shopvac. Not that I would recommend the saw and dremel technique for every situatution-- I do feel I spared myself silicosis by taking it fairly serious.

Comments

[douglas]

So much going on I can barely keep up. Nice work.

[Tracy]

Your dust is nothing compared to the "big" construction job on the street! Now they know dust! And they don't even wear masks....although I know that I will be needing to wear one in my own backyard soon if they don't stop with the styrofoam burnishing and shedding.