Friday, March 20, 2009

Piles of Tiles

In anticipation of a human being living in the basement bedroom in the Petworth house, I had to do a little work. Such as putting back the wall I tore down when I was dealing with the plumbing. After I had cleared out the bedroom, though, I realized I wasn't going to get away with the carpet. Quite simply, it was disgusting. See Exhibit A, below.

Exhibit A: Before

DSC_0097

Note the vile stains from some indeterminate substance, possibly blood or motor oil.


I had to get rid of the carpet. So off to Home Depot. Luckily for me, they had a truckload of some overstock tiles that were pretty much what I wanted for a mere 49 cents per square foot! That's an almost unheard-of price for decent ceramic tiles. So I bought as many as I could carry in my truck. Total cost for 16 boxes (almost 200 sf.) - $105. It was plenty to do the room, but I figured I should stock up so I can do the rest of the basement later. The guy assured me that although they won't sell these again once they are gone, they had TONS of them and I would definitely be able to get more.

Well, I went back yesterday for more, and they had them all right. But apparently I wasn't the only guy who thought they were a good deal, because the market had reacted to demand. They were now 77 cents a square foot. DOH! Still a good price, and 25 cents less than the next cheapest thing. But that really grinds my gears... anyway, I bought another dozen boxes. Need to do some math but I may have enough for the rest of the basement now.

Anyway, I ripped out that nasty ol' carpet and threw down some tiles over a few days this week. Here's an unfortunately blurry picture of the end result.

After

petworth-tiles

Hopefully now, nobody will catch Tuberculosis while sleeping in this room.

3 comments:

HomeImprovementNinja said...

Looks good. I think anything less than a dollar a square foot for ceramic tile (especially floor tile like that) is a really good deal.

I think the crappy 4x4 white wall tile sells for about what you paid for that floor tile, so good job!

Zandria said...

"Threw down some tiles?" You make it sound so easy.

Jamie said...

Believe it or not... tiling is really easy. And those guys get paid A LOT. This is the single easiest way to save a ton of money on a home improvement project. The skills needed are pretty basic for the most part, and only a couple tools needed.

As long as you aren't afraid of a diamond saw anyone can do it...