You get to a certain point in the renovation process when two things happen: You feel like you’ve … been … working … forever, and you realize that in order to keep making good progress, you have to work on 5 different things in the room in one day. I’ve been writing this series for 7 weeks now, so you’re probably thinking that we finished long ago, but in real life, our 10th day of active room reconstruction took place in mid-late-January … about 30 days after I began gutting the room. We’re doing this renovation on days when we don’t have to work or have other plans; a DIY-lovin’ life needs to be a balanced life.

The things I was most excited about doing (like the shopping, and the shower tiling) were behind me, and I knew that I had a bit more tedious work to perform before I could actually install other exciting things, like a vanity and toilet (I whole-heartedly miss that running water). Remember how I thought this would take 3-4 days beginning to end? I was so wrong. Or I am so slow.

What I’m getting at is, do you want to come over and help me install some floors while I take a break and go get some lunch? No? Ok, we’ll eat dry turkey sandwiches and leftover cous-cous again. Progress is progress.

Keep on reading to what we accomplished on Day 10!

The vinyl resilient concrete tiles are burning a hole in my … guest bed (convenient current storage area). I’ve been really, really excited to get these tiles installed, because I think now that the shower is done (and almost ready to use), the new floor should pull the room together nicely, and take it from whoa to wow! But before I was able to break into the tiles, I had to clean up the floor and prepare the necessary underlayment. This underlayment had been leaning against the wall in my dining room for a month, and it was about time that it made it’s way upstairs. The underlayment installation mean that tiling the bathroom floor was inevitably close, so I was understandably excited about this step of the job. I was also tired of walking on plywood and ragged floors that had been beneath the old foor.

The instructions advised me to paint the enhancer on the floor with a thick-nap roller, not unlike how you’d paint the walls. Applying it evenly and not giving it much opportunity to puddle, I laid it on thick. Half of the bottle went further than you’d think, the liquid was like milk, not like paint. I have half of the bottle of this primer left (for future tiling projects, if this one here goes well).

I rolled myself right out the door, and left the room for 3 hours to let it cure and set.

You really wouldn’t know by looking at it that the finished floor that any treatment had been done, but it feels a little different. A little more sealed than it did when it was raw, and I guess that’s what helps the self-stick tiles adhere so well.