So work was supposed to start yesterday but never saw anyone. Today construction manager showed and cleaned off the areas for the accent tile and was about to apply acid so they could start placing them but the head tile guy never showed. Ugh. So that never happened. Then the coping guy shows up and I walk out to talk to him and he hands me his cell to talk to his boss. I guess the fact that we are doing a sailor border and we have curves makes for challenging cuts so he wants to be here for all that and can't be here today. He says he will be out tomorrow to start the coping.
One of our Brazilians, "Edgy", who is the younger of the two who applied our tile and stone, showed up and he too was waiting for the head tile guy to show so they could start the accent tiles but again, he never showed, so the younger guy, Edgy, started grouting with the Laticrete grout on our Lightstream wall. He has never worked with this product before and PB had stopped by so explained how to mix it. Well I guess it was setting up too fast or something bc he said it was crumbling and not filling in the grout spaces completely. Sigh... He said you can add grout to those spaces where it is missing... I am wondering if it was bc it was 3pm and direct sun so the glass was quite warm and warmth speeds up chemical reactions so the grout set up faster than he expected so I said maybe grouting in the morning before the sun is on the tile and too warm.
So he moved on to the column and placed the stone there. It took more work than you would think as the way we had the columns placed, when the stone is on, the stone will stick out further than the wall with the tile and provide some dimension. Well, there is no corner where the column meets the tile so he had to cut corner pieces and piece everything together to give the illusion of it being a corner so there is a finished edge and not a cut edge on that side. I am ok with the uneven edge along the tile bc stone is uneven and the way the corner pieces were on the other sides were uneven as well. The only issue is on the back corner, there is a mitered edge that didn't quite meet and it is almost a half inch space between the 2 pieces so that needs to be taken off and fixed. I feel bad this guy was left to do all this work by himself as the boss just no showed and he really does take pride in his work and has done a great job so far, just need this area fixed. But other than that, the column looks lovely. Sitting next to the glass tile, the blue colors are really drawn out from the stone.
PB came by and we spent about an hour walking around the site and discussing various things. He said decking is going down next week so we have to clear off the back porch so they can shoot the grade and bust up the concrete and then prep for the travertine.
Found out about the grading - the coping will be set level based on where the tile is set. Then from there, the deck will be shot and that will tell them how much of the existing concrete they have to remove.
PB saw the travertine for the first time today and he loves it. He now asks if we really want the step risers done with stone instead of the travertine bc the travertine looks so good. Gah! Dont make me second guess again! We have to figure this out by tomorrow. Half of me says yes stone on the risers and half says no, clean, beautiful travertine. Ughhh
I also inquired about the abalone shells as the glass beads were $4900 for the whole pool and $1500 for just the bottom. So that is a no. But hoping the abalone shells are cheaper. Also have him making sure the plaster crew is familiar with hand casting them. So we will see.
I am so happy to just have something done today. I am a little anxious about this grout situation as this tile just cost so much but hoping they will get this figured out.
So tomorrow is supposed to be coping and then finish the other column and hopefully start accent tile. Then next week the deck. That will be a big push in the right direction. Trying to nail down a day with the PB of when the deck prep is done but they aren't laying down pavers bc we need the termite people to come spray the back area and that is the specific time they have to spray for them.
Pics!
so close but still so much to be done.
