Mathers' Blog

I like this video of a good song: “Estate Sale Sign” from the Mountain Goats.

Edit* This is good song, but the best part is his aspiration on ‘when’. you gotta imagine him blowing out a candle each time he says it.

From Pitchfork

This is why I have a hard time cheering for this team.

“I was going to stand there and take as many punches as he threw until the referee called a penalty,” Sedin said.

The French version of our Canadian National Anthem is much more kick ass than the English.

O Canada!
Land of our forefathers
your brow is wreathed with a glorious garland of flowers.
Because your arm can wield the sword,
and it is ready to carry the cross.
your history is an epic
Of the most brilliant exploits.
your valour steeped in faith
Will protect our homes and our rights
Will protect our homes and our rights.

You know how after people do something once they become experts on it? Well I just tiled my entrance way so here we go.

This is also for Robotron8000 who is contemplating some home improvement. He helped one day but for reasons left undrunk, he doesn’t remember much.

Generally, make sure you read the instructions for your tools, mortar and grout.

My tips for laying down ceramic tile are as follows:

1. Remove whatever you have there now. Lino, laminate or old tile: take it out. Get down to the original sub floor of your home. Strip as necessary.

EDIT: If you are replacing a wood or laminate floor that has been damaged by a leaky dishwasher, rip out the old floor and fix the the leaky dishwasher first. Then update your basement radio station to include more rock and less bart.

2. Screw down the old subfloor. Look for the existing nails or screws and put more screws into the floor along your joists. You want to ensure the existing subfloor isn’t moving. Walk around and check for creaks. Screw as neccessary.

3. Check for any movement. Walk around the floor and look for areas that flex and bend when you step on them. Some parts of your floor might need more support. This is a pain in the ass so you might want to skip to the next step.

4. Check how thick your existing subfloor is. How do you do this? Be creative. You want at least 1 1/4 inch. My friend says he uses 1″ but he’s lazy. If your floor isn’t thick enough, buy plywood, cut it to size, spread wood or construction glue over old floor and screw new plywood down over top of your existing subfloor. Put a screw every 4 inches. If you had flex in your floor, this should take care of it. You want a nice solid floor that doesn’t flex or move. Over time this would crack your tile.

Keep it mind that a big difference between your tile and other floors is undesirable. People who don’t pay attention will constantly be tripping and spilling their drinks. So don’t add an unneccesary thickness of plywood.

5. Take a long level or something else with a long flat side and check for any highs or lows in your floor. If there are any high bumps try and sand or plane them down. If you have any lows, you can buy filler but this is also a pain in the ass. I’m taking like anything bigger than a 1/4 of an inch.

6. Holy crap you’re ready to actually tile! Oh wait, haha no you’re not. This is totally the most important part. LAY OUT YOUR TILE. Plan out your design, lay it out and cut out the pieces that need to be cut. It is so much easier to cut it first and plan out what you’re doing. Use the spacers and put every piece down on the floor. It’s a pain to be tiling, then measuring out a peice, then cutting, then tiling again and then finding out at the end that you’re one fucking tile short!

So how do you cut tile? For small,intricate cuts, or right angles or curves you will need a tile saw. You can buy them or rent them or borrow from your friends. Try the latter. They are like table saws but for tile. You load them full of water and they make a huge mess.

You can also get tile cutters that you use to score the tile then break it apart. These actually work really well.

OK now you’re ready tile.

7. Mix the mortar. Read the instructions. Put the water in first, then slowly add the powder and stir. You’ll need a power drill and some kind of attachement you can slap into the drill to mix the shit. Your wifes favourite cooking spoon works ok.

8. Spread your mortar. Don’t put too much on. More mortor doesn’t make it better, it just makes more of a mess and can lead to uneven tile. Be conservative. Lay that tile. Give them a solid push and wiggle. Make sure the tile has settled on the mortar. If mortar is coming up between the tiles, you have too much and you need to remove this. Make sure there is room for grout.

9. When you’re done, don’t walk on it for 24 hours. After 24 hours you can grout it.

10. Grouting it pretty easy. Mix it the same way you did the mortar and spead it out generously with your rubber trowel. Wipe off as much of the grout as you can but making sure each space is completly filled.

11. Now get your sponge and a bucket of water. Wipe off all of the excess grout. Use the wet sponge to smooth and finish the grout. If the grout looks bad, this is where you can fix it. If it looks like shit when you’re finished this step, it will always look like shit.

Dry time for the grout depends on what you used so read the bag.

When it’s dry, you can take the sponge and again wipe off the tiles.

12. Seal the tile. The sealent protects the grout and protects it from water. Read the instructions.

That’s it! Looks good Now invite your large clumsy friends over for cheesesteaks and see how it holds up.

tldr: go bruins!

Someone in Russia also found this video great. But that does not mean we should trust them. Why is Ovechkin’s head in a locker?