Tile Goes Down and So Does the Maple Tree

This week's big change inside the house was that the tile went down in the kitchen and in the hallway and 3/4 bath. Installation took a day and a half. One day to lay the tile and the next morning to come back and grout them. However, to make room, the washer, dryer, refrigerator and dishwasher all had to move into the former dining room. It made things a little tight to say the least.

In shopping for tile we had purchased a bunch of individual tiles from the two big "home centers" and then took them home to see how they would look. Even though we didn't go with any of these tiles, it did give us a starting point to know what we did and didn't want to go with.


The kitchen floor tile we ended up purchasing from the same place we are purchasing our countertops from. We got a discount for doing both through them. My wife liked this tile and even though we don't have the counters yet, she compared it the samples at the store and felt like it went well and was what we were looking for. They are porcelain and I really like how they look. She made a great choice.

Looking from where the "addition" will be.	Looking from the old dining room.

As for the hallway and bath, my original plan was to do the tile myself to save a little money.
However... like Inspector Callahan once said... "A man's got to know his limitations." As much as I want to have more of a hand in this, there is no way I could have done what the installers did let alone in the time that that they did it. We did go with tile from a home center so it cost 1/2 of what the kitchen tile cost. I like the pattern in that it has a bit of class without screaming for attention. (Pretty much the exact opposite of how I lead my life.)

Not a great picture of the hall, but you get the idea.	Bathroom floor. It would have taken me a week to make the tile cuts needed.

When the exterior wall comes down in the kitchen, we'll have another row of tile to put down, but that shouldn't be too bad.

---

At the beginning of the week we explained to the zoning office that the maple tree in the back yard could not be protected during the construction of the addition. Besides already having damaged branches from the last storm, we were going to have to cut out a large amount of the roots along the side closest to the house for the footers. This would leave a damaged leaning tree about two feet from our house.

The recommendation that came back was that we could cut down the tree but would have to replace it with three new deciduous trees in its place. They even sent us a list of fifteen recommended trees including a pignut hickory (which I was surprised to see is actually a tree and not a medical condition.)

We agreed because, well, since we were asking for a exception to the zoning requirements, we have to play by their rules. Also, I honestly though that while it would be a waste of money to plant these trees since I couldn't imagine that they would thrive; even if they did it would be years before they were big enough to cause us problems. (Which they almost certainly would.) There will only be 12 1/2 feet between the addition and the fence... how would three oak trees fit in there and grow?

To make a long story short, we had our zoning board hearing during the week and they approved our request. We can build our addition. (And there was much rejoicing.)

They did change the three tree requirement though. Almost all the members on the board spoke up and felt that the required three trees wouldn't thrive, would eventually cause us problems and wouldn't provide the screening that the fence that was already there did. They ruled that we need to plant just one deciduous tree, anywhere in the back yard. It seems sensible and we can live with that. It will actually be fun to research the trees and pick something interesting.

Then, at the end of the week, the maple tree was cut down. Yesterday a Lorax was out there crying but I chased it away.

Before	After

We saved a few disks of wood from the stump for future projects, but I had really wanted enough to try and make some toy parts out of it. Of well, lesson learned. Put those requests in writing.