The waiting is the hardest part

Tom Petty may have beat me to this phrase, but honestly, the waiting can be the hardest part. Months in the making, we thought that after the grout went in, that we'd be showering at home in a matter of days. But, the grout sealer bottle said to let the grout cure for 10 days before sealing. Everybody in my network thought that seemed like a long time, but when you've gone to this much effort, what is a few more days? Or 10?

So, we waited. And worked on figuring out how to get the floors finished. My part time tiler/brother-in-law refused to work with the travertine we'd selected and the floor heating mat. Who could blame him? I thought about doing it ourselves, but after checking out the large wet saw at the rental department of Home Hardware which rents for $78/day, I thought twice. I had visions of us trying to cut the 12" x 24" tiles on our front porch in the -24C weather with all our neighbours watching (and laughing). So, at the end of the year, I decided to call in a few pros and speed up this outrageously long bathroom reno. Right now we're waiting for quotes from our three selected contractors, recommended by our friends Max and Tino at Home Hardware.

Yesterday my tiler/brother-in-law called to say that he was coming to caulk the tub area. I wanted to do it myself, but like the grout, he said no way! Who am I to argue. Again, after the months of work to get to this point, I'm happy to have him do it. So last night, Dan and I poured out some toxic grout sealer and applied it with some sponge brushes to all the grout lines. Twice.

Mike has just finished caulking and in 24 hours, we can use our shower and tub. Hooray. This is a huge victory worth celebrating. And since I didn't do much of the work for this part of the reno, waiting really was the hardest part. But now, showering at home will be my reward!

Thanks again to Mike for all his amazing work. The shower looks amazing! I can't wait to have my victory bath tomorrow.