Some progress and some distraction.... Ditra completed little house

Finally, we have the tile underlayment completed in the bathroom and living area.  

We have decided to do the prep work for the tiles, so we have the mid points marked. We've been playing with the tile layout but my contractor has convinced me that staggered will look better, than the super complicated pattern I picked.  I have to agree but I enjoyed the expression on his face when I presented him with the complicated one, then I suggested chevron (because I'm evil)  There was some sweating and head shaking going on, and even stuttering.

 There will be a lot of thin set mixing involved from this point on, because the Ditra (orange stuff) has little cavities that have to be filled, then more thin set on top for the tile.  Also we will be using self leveling spacers from Raimondi, it's a cool little system that is supposed to help level out the tile installation if there are any imperfections in the foundation, so that should be fun.  They won't be in until mid next week, so there was some landscaping and pressure cleaning going on.  We have officially migrated to the big house.  

Everywhere you look there is something to do, so we spent hours cleaning out debris, and pressure cleaning the underside of the long porch.  It was full of spider webs, wasp nests, mud dauber nests and all manner of other insects.    When the little porch is finished we'll have before and after pics.  I forgot to take the "before" shots this time and just jumped in.  This is just a sample of what we were dealing with.  When I show you the before pics of the little porch, you will see what an undertaking it truly was.  There is some urgency to get this done so we can put up new screens and frames because these critters have a season up there and it's just starting.  We are also doing our best to seal the buildings to prevent any insects or "others" invading the property.  I'm sure we'll find some intruders but we would like to minimize it since I will be doing all of the attic work.

This week though, cable will be installed in the little house, as well as the AC, which we are beginning to need.  We've had wildly variable temperatures, from freezing cold to summer 80's.  The AC/Heat will be a welcomed, addition.