Tiles and a mystery

Let's begin with the most important stuff. One really nice thing about this restoration for me has been that I spend most of my day facing this lovely example of Helvetica on the side of one of the only pieces of insulation in our walls. I know, I'm blogging in Arial, but that's because Blogger—thanks to this evil corporation—doesn't really give me a choice.

Another trip to Home Depot to get a masonry chisel—I had hoped to also get drywall, but their delivery truck was rented by someone else while I was waiting. Have you ever tried fit an 4 x 8 sheet of drywall into a VW Jetta? Lilya also picked up paint swatches, and we seem to be gravitating toward an off white, like "Calla Lily" (Ralph Lauren paint—look down the page about halfway).

Removing tiles without breaking adjacent pieces proves to be almost impossible, especially when all the tiles are mounted on a flexible chicken wire backing with no support whatsoever. There's no drywall behind most of it, and so the tiles all flex when they move. Not good for tile to flex because it doesn't. I was curious why I was supposed to use a "masonry chisel" on tile, and now I know. Tile is rock. It acts like rock (no flexing, no moving—until it snaps, chips or flakes), and it weighs like rock. So, two of the tiles I meant to preserve untouched are broken, but the remaining pieces were saved, so I think we'll grout and cement it all back together when we're done. I could try to remove the broken tiles as well, but that might break the tiles next to them, and then next to them, and so on.

I also wore shoes, goggles and ear protection. A few good whacks with a heavy hammer on a chisel and your ears are ringing big time. Fortunately, I have noise-cancelling headphones. Thanks, Mom!

So, can one put these broken pieces of tile back on when they still have half an inch of cement on the backs of them? Only time will tell.

It may not look like a lot, but I also cleaned up the raggedy holes in the drywall, and am pretty much ready to put up new walls—as soon as the electrician is here. It seems pretty stupid to put up walls before that. A plumber came by and told us that we appeared to fine without a vent, so we'll just put everything back the way we found it once the cabinets and sink are in.

One mystery. Again I found a hazelnut (flibert) shell in the walls. I've probably found a half dozen of them by now, and they have all had the top of the shell neatly sheared off, as of by a cutting tool. I believe that this man is responsible. Only possibly in squirrel form. Evidently he's done it to pumpkins before, so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch for him.