This is the spec house from Hades.
25 years of problems are encapsulated into this one house.
Everything has gone wrong from the Foundation to the Roof and in between.
400sqft of Marble has been laid over Ditra and Plywood.
Everyone hates it. It has to be removed and replaced with Hardwood.
What is the best way of removal.
Would a Vinyl removal Vibrator be any good against the Thinset.
I anticipate the Thinset & Ditra tearing large chunks out of the wood.
The room is painted and trimmed out.
Thanks in advance for your help.
RonK
Replies
Legacy,
Sounds like an expensive change order. I would think the plywood should be replaced as well to expose the subfloor.
Chuck S
Welcome to Breaktime.
Can you beat MY "Spec House from Hell" story ???
http://forums.taunton.com/tp-breaktime/messages?msg=38467.1
I read your tale of woe.
My story is pretty close.
I have been doing this for 25 yrs
and its all come down into this one house.
a 6mth job turned into 2 yrs.
To top it off my unblemished record has been tarnished by the
sewer guy ripping out the gas line, twice, and me getting fined by the
Safety Board and the the Gas company.
The house is finished but I am still not done. Crazy.
RonK
I wasn't on BT then, so that's new to me.Wow. That's some serious misfortune. Whatever became of your situation? Did you sell it?
"Whatever became of your situation? Did you sell it?"
We ended up moving into the house, and lived there for a couple of years. Last year we were fortunate to sell the house during the divorce proceedings.
So it's little more than a story and a memory now...
Bumpersticker: I'm an imbecile, and I vote.
I just read your spec house horror story. The way you tell it had me laughing the whole read. I'm sure at the time it wasn't funny but I like your attitude.
Your story reminds me of family vacations; the ones that are a complete disasters are the ones that, 5 years later, have everyone rolling on the floor laughing when the "vacation from hell" story is retold.
Again, great read. Thanks!!
Runnerguy
Hes glad to do it now and your right , he had a great attitude after several blows to the stomach. One of the classics here to read. He likes to link it when someone is thinking about building a spec house.
Tim
Edited 4/18/2008 10:55 am by Mooney
Is another following in your footsteps?
Click here for access to the Woodshed Tavern
Click here to visit the beginning of Breaktime
Only time will tell....
Old musicians don't die - they just decompose.
Is another following in your footsteps?
Who is also named Ron, just to keep it clear <g>Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Hmmmm, sounds suspicious.....++++++++++++++++++
"Where will our children find their enjoyment when everything gets itself done by steam? Frederick Law Olmsted, 1850s.
"
sounds suspicious
Dunno, we're just adding a RonK, and we've had Rons galore here <g>.
Now, if he had said he was a galvanized truss builder from the central US with a tractor preference . . .
Speaking of, I had not one, but two occasions today to hate green Deeres. First was a city owned small tractor doing 15 in the 45; then it was some dude's rotary hay cutter doing 20 in the 60 . . . Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
Hijack alert!I grew up on John Deere tractors, as well as driving many other brands (except the Belarus, Dad refused to even consider one). Can't say I dislike them nearly as much as Ron.++++++++++++++++++
"Where will our children find their enjoyment when everything gets itself done by steam? Frederick Law Olmsted, 1850s.
"
Would a Vinyl removal Vibrator be any good against the Thinset.
I would say that it depends on how long the marble has been down ('how dry is the thinset?) and what type of thinset you used. If you used modified thinset, forget it. The vibrator won't touch it anytime soon.
But you might have a chance of vibrating it loose if you used unmodified thinset (which you're supposed to use for Ditra, anyway), which is more akin to concrete (ie: brittle) than is the latex-modified version. If the stuff is completely dry by now, you might try buzzing it loose.
If that doesn't work, get yourself a small pneumatic hammer (the type auto mechanics use to separate ball-joints) and a bent chisel for it. The plastic part of the Ditra will probably shred in the process, but the fleece membrane on the underside should release from the plastic waffle without tearing big chunks out of the plywood. It's designed to do that, actually. Be careful not to dig the chisel right through everything into the subfloor.
Once you get all the marble up, cut any remaining Ditra into 1-foot-wide strips and peel it off by hand. Expect most of the fleece to stay on the plywood. I don't think the remaining thinset and the fleece will cause a problem under the hardwood.
Dinosaur
How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
foolish men call Justice....
just took my tile up good thing i thought of this too
I can certainly understand why you want to take that tile up!
Doug