I can do this...no problem.

We started working on our house this week. The drywall guys came and raised up a 2 foot ledge to be a half wall in our dining room. They also repaired the water damaged drywall on the ceiling in one of the bedrooms. Later next week, they will come back to finish one other small project that we need for a future flat screen tv.

The only thing left is the flooring, paint and a good cleaning. My theory was to at least remove the tile downstairs before painting so that we wouldn't have to clean the walls twice; once before painting and once after the tile is removed (very dusty job). So, we got a couple of quotes on the tile removal....I was floored, no pun intended. One place wanted $3/sf and the other wanted $2/sf. Considering that we have over 600 sf, that was $1,200 that I had not budgeted for in our flooring. So to keep expenses down, I figured that it wouldn't be that difficult to just do the removal ourselves....what a mistake that idea was.

My brother in law laid tile in the past, so I called him up and got a few pointers from him. We then headed down to the tool rental area at Home Depot and rented a chipping hammer, which is basically a hand-held jack hammer. Yesterday, the goal was to remove that 600 sf in one day. In fact, I originally was going to do it all myself. I'm pretty handy and never shy away from do-it-yourself types of projects. But 2 hours into it, Kenny decided to take off from work and come help me. He must have felt sorry for me and my stubborn tendencies.

For the next 5 hours, we chipped away at the tile. Most all of it is up as of this morning. We only have a few more spots around the walls to remove. What remains now is the mortar. So essentially, we are going to have to go back over all 600 sf of the floor so that it is level and smooth.

I don't think this would be such an issue if I were 10 years younger. In fact, I know that we probably could have knocked out the entire project in one day if we were both 10 years younger. But as I sit here this morning looking over all the wounds on my legs and arms from the flying tile....as I feel the pain in my aching hands, arms, knees, back and chest, I'm dreading the task at hand. Ironically, I'm glad that we're doing it. Putting my own blood & sweat into the house has given me a sense of ownership more so than just having the keys. Even Jason busted out a handful of tiles yesterday and is ready to go again this morning. I'm sure that he'll remember this project for the rest of his life. I know I certainly will. In fact, I'll remember this as the one and ONLY time that I ever busted up tile. Any future tile work we decide to take on will only include the labor of my hand signing the check to pay whomever we hire. Believe me when I tell you that these people earn every single penny of what they charge.

Justin, I have a new found respect for you.