'71 Starcraft Wanderstar- "The Hilton"

U.P. BLDR wrote:

westend wrote:
I am only following my company motto: "We can help". It's printed on our shirts, anyway :D:

HA! You're a contractor too! I should've known, just a little too handy to be a weekend warrior, and always have the right tools. So how's business your way? Been doing ok here, but job size isn't what it used to be. No more McMansions. I may be using my camper to build a nice vacation home about 1 1/2 hours away. Don't want to drive that everyday.

And guess what, I put an offer on an auto repair facility today. I'm stoked! Very ready for a change, and I love wrenching more than building. 25 years in the same business and I'm ready for a new challenge. Anyways, sorry for the derailment. Btw, the tile is kickin!

Yup, exposed, I guess. There is a good joke involving contractors, St. Peter, and Beelzebub. I'll have to share that with you some day.
Business, meh! I've been involved in the constuction trades for 60 years, off and on, if you count the old man putting me on the foundation to hold joist ends when I was 2 yrs. old. I've pretty much had my fling with most of it and am starting to wind down. I still have my hand in on some things, just enough to keep me fit and pay bills.

I've done the wrench thing, too! I actually have a certificate on the wall still. Man, we've got to hook up some time, UP, nail bending, vintage audio, RVing, and wrenching, what's not to like, lol.

The North Dakota thing is my idea of one last adventure, I guess. I'm getting reports back of what's going on up there and it's pretty much like the old Gold Rush of '49, the miners are toiling away and the merchants are the ones getting most of the dust. I know of a few building crews up there and they say they're in it for the short term. We'll see. I also have a friend that was into the oil plays so there might be something interesting for me in that regard. I'm keeping an open mind.

But first, back to the RV restoration and the tile work. I spent another 45 minutes or so finishing up the setting of the remaining tiles. For those interested in numbers, I used 56 6" tile for this, about a fourth of a 50 lb. bag of thinet, and two cups of latex additive. I will use a few pounds of grout to finish the job.

Here is one methodology to remember; when setting rows of tile, try to work in a diagonal setting pattern, working from one end of the diagonal, alternatively from the other.


Setting tile in a diagonal tends to keep everything plumb and square.

More waste than I anticipated, mostly because of the dimensions of the surfaces, total of about 2 sq. feet.



The heater location with all the tiles set in place:



I was going to grout this real quick to finish everything but I think we'll have part three of the tile course after the tiles have had a chance to set up a bit. No sense pushing everything so fast that I create more work for myself. These quarry paver tiles are double-fired, this means they are very hard and dense so letting them rest through the hardening of the thin set is probably a good idea from that regard.

Besides I have other things to do around the Hilton like frames and countertops.;)