A couple of months ago we started to notice a major buckling in a small area of our kitchen tile. After just a few hours one Saturday we noticed that the grout had started to break between the tiles. We pulled up the four tiles that were being affected, all still in tact. This is what we were left with.

After debating on whether or not to just replace the tiles or to put in a new floor all together, we made the decision to just go ahead and get a new floor. We hate the tile in the kitchen, the color is terrible for having three kids and a dog, and the grout, to me has always made the floors look dirty. We found a great company called EZ Floors and let them have the job. We picked out some beautiful new (darker) tile and also decided to include retiling the entry way (it has the same ugly tile as the kitchen). To save some money, we told EZ Floors that we would take the existing tile out ourselves. Now, I don’t know what we were smoking that day because let me tell you: it is NOT an easy task. We rented a jack hammer to help with getting the tile loose from the floor. Dude, that thing was a monster and it was SO LOUD (see picture of Hunter below). I, like a dummy, didn’t wear ear plugs so my hearing didn’t come back fully until a few days later. But, it did the job.

So now we’re at the in-between stage. We didn’t finish the tile in the kitchen and there’s still tile in the laundry room and pantry. To me, it seems like that would be the hardest part. Having the get inside the pantry with the jack hammer and move the washer and dryer around? Uh, no. We did less than half of the tile in the entry way. It’s a really big job for two people with three kids so we decided to call EZ Floors and let them finish. So here’s pictures of all that we cleared out and what we have left to be done:

These are all the angles of the kitchen. In the 3rd picture (in the back) you can see all the tile that’s left. And then to the left and right of that area is the pantry and laundry room.

These are all the tiles we were able to get out in the entry way. There’s about 40ish tiles left for them to remove.

So I spent the next few days sweeping, and sweeping and sweeping. I didn’t take many pictures of the direct aftermath, but I had two buckets full of tile chips from the entry way that I put into three-ply grocery sacks and put out for the garbage men. I swept and scooped and cleared out all the breakfast room and kitchen area and filled our giant trash can with those pieces. I freecycled the whole tiles that were left so we really are in good shape. I put the trash bags out for the garbage men this morning and wouldn’t you know it – they didn’t even TOUCH them! UGH!! I don’t know if it’s because it’s considered “heavy trash” and because it wasn’t on the curb they didn’t take it? I don’t know. Either way, it pissed me off. I’m going to disguise it for them next week and see if they take it on Tuesday.

I have a feeling I’m going to have to bribe the trash men.

Anyway, the new tile is being installed on May 11th. More to come…

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