Patio Update

The paper is all down and all I was waiting for was to get the mosaic lizard insert finished before I started laying down the tiles. I've had a few set backs in that regard.

I was going along just fine. I found a diamond wheel for my Dremel tool that was doing a great job, especially for the tight spots like the lizard's fingers. But then I guess I must have been pressing too hard or something because all of a sudden from inside the Dremel came a few clacking noises, a couple of shots of flame, and black electrical smoke came pouring out. I quickly turned it off so I wouldn't blow up along with the poor Dremel. Now what?

Well it must have been a sign from above. The next night we had the chowder with the neighbors and Dean mentioned trying a Roto Zip. Obviously that would mean having to lay out some more money for a new tool, something I'm not totally averse too, but I had been spending a lot of money lately.

Sometime very early in the morning, like around 2 am, I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep. So I came out to the living room and turned on the tv. I started watching an episode of something on DIY Network and lo and behold; one segment was on the versatility of the Roto Zip tool.

I went out and bought one the next day, along with their version of the diamond cut-off wheel.

It worked really great, like a hot knife through butter, as the saying goes. The only problem now was this particular blade was too big to get into the delicate smaller finger areas of the lizard.

Then I got the bright idea to put the smaller, thinner Dremel wheel on the Roto Zip. It would have worked except the shaft of the mandrel was too short. That meant I had to go and buy the flex shaft attachment.

Of course I did that. I got home and started the process of attaching the attachment to the tool, but something was wrong. The instructions mentioned the "silver drive nut" and even had a picture of it on the parts page. It was at that point that I noticed the lubricant was missing too. I got on the internet to see what my options were and all I could figure out was I had to wait until Monday morning to call the Roto Zip company. It almost sounded like this wasn't an uncommon occurrence, as it said in their web site if you are missing anything from your package to call the company and they would send the missing piece(s) right away. So that's what I did.

Meanwhile the lizard is on hold. So I started playing with the tile to see what pattern I wanted. I figured I had about three options: the regular grid, the diamond style, or the brick pattern (like the running bond pattern for bricks). I already knew I didn't want the diamond style so I laid out a few tiles in the other two patterns.

Regular grid pattern

Brick pattern

With the large variation in color the brick pattern seemed just too busy, so my husband and I decided on the regular grid. Besides it will be easier.

So even though I had wanted to wait until I got the lizard done before I started laying all the tile I'm getting a little restless and may just get started anyway. I just hope that drive nut gets here soon.