ask everyone you meet.... (if you a laugh)

[Brenda (OH)]

and you may get unexpected help!

a neighbor stopped by the MH I am rehabbing, and I showed him the fireplace hearth I am trying to make "non combustible", by removing the wood trim at the bottom of the fireplace/top of the raised hearth that actually was touching the metal front of the fireplace.

I told him I was going to put up concrete board and tile, but I did not know how to cut the concrete board. I asked if he knew how to cut concrete board. He said, gee you do that with a concrete saw. (and I am thinking, great, a different tool I have to go see it anyone rents lol)

Then he looked at the hearth again, and said, "gee, you know, a row of bricks right there would probably be the right size"

Yahoo!!!! believe it or not, that seemed a whole lot simplier than trying to find a way to cut concrete board for me right now.

well, I got some bricks, (I even split my first brick successfully on the first try!) and installed them (let's just say this, you would not think that mixing mortar would be that difficult!) I got done with only about a tablespoon of mortar left over. I scrapped the bucket, my fingers, the mixing stick, and the joints of the bricks to get the last little bits I needed. I had mortar all over the bricks, so I wiped them down because I was not sure it would come off later.
actually, I ended up washing the bricks 3 times until I could at least see some red color and not all mortar gray...

it looked ok when I left, but the lighting was not good by then, and I really did not have the nerve to go get the work light to get a good look at it!!!!

I'll know when I go back on monday if the mortar set up right, and if any of the brick color shows at all or if it is all gray from the mortar residue.... the mystery of learning home repair!!! I am taking a metal brush with me, to see if I need to brush the bricks to get a good finally appearance.

now... if all of the pieces were in the box of the tile cutter I ordered, I'll finish the repair off with tile on the rest of the raised hearth, and feel a whole lot better about the fire resistance of the area around the fireplace... How hard can thinset be to mix? and that notched trowel I bought has to be somewhere in the work truck.......

I know it all gets easier with experience, but the first time around on these repairs/remodelling jobs is a little nerve racking....

Brenda (OH)

[Mark]

Hmm, been a long time since I've messed with cement board. Either I bought a special blade and put it in my circular saw, or I scored and snapped it. I know I didn't buy a special tool to cut it. Funny how a guy can forget some of this stuff in time.

Most everything I know about repairing mobile homes I taught myself. So you can definitely say that I've learned plenty of lessons the hard way. I remember the first time I had to repair a galvonized pipe. I was so nervous, I almost didn't sleep the night before. Everything turned out fine, and now tackling a galvonized pipe repair is all in a day's work.

Anyway, I like hearing when someone dives into a new project and doesn't look back! Good job on the mortaring.

Mark