I was watching HGTV yesterday, minding my own business, when the home renovation bug started to give me an itch. This does tend to happen every two weeks or so. From the back of my mind came this urgent need to find out what was underneath the 80s linoleum in our bathroom. Off I went in search of some answers, equipped with a butter knife (my tool of choice) and a will of iron. Up came some of the awful mauve rubber baseboard. Then a little prying back of the linoleum to reveal something aqua and hard. I was already excited, thinking the floor was the same standard square tiles as the wall. Of course, I had to call my mom and David. His reply was "so you are starting the bathroom renovation I gather," hers was "I recommend using some acetone." I ripped off a big chunk of lino to find more lino, but this time from the early sixties and very brittle. Under that was a LOT of super sticky mastic which could only be removed with acetone. Believe me, I tried the equally smelly, but much less caustic vinegar with no avail. Beneath all of this was this awesome basketweave original tile. YES! Not one cracked tile. It is perfect.
All I have to do now is finish up removing the mastic which is so sticky that my flip flop stuck to it at some point. And I have to give the bathroom a mega cleaning. We will have to spend a smidge of cash on some new grouting, but that is certainly less expensive than new tile!
We are definitely happy campers!
