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Installing Vinyl Plank Flooring Over Ceramic Tile in Hawaii
All righty, I did not start out thinking about installing vinyl plank flooring over ceramic tile, but home improvement projects never start out that way. Some other isolated situation is generally the culprit. Usually it starts with a small item, a minor irritation and then mushrooms out from there. For me, it has happened twice in the bathtub. Soaking in luxurious bath bombs made from rose petals, the only thing missing is a glass of champagne.
Something is amiss, I notice, sinking further into the hot and steamy fragrant mass. Oh, yes, of course, there is a shower door on the edge of the tub. Annoying. I should get rid of it. And why not install a new shower head and faucets? How good would Cararra marble look? Pretty damn good, on the walls and the floor, and before you know it, darn it, I’m remodeling the bath.
I’ve been inflicted with this affliction all of my life. Just ask my husband.
At our house in Hawaii, I had a similar experience. The house is 25 years old. Without my cellphone in the tub, I’m left with my own thoughts. Now, one of the things about the humid weather in Hawaii is things corrode. As a result, the bathtub faucet is rusting out. Ick. There is no drain plug, and I really dislike the tub itself. Cheapass fiberglass. I prefer cast iron. If I replace the tub, I should replace the cabinet. But we have two baths. Which means I may as well replace the vanity in the master, too.
And this is where installing vinyl plank flooring over ceramic tile comes into play. In choosing cabinets, we should coordinate the color and style of the cabinets with the flooring. Except, and here is the kicker, I installed tiger bamboo in the bedrooms a couple years ago. The ceramic floor in the baths and rest of the house is gray. Tiger bamboo is warm, not cool. Resulting in a clash. Not so noticeable with white cabinets but I do not want white.
Also, I don’t really like ceramic floors. Hard on your feet. If I fell, I’d break a bone or two. Maybe a hip. On the plus side, there are no baseboards for bugs to hide. But that’s not enough reason to live with ceramic.
The cabinet guy suggested I consider installing vinyl plank flooring over ceramic tile. That is an excellent idea, given the other choices. He suggested I take up the tiger bamboo and sell it on CraigsList, then remove all of the ceramic and install a subfloor. Or, keep the tiger bamboo, which I like, and install vinyl plank flooring over ceramic tile.
I found a vinyl plank flooring product at Wisteria Flooring in Kailua-Kona that compliments the tiger bamboo beautifully. The color is Camaru. Our house is not big enough to throw dark wood cabinets into the baths and kitchen. Darker wood on the walls would shrink the space. However, there are plenty of options that are lighter colors, not too trendy, with simple, clean lines.
Later on today an installer is coming by so we can discuss whether to level the grout lines and get a bid. I’ll let you know how it goes. Probably will not begin the work until my next wor-cation to Hawaii toward fall. At least now I have a plan. Yet, I still need to find a cast iron tub. They don’t seem to sell them at Lowe’s.
Oh, and I took a new listing in Sacramento yesterday, too. Even with a Red Alert air quality warning and 153 index in Kona, I’m doing OK. Indoors, windows closed, Dyson Cool Link running. Vog on Hawaii Island is pretty severe; we had 500 earthquakes in one day. In ONE day! Big sale over at QVC, and these Dyson air purifiers come with an extra filter.
How to Fix a Vessel Sink That Doesn’t Drain Completely
Need to fix a vessel sink that doesn’t drain?
Need to fix a vessel sink that doesn’t drain? If you are a homeowner who has recently remodeled her master bath, odds are you have probably installed a vessel sink and might have now noticed that your sink does not always promptly drain or drain completely. OK, for me, I hate to admit, it took me 6 years to get fed up with the sink not draining and to acknowledge we had a problem. I imagine it’s because I’m preoccupied, either in a rush to get out the door, or I’m too tired and I’m heading for bed, to focus on the problem of slow drainage.
The need to fix a vessel sink that wasn’t drain completely was one of those things that caused minor irritation but not enough to register on the brain waves in such manner that I needed to find a solution for it. It was just a small PITA, not a huge one. The thing about human nature is after a while, those constant nagging voices in your head that say you should do something about this manage to ripple to the surface, and then I pay attention.
Of course, we tried other things first. Like pouring caustic substances into the drain, hoping maybe it was a hair clog. Although, I replaced all of the horizontal plumbing pipes in my home with copper and the vertical under the sink has been replaced, along with the sewer line, so that was actually kind of a stupid thing to do. Not only that, but the acid tarnished part of the brushed nickel pop-up drain, which had replaced the previous grid drain, because we initially thought the drain itself was causing the problem.
As a result, we had to replace the drain a third time. Since I’m too busy these days as a Sacramento real estate agent to replace the drain myself, I decided to hire a plumber. I hate working on plumbing because things can leak — with plastic you can’t tighten it too much or you’ll break it and with metal you really need more arm strength than I possess. If a plumber had to come out to do such a small job, then he or she may as well fix the drainage issue, too. The time had come. After much research, it became apparent to me that the problem was ventilation. There was no ventilation, no air hole in the vessel sink. If you plugged up the drain with a wash cloth and quickly pulled it, the suction would force the water to drain.
To fix a vessel sink that doesn’t drain, install an air gap, on the left, with a black cap.
This is the same principal as the unhygienic backwash that can happen with a kitchen dishwasher and no air gap, and is why home inspection reports will note the absence of an air gap like a defect. An air gap can be installed under the sink or on top of the sink. In my bath, I opted for under the sink. This means attaching a piece of plastic plumbing that resembles a Saguaro cactus arm, like a right-hand turn signal bike riders use. You stick it in below your sink drain with a piece of plastic that connects the sink drain to the plumbing pipe below leading to the P-trap portion, and to this connecting piece of plastic, you screw in the arm. Then attach an air gap at the top.
Bingo! The sink drains perfectly now. I hope this solves your vessel sink draining problems. If you need to fix a vessel sink that doesn’t drain, this is the solution. If you have a real estate query to solve, I also hope you will call Elizabeth Weintraub, the #1 Sacramento real estate agent at Lyon Real Estate. *Nobody sold more homes in Sacramento last year at Lyon. 916 233 6759.
*per Trendgraphix 2014
