Bill, I was hoping that you would respond! Thank you. But I am confused. I don't really have my heart set on any particular size tile. The only reason I am thinking about cutting the pieces smaller is because of the dramatic difference in the color of the tile (which is a limestone). I thought mixing up smaller pieces of tile would work better in making the stone color variation less dramatic. Is that true? So given that my tile can be anything (unless you think it should match my 3 x 6 shower tile), do you think a herringbone pattern works better with tight or wider grout? Also, the "seagrass" (that's what Walker Zanger calls it, although we got a less expensive version somewhere else--may be that's why we got such a mixed lot!), is a limestone, that came in a 12 x 12. Since it is a natural stone, it has very straight cut edges. When my tiler cut it in half (to make the 12 x 6 that I was originally planning to use) I could not tell the difference between the edge he cut and the factory edge. But I am a novice homebuilder. Am I missing something? BTW, the really sharp edges I thought would allow me to make the grout lines tighter. (I just don't know if that looks better for the herringbone pattern.) Thanks!

Woods going to expand and contract. But it wont close a 1/2 gap. Ripping a board down will be just fine. When the planks gap out that much first thing i would do is clean the gap as much as possible. Im sure the inside edges are caked with gunk. Clean that well, glue in your wedge pieces, and finish away. Are you refinishing the entire floor? Or just plan on finishing the wedge pieces? Its hard to tell but my guess is the exsisting finish looks like a varnish. With that in mind you cant put your typical polyurethane over varnish or shellac. It doesnt adhere properly and will just flake off. So you can find varnish still and i would use that if youre not up to the task to sand down to bare wood. If you watch This Old House they did a show where they put pieces of rope between the planks. Looked ok. Not a fan personally but its another idea. Being the house is as old as it is you cant really go wrong looks wise. Good luck!

I am 66 and have had the same problem for years. First they diagnosed it as fibromyalgia, later polymyalgia rheumatica. I finally got to the point that I was on Vicodin. prednisone. I always thought it had to be due to something nutritional. I am a registered nurse. I started my own diagnostics since mainstream medicine doesn't know anything about nutrition and wasn't interested in learning. As some of the other posters did, I started removing medicine that the doctors had me and it began to lessen. Lastly I began taking Youngevity products and within 30 days. no pain. I am no longer on prescribed pharmaceuticals except occasional pain medication at night when I have overdone. I am not sure yet if this will go away or if some of the damage is not reversible. When I stop taking the vitamin/trace minerals, boom it all comes back. You will always have to take the supplements because our soil no longer contains these 90 vit/minerals since we stopped adding wood ash to our gardens once newer methods of heating houses came into practice. But what you save in polypharmacy given to you by doctors will pay for the supplements. Read the Creator of Youngevity's book "Dead doctors don't lie". As a 50 year OR nurse, I concur with most of what he states. Good luck

"He said"? The drywall man from he!!. They're not really nail pops. The joint compound over them is raised. It flicked out when I messed with it. They're definitely screws underneath. I didn't notice if the paper was broken or not. It's surrounded by mud. When you put new screws in, how do you make sure not to break the paper? I've been anchoring old nail pops on the walls and it seems to have a mind of its own how far it ends up setting in. Sometimes have to press on the drill to keep the screw moving. Looks like I will have to add others if there is no support from broken paper. The nails are deeper too. I used a nail set to put hammer them back and a screw over the edge to hold them. But all seems to be standing okay. This post was edited by snookums2 on Mon, May 6, 13 at 9:22