Laying a stone tile floor, part 3

Finally, the stone goes down: 

Next is to seal the travertine and grout the tiles. Almost done!

Side note: we somehow crashed a drill during mixing. I suspect a faulty piece of equipment but it looks like a short along the armature of the drill motor: 

Replacement or repair cost as much as the drill, so we replaced it and gave the new one back to the neighbors who loaned it to us (Doh!)

Laying a stone tile floor, part 2

The previous threshold was pretty rotten so it had to go. 

So the new one was placed with significant silicone caulking to seal it up. 

A little damage to the casing from prying out the rotten portion but will have to be fixed up when it is a little warmer. 

Te cement board:

Laying a stone tile floor, part 1

While I know this isn't woodworking per se, I did write a post once about how those skills have helped translate into other projects, so this is a callback to that sentiment. Anyways, we decided to redo the "sunroom" floor after the dog finished off the old carpet that was in there (in fairness, he really just put it out of its misery.) and it was decided that we would be laying travertine. So we ripped the carpets out and pulled up all te carpet tacking. I checked to make sure te floor was level (it was) and flat (it mostly was) and we are now dry-fitting the cement board underlayment. Now, I read many various posts about skipping the thinset mortar under the backer boards, and ultimately the final word is "don't be lazy, fool!" which is what the manufacturer says to do, too. (Hardieboard). Additionally , I'm hoping the additional layer on thinset will help offset the extremely slight crowning at the middle of the room and allow a more flat surface when screwed down. We shall see...