Lovely New Floors

This has been such a busy week at Jolico Farm. We are in the middle of a huge flooring project in the farmhouse. We are replacing 1100 sq. ft. of carpeting with porcelain tile on the main floor of our home. Our entry hall, mud room/dog room, downstairs bathroom, kitchen and dining room are now all covered with beautiful chocolate colored tile but it's been a trying two weeks with 2 crews of tile artisans working in all of our rooms at once.

Poor Mo and Kitty. I think they have suffered the most with all the disruption. Kitty's litter box was moved upstairs and she has adjusted well to that. Mo heads outside as soon as the workmen arrive early in the morning, and he doesn't venture back indoors until he's sure all the activity has stopped for the day. He really dislikes the sound of shop-vacs and tile saws! I've pretty much stayed indoors, keeping an eye on the men as they do require a project coordinator, as well as the fact that it's been a rainy period here. I've also been researching in preparation for writing a grant for Bakersville Fire Department. They gave me exactly 10 days' notice on this one!

Art has been having a great vacation week. He planned to take this week off from work, as he does every year. He just didn't know that the flooring guys would pick last week and this one to lay our new floors. Art had ambitious plans to fix the water pumping windmill as it had a broken shaft at the top of the tower and he did accomplish this big job yesterday. He made many climbs to the top of the tower as Aermotor had sent him the wrong parts the first go-round. The new ones finally arrived yesterday and he was able to complete the job, so we are back on wind power for our water system.

Art also swept our main chimney, the one attached to our Tarm wood-burning furnace and he swept out all the clean-out doors and connecting pipes. He is always happy when he gets less than a bucket-full of ash and carbon because that means that our furnace has been burning efficiently. Yesterday he also spread 22 tons of gravel on the road down to our lake, after having cleaned the ditches out of last fall's leaf mold with the hi-lift bucket. It was the first stone we've put on the road in 8 years so this was a timely project, too.

Today we had problems when the men pulled the toilet out of the downstairs bathroom and the water supply line kept leaking water. After two trips to the plumbing supply store, Art got the correct parts and was able to fix the faulty valve, and the bathroom tile was finally installed. After grouting is completed tomorrow and the toilet is reseated, we can again use the bathroom. The kitchen should also be finished tomorrow and the fridge and range will both be placed back into their respective slots from the center of the kitchen floor where they are sitting right now. Needless to say, we picked up some pizza for supper tonight as we were not able to use our appliances to cook a meal.

Tomorrow should be a wrap-up day for the project with only a few small details to be completed into next week. The oak moldings and trim strips will be installed and the grout will be sealed. I can't wait to wash the grit off the new floors and everywhere else in the house that it seems to have coated! I will probably be cleaning all weekend but in the end, as with all major upheavals, this one will be worth it!