A Slow, Quiet Week...Almost!

It was a remarkable week with only odds and ends being worked on each day. It is amazing how minor the din of contruction is when there is only one guy making noise. Ray, our Assistant Project Manager was here every day finishing this bit or that, making for relatively quiet days. I could almost forget there was an addition being built under our feet. Even the pressure washing of the exposed brick wall was pleasant white noise after the weeks of sonic chaos.

We were able to use our alarm clock again since the 7:00am cacophony failed to materialize this week. It was nearly idyllic. Perhaps I was lulled into a false sense of peace or simply let my guard down, but I accept a good portion of the blame for the tumult that occured on Friday. We had been intending on clearing out the livingroom and dining room of all but the largest pieces of furniture this week in anticipation of the demolition of the old hardwood floors to make way for the new hardwood floors. Kim, hobbled by the flu, would diligently remind me of the task. Although I was eager to get at it and would never ever procrastinate, I knew that we were going to be warned the day before the flooring crew was going to show up. So when the work day ended on Thursday with no notification of impending floor work, I knew I had the entire weekend to put things off...err...I mean plan.

Scene: Husband and wife and three entirely spoiled shih tsus in bed asleep at 7:15am. The morning sun sends shards of light across the room through the blinds as wife rouses husband with alarmed whispers.

Wife: Wake Up!! It sounds like someone is coming up the steps!!

Husband: [Snores]

ShihTsu#1: [Yawns]

Wife: GET UP! GET UP! The workers are here doing something on the steps!

Husband: What? No, It couldn't be...

ShihTsu#3 (Internal Monologue) : {Are we going to go out for a walk now?}

ShihTsu #1: [Snores]

Husband gets out of bed to investigate. Hears the sounds of several workers nearby. Peeking around corner of stairs sees a worker just a few steps down diligently taping up heavy plastic sheeting, effectively trapping the family upstairs.

Husband: Err..... excuse me... You're not going to trap us up here, are you?

ShihTsu #3 (Internal Monologue) : {I like walks...I think I'll chew on that dog's ear}

ShihTsu#2: Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Worker: No problem, we're leaving a flap so you can get out.

ShihTsu#1: [Snores]

And so it went that we had our rude awakening early Friday morning. The dogs needed to go out, I had left the moving of all the furniture and boxes up to the flooring crew and the unmistakable screech of a circular saw ripping through flooring was assaulting our ears like Stalin taking Berlin. We hastily gathered our laptops, leashes, dog toys and the travel crate and fled to the relative safety of Kim's mom's house. We transformed her kitchen table into our office while she prepared a nice breakfast of scrambled eggs....for the dogs!

Fenwick was quite excited by the prospect of a hot breakfast and danced a little jig when Kim's mom told him what was on the menu. We hunkered down there until late afternoon when we returned home to survey the demo team's handiwork.

 The old hardwoods were gone, leaving the rough-hewn subflooring exposed. All of our furniture was neatly deposited in the living room. The surprise raid from that morning had ended.

The new hardwoods had been installed in the addition. Care had been taken to apply wood putty to any irregular joints in preparation for the sanding, staining and polyurethaning to come.

Saturday brought the masons to build out the hearth for the woodstove. Cutting bricks with a gas powered chop saw the two man team had the hearth completed in just a few hours.

We are well over halfway through the process and can really see the light at the end of the construction tunnel. Finishes and colors are being discussed and despite setbacks with the kitchen cabinets and the woodstove, we are keeping things moving along at a quick pace, thanks to proactive rescheduling by our Project Manager. Stay tuned for next week when we get our home theater system delivered...