Day 154

The builder has been paid and is now out of our lives leaving us to finish what we chose to be responsible for. Interestingly, he had to be prodded to produce a final bill. Worried that he might claim additional charges for things we would not necessarily agree with, or that we would not receive credit for certain shortages, Kim labored intensely on a spreadsheet detailing exactly what expenses had been incurred and by who. He must have sensed her preparedness because his final bill was extremely brief and easy to pay.

With everyone else out of the way, I was free to finish up the laundry room cabinets. We ultimately decided that the resulting void caused when an exterior wall did not line up with the fireplace as originally drawn-out was not useable in its entirety. The best solution ended up being to set the laundry sink base cabinet in front of the lower part, and fill the top part with fairly deep shelving. The picture at right shows the shelving prior to installation. Once it is mounted, the sink hole can be cut in the countertop.

Borrowing an idea seen during a web search for something else, the space to the left of the sink was sized to accommodate two vertically-arranged laundry baskets. A two-door wall cabinet (not shown) for laundry soap will be mounted to the right of where Kim is standing in the left-hand picture.

As mentioned earlier, Hubert, the man who was originally signed up to sand & finish the hardwood floors bailed on us for unknown reasons. He never actually said “I am not going to finish your floors” but rather just kept bumping his projected start date until we got tired of calling him back to ask when he was coming.

Fortunately, Kim was able to locate Jon Tucker, the man who finished the hardwoods we had installed many years ago. Jon had been my first choice to start with, but Mr. Terry, the man who laid the hardwoods recommended Hubert. Thinking that Mr. Terry might know something that I did not, Hubert had been lined up for the job.

Like many in-demand craftsmen known for doing good work, Jon does not advertise anymore and normally only finishes floors for a very short list of preferred builders. Hesitant at first to take on a small job (635 square feet), he agreed to do the work after I explained that “$Ben Franklin$” and I would really appreciate his help. The funny thing is that, including the added incentive, Jon’s bill for doing the job was very close to what Hubert had planned to charge.

	Jon, Christie, and Will showed up on a Monday afternoon.
	After verifying the floor’s moisture content was low enough to proceed, everyone got to work wiping most of the joints with wood filler. Since the filler compound needed to dry overnight, tools were unloaded so they could get an early start Tuesday morning.
	… And a picture for Aunt Shirley: Autoformer, edge sander, drum sander, and vacuum cleaner. While the right tools are a prerequisite for good results, it is the operator’s skill that determines how good the job ends up looking. I can operate all those tools. But since I am only good at using the vacuum cleaner, I would rather Jon work on my floors.
	I knew that the repaired floor by Big Door was going to be a particular challenge for Jon & his crew for two reasons: surface finish and color. My preference is for high-gloss polyurethane as a final floor finish. The glossy finish on the original floor, while it had dulled slightly over the years, was still in good shape. There was no reason to sand down to the wood. To make the two finishes match, I had Jon degrease & scuff-sand the original floor so it could receive a new coat of high-gloss polyurethane at the same time the repaired area received its finish. From past experience, I knew that applied stains age differently with respect to color. While Jon could have mixed up a stain for the new wood that matched the floor’s existing color, in a few years the stain’s color would drift, and I would be left with an obviously repaired floor. It would be much better to use some of the stain mixed when the original floors were finished. While it would not necessarily immediately match, it would within a few months. But who in the world keeps up with ten year old stain? If you look closely in the picture, right beside the television there is a small can…
	Jon’s efforts in the house required the air conditioner to be off all of the time, and the windows to be shut some of the time for at least four days. Not a problem – We just moved out to the Airstream.
	Life continued as normal out in the Airstream. Here’s “June and The Beaver” making cookies for a church function.
	The new patio is great for frying chicken. I’m still not used to the shade of the big tree being gone, though.
	The hardwood floors stop at the new master bedroom. Since it has an outside door, we opted to keep everyone’s clothes there during Jon’s visit. Much to our chagrin, dust from the sanding process still made its way into the room in spite what I thought was adequate shielding.

It was Friday afternoon before Jon got the last coat of polyurethane rolled out. Smiling as I stood in the driveway watching him & his crew drive off, it was hard to believe that it had been 2-1/2 months since the floors had been laid, and that a little bit of shoe moulding was the only thing of significance left to do before considering Big Tub complete. Life, after one more night in the Airstream, could now return to normal.

Returning to the master bed room to change clothes, I heard the answering machine beeping, “Uh, yeah…This is Hubert. I’ll be there Monday morning…”