Great Room Floor

And, as we begin the last major project on our new Caribbean Home, we are forced to vacate the only unfinished (did I say AND dusty?) room in the house. This is Michael, an employee of Bobby the Terrazzo Man, as he grinds the concrete with a diamond-studded blade. Notice the water everywhere? A function of the machine he is using, which weighs over 900 lbs, is the shooting of water onto the rotating blades of the machine. This is multi-purpose. The water cools and lubricates the blade(s) as it rotates, and, it also carries away the "spoils" of the operation. I call it slurry, to others it is waste material, which, once rid of it's water, resorts back to it's actual existence state. Dust - the fine-powdered kind - that kind that gets into everything!

Add H2O = Zero Dust = Good Deal

Bobby's truck reminds me of a saying an old timer told me: "Some craftsmen marvel at their own work; take such great pride in their effort; usually forget the condition of their truck and it's contents. They prefer to spend their time honng their skills - afterall - anybody can wash a truck, but there are precious few that can do this level of craftsmanship!" I heard that, 'specially on St. Croix!

This is what the slurry looks like when it's wet, when it's dry it is usually airborne, like spores!

Once they are done grinding, this is what is left behind: A Reasonably flat surface on which to design a floor pattern., next.......

Our cat's view of these proceedings is a little different than our own; I am sure he thinks we are batty!
We did the areas behind and under the appliances first, that way we can re-arm the kitchen sooner. Working in the kitchenn when it looks like this is very discouraging, especially with the refrigerator in the South bedroom! Here you can see that we masked off the areas we didn't want to stain, once the first squares are sealed and finished, we will strip off the plastic and tape from them for transfer to the squares we just completed. Don't worry, we are confused, too.

Once the kitchen was done, we turned our attention to the rest of the room. The combo set up, with the vacuum cleaner, the scoring tool and the scoring guide are set up here, ready for action!