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Countertops are complete! Aug 15, 2009

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Did I mention that we have a poured concrete kitchen counter, kitchen island and living room bar table? We decided for space reasons and to continue the non-traditional route that we we not going to have a dining room table so we poured a bar height curved table that follows the curve of the stairs as you enter from below up into the living room/kitchen. These concrete surfaces needed to be ground down with a wet sander to remove the white cement look and bring the aggregate pebbles to the surface to create a granite look (we just dug up some of our dirt/rocks outside for this process). Dave and I proceeded to undertake this wet sanding task Thursday and Friday. In preparation, Dave donned a pancho villa-like blue tarp tied around his waist with a string and I put on my dirty tank top and paint splattered shorts. Dave man-handled the sander while and I stood across from him with a bucket of water and a wet sponge to gently fling the water towards the sander (Dave quickly clarified, “avoiding the motor, please!”) This resulted in Dave and I getting covered in a wet cement slurry, the newly painted walls covered in same slurry and the windows, doors and ceramic tiles also receiving a dousing of this lovely mud mixture. A “friend” visiting to check our progress later said, “why didn’t you do this before you laid the tiles, painted and put in the doors and windows?” Somehow, the phrase, “because we are jackasses” just didn’t seem like a good enough explanation. Midway through day two our Dominican friend Brown came up to the house, saw what we are doing and says, “Are you two crazy?” The three of us knew that this was a rhetorical question and by this time, our defenses were down. Brown convinced us that he knew some guys from Santiago that would do this for a very reasonable price and in much less than the two weeks it would take us. Since we really didn’t know what we were doing, it was an easy sell. So, long story short, it’s 10:45 at night and Naco, Noriega and another worker that I never caught his name but I think he was brought along because he was small and light enough to stand on all the countertops and sand are still here finishing up. The house looked like it had flooded earlier today as water was pouring from the second story balcony, down the stairs and out the front door. (They held the sander and a garden hose at the same time and got to work.)

What was scheduled to take two days is now complete in less than one and from what I can see this late at night, it looks pretty darn good. Their clean up of the project was a good as their work on the counter tops. Now we just need a little silicon and the sink will be installed and ready for action. (We had to unhook and remove the stove from the kitchen for this work so tomorrow Dave and I will undertake re-hooking up the propane line for the stove.) Now think of all the free time we will have for the next 12 days we saved ourselves by having someone else do it and at the same time, continuing to support the Dominican economy. I think it’s time for bed.