Lord Of The Wax Rings

    Since the granite was scheduled for installation on Monday, Ed put in all the water shut-off valves last weekend...all 33 of them. I don't know that it was any easier, but he had more light to see what he was doing.

    Monday dawned and I was like a kid on Christmas morning.  The truck arrived with the crew from Bergerson Tile and Stone. Tony, Derek and Willy checked out the worksite while I drooled over the stuff on the truck. I kept running from one side of the truck to the other. The Golden Night pieces were on one side and the Matrix was on the other. I kept hoping I hadn't made a terrible mistake using two different kinds in the kitchen.

  They brought in some of the Golden Night first. Granite weighs 18+ lbs. per square foot. It covers the perimeter of the kitchen and the kitchen desk under the windows. I don't even want to do the math.

   Next came the slab for the kitchen island. This is a beautiful piece of Matrix Motion. It has big swirls of white quartz, and streaks of yellow and gold.
   Tony, the crew chief was very careful with moving each piece. Every move was discussed and outlined before anyone lifted anything. In this business, there's no "Oops...sorry". And it's a long way to the hospital.

 
 They got the island piece inside without incident and tilted it into place.  


   The last piece to come in was the heaviest..and the trickiest. This piece has the kitchen sink, a turn, and the breakfast bar. If something horrible was going to happen, this was the one it would happen to.

 
   Tony took a few minutes to think. They studied the cabinet. They walked out the the truck. Tony thought some more. They came back in, looked at the cabinet, went back out to the truck.
   Four men, all as strong as bulls, wrestled that piece inside. By the time they got it in the house and next to the counter, they were all winded and sweating.
   I think we all breathed a sigh of relief, but the most difficult part was still to come.
   Tony thought. He looked. The crew rested and tried to breathe in oxygen to replenish screaming muscles. Tony thought some more.

  "Let's just take a few minutes before we lift this." he suggested. Everyone breathed a mental sigh of relief.
They discussed just how to lift, whether to lean and tilt, who should move where and when. Finally Tony said "Ok, let's just do it." And on "three" they did.  
   When that piece went down, nothing broke and nobody was hurt, I said a quick prayer of thanks.
   That crew had worked darned hard, and since we are miles from everywhere,I gratefully fed them. Smoked and grilled salmon, fresh cole slaw, and roasted red potatoes were served out on the deck.

 

The kitchen is more beautiful than I ever dreamed. The crew stayed late to drill holes, set sinks and finish the seams.

The Golden Night complements the Magic Chef stove perfectly.

  Elicia and I grouted the downstairs fireplace in time for the Matrix Motion hearth stones to be set. Ed put the face plate on the front. We still have some caulking to do, and the mantles to be built and installed, but it's all starting to come together.
   Elicia helped me fill nail holes on all the baseboards, window and door trim. Ed had already given the baseboards a second coat of finish, so we sanded the window and door trim again and gave them another coat. 
   I carried the toilet tanks to each bathroom, and made sure there was a lid and seat for each one. Because I'm a wimp, I left the bowls for Ed to carry in. He set all the toilets yesterday.

 
"You know you live in Washington when it's August and you have to heat the wax rings in hot water because it's not 70* outside." he commented. We now have five toilets set in place. I wonder what would happen if we should ever flush them all at the same time!