Hardwood Flooring -- begun at last!

Today was a very big step in the completion of the house - both good and bad. Let's start with the bad. One of the big things we wanted in a house when we were looking was a wood burning fireplace. We thought we had found one. The problem is we didn't like the brick that was on the front once we uncovered the field stone chimney, and thought we would knock it off and re-skin with cultured stone - bad move.

Come to find out the fireplace had no smoke shelf and because we did "surgery" it was considered by the inspector 'new work' and thus had to meet strict codes regarding fireplaces. We had a tough time finding a knowledgeable mason, and after we found one we discovered our hopes of a wood burning fireplace were not feasible. The entire thing would have had to come down and be rebuilt. Not as big of a deal if we took care of it when the house was all apart, now with everything framed and put together - major expense.

It looks like at this point we will replace it with a gas burning fireplace - now we know.


Now for the good. After the wrong wood was delivered to the house once and then again almost for a second time, and after a month of delays, the hardwood flooring is finally being installed - a great looking white oak. We figure it will take a good week or so to get it all installed and then probably another week with finishing. But when it is done... good things!



We were also happy to see the lights installed between the kitchen and living room (they were a long time coming!) (you can see the mess we made of the fireplace in the background)