Part 8 Floors and Trim

Housebuilding Log 8 – 2016

Never let them hear you scream.
The floor was going to be tile. We didn’t want wood whic would have to be refinished all the time. After endless thought, research, discussion and Pinterest surfing, after considering all the options of hardwood, plank flooring, tile – ceramic vs porcelain, laminate and even vinyl, and all combinations thereof, we finally decided to tile the whole damn place. And that tile was going to look like hardwood. And the brown needed to kinda match the ceiling. OK.

Then we needed to select, and get the time. So we go shopping. On Roatan. There are 5 or 6 tile places here. Some are cheapo-places, square tiles, ceramic, shiny and slippery. Pretty industrial. Nope. Don’t really want the house to look like a store. Now we’re down to 2 places. They cater to us rich gringos. Nice stuff. You go into the showroom – granite, marble, travertine, limestone, mosaic, natural stone. Really beautiful stuff. Clean. And expensive!
But, hell, you can’t take it with you, right?

So in we go. The nice girl in her tight pants and high platforms tetter-totters over to us. May I help you. Well, yes you can, actually. We’re here to buy tiles. ….OK, what kind of tiles, we have all sorts here.
Well, I’d like some porcelain tiles for the floor, with a wood grain look.
OK, we have just the thing here.

I’m so organized – I have samples of all the colours I am using, including the existing stain on the ceiling of the house. I found the perfect match. It was $30 USD per square meter, expensive, but we need it, so off we go, happy in the fact that we have finally made a choice.

We get the contractor all ready to go, the cement board ordered and delivered. Going to start Monday.
So today it’s Thursday, and back we go to the nice store with the girl in her big platforms.
We want to order and pay for 110 square meters of the Perfect Tile for us.
OK great she says. So off she goes to the computer. Oops, sorry we only have 30 meters in stock. I say, well no problem, when are you going to have more?
Well….we’re not.
Not what?
Not going to get any more.
(I thought – well……why not?) But never mind I’ve been living here long enough to know the futility of asking a stupid question like that.

OK, well, let’s see if we can find another tile that we like.
Perfect, she says. How about this one?
Well, it’s a little dark, but it might work. How much is it!
(There are never any prices on this stuff. It is an agonizing process to price each and every item and it takes a long time – literally 10 minutes or more – for them to look it up in the computer)
It’s $33 a square meter. Plus tax.
OK well I think we can live with that. When can we have it?
Let me check. Oops, well, we only have 17 square meters of that in stock.
(Dare I ask if they are going to get any more? Never mind, forget it)

Well, we do have one last shot.
How about this nasty greyish thing here. It’s not that nice but I’m getting pretty desperate here.
Oh, yeah, That one, she says. Let me check. It’s only $27 per square meter. But we don’t have any in stock. It’s discontinued.
SO WHY in the HELL do you have it on display for chrissakes! I’m thinking. Never mind.
I smile and say. OK, well how about we look at mosaic tiles for showers.
Grrrr.
Well, OK, let me show you what we have, she smiles and tiptoes over to the mosaic section….It just got worse after that….

Needless to say. I am planning a trip to la Ceiba next week with my bodyguard TieTie to see what they have on the mainland.
After all, I get my senior discount now!
So the tile was selected over there on the Mainland, shipped over by big boat, by car from the port to Oakridge, and with the little barge to the house. What heavy stuff, all to be moved in several trips in the little barge.
The workshop became a busy place. There were tools and sawdust all over the place, upstairs and down.

The trim was getting done partly to use up all the lumber laying around, and also so we could start to design the layout of all the cabinets and furnishings.
The first of many ceiling fans went up – Ed made pillars that dropped from the high ceiling, in order to lower the fans down low enough so we could feel them.
Ed also built some more furniture – some stools to sit on, and a nice table, which quickly became another workbench.
Sometimes things happen that you never expect……we received an offer to buy the catamaran business. We always knew that we could not keep up this work pace, somehow the business was running us ragged and with everything else going on, it was with sadness but relief that we said goodbye to the charter business and took that other fork in the road….
By August, the deal was done, and we did our last charter, turned the business and the loyal crew over to the new owners and started a whole new chapter.A pretty big issue was the fact that we didn’t have hardly any furniture at all, and all our possessions except our clothes and personal stuff went away with the business.
We moved into an empty house, our clothes, a few towels and went out quick to buy a new mattress and threw it on the floor.

Now, things like water, and lights became more urgent.