Today was the day the installers were due at 9:30. At ten I called to see how far away they were, and was informed they were 'just leaving' Hobart. So I allocated an hour and a half for them to arrive and popped into Oatlands to put a notice on the door of the History Room saying we were not open today, sigh. I also picked up some sandwiches and a bottle of coffee milk on the principle that food preparation would not be an option while they were working. At eleven I called again and was informed they were five minutes away. They turned up around noon......

Still, at least they were there and worked hard and well installing the vinyl  - though I was a little surprised at the pattern they installed. You will recall I had opted for an off-cut of pale beige crazy paving. And that it certainly is not! But I like it, it is good quality and it is down.

I have always been partial to the diagonal square tiling look, so it is not at all disappointing, if a little darker than I had anticipated. This means the next several days will be involved in installing architraves, trimming the laundry door so it swings, fitting skirting and finally getting around to installing the kitchen once more (after I have done the architrave and installed a sill on the kitchen window). Tomorrow I am in the History Room as is the case on Sunday so it will take a while.

I sent the installers off with a bottle of beer as they worked hard and well and it was not their fault that the useless sales people in their head office give them odd jobs to get done en route that take rather longer than they should. I explained this to the base camp who were prepared to blame the installers. I pointed out that as they are semi-skilled labourers it is probably better if the sales staff take responsibility for ensuring they understand the priorities and not blame the installers.


Anyway, I have a floor. I was surprised to discover they do not glue it down (possibly a good thing since getting all the grease and dirt out of the concrete proved impossible), but simply lay it over the surface. It is the skirting and architraves that hold it in place! Glad I had it taken all the way to the walls and not just to the edge of the cupboards as the sales person suggested.