Laying the flooring took us a long time, about three weeks in all, including 4 days grouting. We have even been working on Sundays, which is why this blog hasn't been updated for a while.
Laying the stone was a bit of a challenge, as the concrete base was not as flat as it looked. It was only a few millimetres in most places, so you only really noticed it once you were on your knees trying to lay a stone. It took a lot of filling with extra glue, or scrapping all the glue out to get it level. I looked for help in our Collins DIY book, but all it said was that natural stone was very expensive, so get an expert in!
I think we will put a levelling compound down in the dinning room when we come to do that, but I will probably need some help with that, as when I tried to use it in our first house, I ended up with a nice smooth mound in the middle of the kitchen.
Cutting the stone was fairly easy, as I had a new wet-saw that a friend had acquired for me. It was easy to use, but you had to keep unplugging it as you get a slight electric shock if you touched the water in the tray. Not too serious, but don't be tempted to put your goldfish in there for a change of scenery. We only broke one stone during all the cutting, so we've almost got enough left to do the utility room.
We've now built a bookcase to fit into the old doorway, and re-hung the main door into room, as it needed a bit shaving off the bottom, but we are ready now to start knocking through. After that, we just need to clean up the floor, and we can move in.
