Still looking for things to do as the sheetrock and taping dragged on, Rick moved on to tiling the fireplace and the floor around it. We got slate from Ritchie Brothers Slate in Granville, about 20 miles to the north. The slate had come from Peru (that's Peru in Vermont, not South America). Tile board was screwed into the floor and the slate was set in a bed of thinset. It took 52 hours to put this together, grout it, and clean the grout. Given that there were considerable pauses while thinset or grout cured, this work spread over three weeks and was finished on 9 August 2000.
