First of August

 Three months ago things were looking up. Numbers for the coronovirus were headed down, and the summer looked promising. Everyone eligible for the vaccine in my immediate family was fully vaccinated; mid-May we spent the weekend with our children and grandchildren in the Boston area for the first time since March 2020 and it was marvelous. My older son and his family came to Maine the last week in May, and we made plans for more weekends with family here and in Boston.

Then on the morning of Monday, June 7 I walked into the family room downstairs and stepped in a puddle. Huh. Water on the floor. I looked up...it wasn't coming from the ceiling. I looked at the floor and saw water seeping between the boards of the wood laminate. Huh. Where was it coming from? Water was coming up in an area about five by three feet where there was no apparent source. After an appropriate period of panic I started making phone calls.

The first consultation was with our heating company, who ran a series of tests on the radiant heat over two weeks and found no problem. Ken took up the laminate floor in both rooms downstairs and the floor was wet only on either side of the wall the rooms shared, a total of 30 square feet or so. With a fan and the dehumidifier running nonstop the floor dried and no more water appeared. We had to find out where the problem was.

Ken cut the wall out three feet up in both rooms; the studs were completely dry and the one drainpipe in the wall was sealed tight and completely dry. I made phone calls to local construction companies, who are all booked with work for the summer. The owner of one company, who happens to be a neighbor and who builds houses like ours, came by after work one day and said he'd never seen a problem like ours. He recommended a heating/refrigeration company he had worked with, so I gave them a call; I conferred with someone who has worked in the field for 30 years, who raised all the same questions we had and offered all the suggestions for things we had already considered and eliminated as possibilities. Ken talked with a friend who renovated houses for decades who said he had no ideas beyond what we offered.  

Meanwhile we tried to duplicate the problem. I did laundry at every opportunity, and often ran the dishwasher at the same time while we both took showers and flushed toilets. Nothing. Resigned to the possibility this was a one-time event, I hired someone to get the drywall ready for paint.

Early July we decided to consider options for new flooring and settled on porcelain tile, which withstands heavy use and is waterproof. By mid-July we had selected a tile we liked and were ready to place our order. 

It took two weeks of phone calls, voicemails, and in-person visits to discover the tile we wanted was not available. We looked at other options, even contacted other companies, and finally just last week ordered tile for the floors. The earliest they can install it is September 20.

Now I need to try to match the paint so I only have to paint one wall in each room.

Boston family has come to stay, making do with the space we have upstairs and stuff everywhere in piles. We have made the best of it.

We had hoped to be out and about this summer but the resurgence of the virus has kept us masked and cautious.

Like so many I know, this is not the summer I envisioned. I have done a lot of sewing and will share what I've been working on next time.