Mink Lake Cooperative: Recovering the Flagstone Floor

June 2026 / An Extended Work Weekend

I had anticipated that I would be assembling some IKEA kitchen units for the Earthship during this work weekend, but there was a delivery issue and it didn’t arrive (and wouldn’t arrive until after we left for home). Oh how I was looking forward to just taking something out of a box and assembling! I even brought extra allen keys.

Without the kitchen pieces, the next biggest project I knew I should use this time for was recovering the flagstone floor installed by Dash in 2024. This floor had taken some beating during both the masonry process during the construction of the bathroom bottle wall and then lots of lime wash splatters during that painting phase.

This was another labour intensive process of scrubbing with my trusty wire brushes on hands and knees to clean everything up. It required more elbow grease than the cement floors which are softer and shave away, but created far less dust than the cement floors did. Sometimes we had to tackle the more stubborn areas with the drill.

This interesting little beetle creature came to see what all the fuss was about. It did not offer to help me!

Before scrubbing

After scrubbing

Cleaning all the flagstone took two full days. Hard lessons learned about preparing and protecting your space during renovation/construction.

The floor also needed to be mopped before applying the stone sealer (same Behr concrete/stone sealer we used throughout). After mopping this first section, however, due to very wet, rainy and humid conditions, the stone was taking forever to dry and I was running out of time!

After mopping

The hair dryer came out as a last ditch effort to speed up the process. (Dash had offered to bring me a propane torch for an accelerated drying process, but I decided trying to learn a new tool like that last minute was probably more hassle than what it was worth.) Only a girl from Sudbury could feel this strongly about caring for rock!

Finally sealed this section!

Back section pictured sealed; front section pictured just mopped. The hair dryer came into play again.

Both sections with dried sealer product. Done!

Over at the bathroom bottle wall, we had some serious excavation work to do on the stone. We chipped and drilled away all the old masonry that had fallen on that area.

Photo from 2025 after all the masonry was completed. Can barely see the stone, which is lighter in colour at this end as it is a different type from the rest of the floor.

Removal of masonry in progress (opposite angle)

Found the stone! We had to use the drill frequently to uncover it then had to clean off the lime wash, followed by mopping and sealing.

I just managed to seal this last section by the door and bathroom on the morning we were leaving. The recovery project for the flagstone is complete. I haven't yet seen it all dry, but I'm told it looks great!