23,000 bottles of beer (for a floor) helped Hillview woman during time of mourning

How many bottle caps does it take to cover the floor of the shed? According to Gina Bell of Hillview, it's about 23,000.

She should know. Bell finally completed her bottle cap floor after years of cap donations for a project she said helped her get through a tough time.

"My mom had passed away, and I was just down. And this gave me something to doto keep my mind off of worrying about my father worrying about everything," Bell told CBC Radio's St. John's Morning Show.

"I didn't know what I was getting into, but it just lookedso cool when I was doing it."

Bell began her flashy floor in March 2018. Not all of the bottle caps came from her, though she said she definitely helped her own cause while huddled around the wood stove with friends on Friday nights.

Donated bottle caps flowed in from different places including East Side Mario's in St. John's, where Bell's daughter had worked;Trailside Motel and Restaurant on the Trans-Canada Highway near Clarenville; and family and friends, all of whom held onto their caps to help out with the unique floor plan.

"A guy that works offshore with my husband, he gave me a garbage bag full. I was like, 'Bonus, woo, buddy, let's get this going,'" Bell laughed, discussing herstrange new hobby.

A lot of work

Bell said she had no idea how to turn her vision into a reality, but she simplybegan laying the caps and then her plan came together quickly.

"I started it in March of last year and got all the bottle caps laid down by August and I grouted," she said.

"Until about October, I suppose, I kept grouting and then it got too cold. There's no insulation on the floor, it's a shed built on posts.I was afraid the grout wouldn't dry properly and crack."

Bell waited for warmer weather to finish her floor, and made the push to the finish line in May before coating the entire floor in clear epoxy with her son's help.

Now that she's done, Bell said she doesn't plan to do it again, although she has built a coffee table with bottle caps inlayedinto the surface to go along with theme of her "beer cave."

But lessons were learned through the project, Bell said, and skills she didn't know she had were honed so that the next project should be that much better.

"I'm a pretty good grouter now," she laughed.

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