new_floor

After thinking about it and talking about it for a couple of years, we decided to rip up the existing floor coverings in our living room and kitchen and install one of those nail-less, glueless laminate floors that look like hardwood. The rug we had in our livingroom certainly didn't owe us anything, I think we paid $200 for it 20 years ago and it was really looking tired, to be kind. Ditto the kitchen floor. So we bought the new floor at Home Depot, cost about $400. They always have one brand or another on sale and in stock.

11/6/06, Day 1: You may think your house is clean, but believe me when I tell you that until you've removed a carpet that has been there for 20 years, you really have no idea. This is the corner where I sew, so as you can imagine I need to get this job done ASAP! Good thing the weather is cooperating, we had to put the furniture out in the yard to have room to work.

Preston is putting down tar

paper first, followed by this

blue film that acts as a

moisture barrier. You don't

have to use tar paper, but

he thought it was a good

idea, and he knows what

he's doing so tar paper it is.

You're supposed to leave a 3/8" space between the floor and all the walls to allow the floor to expand and contract. you can buy spacers for this purpose, or as it turns out, CDs are just the right size. And Lord knows we have enough of them.

This was the situation before the new floor: it was hard to know where to end the kitchen and begin the living room, so we had it like this. You can see the edge of the kitchen floor under the tar paper, that was where the rug was. The plan now is to treat them as one room. I think that'll look much better.

11/7/06: Day 2, in which we tackle the kitchen. I was dreading this part, because as you can see the kitchen is very small and we have to move the stove and the fridge. Turns out our kitchen is also very, very crooked, so that had to be dealt with also. I am so glad I married a carpenter, there is just nothing he can't figure out how to fix and make it look good.

We were able to finish the kitchen and connect the boards to the ones we had going in the living room, but then we had to stop and go vote! So now we have made it through the first two days of our project and we are still speaking, and neigher one of us has lost our religion. If you've ever tackled a big job like this, you know what I mean!! The next part should go very quickly, the living room is just a big square with only the hearth to contend with. The worst part is going to be moving the computer desk and the entertainment center, with all those wires and *gulp* no computer access for a day!! On Day 3 it poured, so we took the day off (well HE took the day off, I had sewing to catch up on!) Now it is the morning of Day 4, the sun is shining and I am off to do my errands before we start!

Day 4, 11/9: The futon is moved and we are getting ready to do the bulk of the floor today. Here Preston is measuring to see how wide a molding he should put around the hearth. I can already see how nice the floor is going to look, and I'm anxious to have it done! Putting down the floorboards is fun, it's kind of like playing with Legos; you line up the edges and kind of maneuver them until they snap together. When they say anybody can do this job (and they do say that) I think that's the part they're referring to. I don't think anyone should ever tackle it if they don't have any experience with woodwork because there is LOT more to it than just snapping in floorboards.

Toward the end of the day, we

encountered a snag; damage to

the floor where our old washing

machine had hemorrhaged and

died years ago, just on the other

side of that wall. Okay, we knew

it was there and would have to be dealt with, we just didn't realize how deep it went. Preston had to replace both layers of the floor, which held us up a little, but he fixed it and we got floorboards down as far as halfway across the bathroom door before we stopped for a well-deserved pizza and called it quits.

So now we are probably a little more than 3/4 done, floorboard-wise. But the worst is ahead of us. The computer desk holds not only the computer, printer, speakers, router and modem and all their related wires in the back, but also Preston's ham radios, antenna tuners, switches, and rotators, speakers, microphones, power supplies, etc. etc. It has not been moved in years and years and years. Ugh.

This has all been very traumatic for our dog, who under protest has had to spend his days OUTSIDE, like he's a......a dog or something. He feels neglected and abandoned, the spoiled rotten thing. Then when he finally gets let in at night, things are all moved around and he can't find anything. I know how he feels. Most of my stuff is now in the tub. I think.

Well here it is Day 5, and I have managed to get an early start (well, early for me, anyway!) Normal people would have the house apart by now (it's now 9:30) but that's just not the way we roll around here. But it's another beautiful sunny day, and I'm optimistic that we will be able to get the rest of the floorboards down today. That's what I'm going to keep telling myself. It's going to take many, many cups of tea.

Today, since we had to tackle all that mess with the wires on the south side of the house, I thought we should install the baseboards so we only had to move everything once. Why do I always think things are going to take so much less time than they actually do? Wishful thinking, I guess. We managed to cut, sand, and stain all the boards, but then darkness and dampness came and so we couldn't polyurethane them. But we did finish the floorboards (yay!) so all in all we got a lot done when you consider all the stuff we had to move.

On Day 6, we put in all the baseboards and since I have never had baseboards, I have to say they look fabulous! I never really though about it, but they really add a lot. The stain we thought was going to match the rest of the trim boards in the living room....well, see for yourself. It looked the same on the can. So we have about 8 different shades of wood in the living room, which is fine by me. Now all that's left is to put everything back together!