And We're Off!
When I was a teenager, my mother suddenly decided to remodel the house. Well, it may have not been suddenly to her (she might have been contemplating it for ages for all I know), but I just remember one day when my father was out of town that she decided it was time to rip out the fireplace. I thought it was great! I was about 17 and I got to attack the bricks with a sledgehammer. Great way to get out some aggression. This one simple beginning led to a rather extensive remodeling project that went on for quite a while. But what stuck with me was how my mom just seemed to throw caution or good sense to the wind and plunge in. And it all came out all right in the end.
So I decided to just tackle my new floors the same way. Without really stopping to think too much (or I may have gotten cold feet) I just went at it and ripped up the carpet in the hallway. It wasn't too bad, though I was surprised to find just how much dirt and dead bugs and stuff was under the carpet and pad. And carpet smells bad too. Yuck!
Terence couldn't let me have all the fun so he jumped in to help. By the end of the second day, we had gotten this far:
It wasn't until I was taking up the tack boards that I learned that I would have to patch the rather large holes it was leaving. And while searching for information on fixing this problem, I learned that I was supposed to leave an expansion gap with this kind of flooring, which the guy in the installation video definitely didn't point out. So then I had to decided between removing the baseboards or adding a quarter round to hide the gap. After dithering around on the internet for an hour, I decided to remove the baseboards. Another thing I've never done before and quickly realized was going to take a lot of time and careful effort (oh, and another trip to Home Depot for things like a chisel and pry bar).
So far I've managed to get the baseboards off around half the hallway. I have to take this project in chunks that last no longer than an hour. It's all I can manage with all the other stuff on my plate. So here we are in Day 4 of a supposedly 8 hour project. (YEAH RIGHT!)
I'm definitely insane. This flooring project goes beyond ambition.
So I decided to just tackle my new floors the same way. Without really stopping to think too much (or I may have gotten cold feet) I just went at it and ripped up the carpet in the hallway. It wasn't too bad, though I was surprised to find just how much dirt and dead bugs and stuff was under the carpet and pad. And carpet smells bad too. Yuck!
Terence couldn't let me have all the fun so he jumped in to help. By the end of the second day, we had gotten this far:
 |
| I knew that shop vac would come in handy! |
 |
| The view the other way. We also did the part of the hall that is around the corner. |
It wasn't until I was taking up the tack boards that I learned that I would have to patch the rather large holes it was leaving. And while searching for information on fixing this problem, I learned that I was supposed to leave an expansion gap with this kind of flooring, which the guy in the installation video definitely didn't point out. So then I had to decided between removing the baseboards or adding a quarter round to hide the gap. After dithering around on the internet for an hour, I decided to remove the baseboards. Another thing I've never done before and quickly realized was going to take a lot of time and careful effort (oh, and another trip to Home Depot for things like a chisel and pry bar).
So far I've managed to get the baseboards off around half the hallway. I have to take this project in chunks that last no longer than an hour. It's all I can manage with all the other stuff on my plate. So here we are in Day 4 of a supposedly 8 hour project. (YEAH RIGHT!)
I'm definitely insane. This flooring project goes beyond ambition.
Comments
Good Luck!!