My flooring project started about 3 weeks ago and it is still going. No, there has not been a major disaster or a change of plans, but it turns out that there is quite a bit of “prep” work to be done before the actual floor can be laid. When I think about it, I know that this can be said for most things, especially home improvements. When this project started, it SEEMED simpler than it has turned out to be.
We actually started this project in January when we had the cedar plank paneling sealed and painted. It is a board and batten style paneling so that meant that, after the primer coat, the painters had to run a bead of caulk between EACH and EVERY board. The room is 20′ x 28′ and there were 2 guys working. They were for 13 days and they did prep work for 9 of those days.
We continued this summer when the old carpet was torn out. That meant that, “all we had to do” was tear out the particle board, put a layer of 3/4″ plywood down and lay the pre-finished floor. Nothing to it, right? Well, sort of…these are some of the things that we have discovered and dealt with during the PREP phase.
- The particle board does not come up in sheets (like it went down). Instead, it makes a HUGE mess with lots of dust and little piles of what used to be particle board.
- I have steps that lead to my kitchen and dining room. I wanted to replace the existing step with a solid tread so that the wood would blend with the finish on the new floor. When we removed the carpet and laminate floor covering that had been on those steps, the step frames were no longer square so the whole step had to be rebuilt.
- The step leading to the dining room is 6″ longer than any standard size piece of wood so that tread will have to be custom made. It will be stained to match the floor but that cannot be done until the floor is laid.
- All the baseboards in my living room, dining room, and kitchen have now had to be touched up (or repainted) twice.
- When you cut a hole in the new plywood for adding the floor outlets that we have requested, you can see dirt underneath. This is a GREAT hit with my children! When they have had friends here during this process, they will kill a good 10-15 minutes looking through those holes with a flashlight to see what it under there.
- The people that lived here before us left behind a loaded gun in the attic. The electricians ran across that when they were running some new wires. Thankfully, they knew how to unload it because my husband and I were clueless.
- The flooring itself has to be delivered and sit for a few days before it can be installed. It has to be acclimated to its new environment. Believe me, for what it costs, I want to make sure that it will be happy in its new home.
- There are a couple of water stains on the ceiling from roof leaks. Those have to be stain blocked and painted BEFORE the floor is laid. Believe me, there will be NO CEILING painting for a long time after the floor is installed!
I am not hosting any special holiday gatherings so I don’t have a dealine that I am working toward. I am ready, however, to put my house back together (as much as that is possible). So here’s the latest…
Today, the painters are here finishing up the ceiling. I have dusted, swept, vacuumed, wiped cabinets and painted baseboards until I can’t see straight. The floor has been here acclimating since Thursday. I have looked and re-looked at the nooks and crannies and paint scratches and I think they are all covered. All the details are taken care of and it’s actually time for the installation to start. I wonder when they will show up?
Copyright, RPL Communications, 2006
