The trouble with flooring

As I shared earlier, Scott and I decided to redo the flooring on the entire first floor.  Even though there are already hardwoods in the living room and entry, they are in rough shape, and we’d like the option to have all the flooring match.  On the day we closed, Lumber Liquidator’s was having a crazy sale, which allowed us to get a set of beautiful hardwoods for the entire first floor.  (Wanna see what they look like in action?  Check out this post from a blogger who installed them in her place–beautiful!)

The floors are engineered hardwoods-not laminate, but rather a real wood layer on top of several other layers of wood (vs. one solid piece).  This is supposed to make the floor more durable and water-resistant, which is important when installing them in kitchens, like we are.  Another HUGE upside is that they are floating floors, which means you can lay them down on all kinds of surfaces with little problem.

While we had originally planned to tear out the hardwoods, I melted with relief when I found we could actually just install right over them.  Score one for the “simple solutions” column!  Now the kitchen, well… That’s a tougher story.

As I shared last post, the kitchen floor was supposed to be simple.  Tear out the plywood currently covered in thin set.  Underneath it would be subfloor which we’d need to do some minor repair work on, but all in all, a simple process, right?
WRONG!

Problem #1: The wood floor was screwed down.  There are a lot of different ways to attach plywood to a subfloor, and while screws aren’t the hardest to remove, they certainly aren’t the easiest.  When we started taking out the transitions, we noticed that the previous owners had installed screws EVERYWHERE.  They were both visible and hidden by the thin set, so cutting the floor out was no longer an option (you might hit a screw).  So, we had resigned ourselves to tearing out the floor, patch by patch with muscle–we’d find the screws when the wood wouldn’t come up!

This little guy was a MAJOR PAIN

Problem # 2: They screwed it right in to the linoleum… ASBESTOS linoleum… We tried this for about .3 seconds until we tore up our first patch… and found linoleum stuck to the bottom.  And not just any linoleum my friends, asbestos linoleum.  See, typically this cancer-causing material is fine to have in a home (and is common in homes built pre-1970) so long as you don’t disturb it (once it’s in “dust” form, the particles become airborne and then they are dangerous).  As a result most homeowners either live with it or eventually just cover it up.  Except, um, you’re supposed to cover it up CORRECTLY!  So that future homeowners like us don’t disturb it with a simple task like plywood removal!  (In case you’re wondering: they should have done another clean layer between the linoleum and plywood, but that would’ve cost more money, which is  why I’m assuming they skimped.)  Luckily Scott sent me a pic and was able to stop immediately.  But then this left us with another problem: how the HECK do we get rid of that thin set?

That is what asbestos linoleum looks like, in case you were wondering. Or if you ever need that information (visual trivia clue?)

And that’s what it looks like disturbed–stuck to plywood you want to rip out

Problem #3: Scraping out thin set it really hard.  I researched a lot of different methods (all of which began with: “If it were me, I’d just take out the plywood!”.  Duh, guys) and found this was typically done two ways: by Scraping or sanding.  Since sanding was super expensive and messy, we gave scraping a try.  Borrowing a friend’s reciprocating saw, we bought a chisel blade and went to town!  Except we didn’t, because it didn’t work.  We either couldn’t get the blade to go in deep enough (to actually work) or it went in too deep and was chipping out plywood.  PLUS, the blade was 4 inches wide and we had almost 300 sq ft of thin set to tackle.  Sigh.

So.Much.Thin.Set.

 

Ultimate Solution: By this point, I had resigned myself to renting a floor grinder and giving that a shot.  It would be a couple hundred dollars for the rental and the blade, and it would be a NIGHTMARE to clean up, but I was stuck.  Luckily, family friend Jim was headed over that day to look at the shower.  Even though he’s not exactly a “floor” expert, he took a look, thought about it for a bit (it’s fun to watch Jim’s “wheels” turn :)) and had a solution!  He was having a flooring guy come out to do some work on leveling his floors, and figured he could come on over and do ours too.

Seriously?  Problem solved-just like that.

The process involves self-leveling compound which some people can DIY in small spaces, but with a big project like ours (several vents, door frames, the existing thin set and such a big space) it’s really a job better left to the experts (or at least, NOT us). They are doing the leveling today and not in recent history have I been SO HAPPY to leave last night and know that was the last time I’d have to see and walk all over that crunchy mess!

This was a great lesson for us to learn.  I feel great that we exhausted every option before having to call the experts in, and by doing most of the prep work ourselves (tearing out the tile, leveling the biggest bumps) we still saved several hundred dollars over just calling someone to do the whole project.  I felt vindicated that on paper, all of our ideas were right and the correct order of operations-it gave me a lot of confidence for future problems that may come our way.

Since Jim knows the guy and is kind of tacking it on to work he’s already out here to do, we’re saving lots of money than if we’d just called a floor guy ourselves.  So all in all, we’re getting the floors done FOR US for little more than it would’ve cost to rent the grinder.  I call that a WIN!

Other house projects continue: we’ve moved on to painting the upstairs–can’t wait to share the before and after pics when finished!

House Projects: Week 1

Wooo!  It has been a super busy (and messy!) week over at the Fellows Family Casa!

When we started this, we figured it would be a wonderful learning opportunity, not just about how to do all of this stuff, but for ourselves. Are we really DIYers?  Do we have the patience and research prowess to tackle some of these bigger projects ourselves?  Or do we REALLY need to look for a turn-key ready house next time around?

I know it’s only been one week but so far, the answer is a resounding “YES!  We ARE in fact the DIY type!” We have so far LOVED working on our new crib, even in spite of several small (and not so small) problems that have already come up.  It’s a fun little game/puzzle, trying to figure out the solutions.  Here’s what we’ve found out and have been able to tackle in our first week:

 

The Kitchen:

Ripping out tile: This was our first, fastest, and most fun project so far!  On day 2 of owning this baby we just got to work.  Luckily, a tile was already missing so this gave us a HUGE head start.  Brute force, safety glasses, and a handy-dandy tool helped us knock this out (literally) in 45 minutes!

Opening up the pantry/former fridge nook: We had to have some drywall work done in the living room (see “problems”) so we figured we may as well tackle EVERYTHING that requires dry-walling now.  This fridge nook was formerly a walk in pantry, so we just decided to restore her to her old glory!  Scott cut out the top of the nook and it’s ready for a door frame.  The light worked and everything!

Replacing the door to nowhere with a wall: Next to the fridge nook (no door where we wanted one) was a random door to nowhere that we didn’t want.  Scott tore that door frame out and now it’s ready to put a wall UP.  Silly previous owners.

Other random prep: Removing the island (harder than it sounds), taking out kick boards, shop vac-ing alllllll that left over thinset, etc. etc.

Island removed and all (loose) thinset cleaned up

Not quiet as pretty of a sight–night 2, after tearing out tile

The skinny space will be closed off, the bigger space is getting pantry doors–woo!

 

The Living Room:

Tearing out the built-ins: Funny, this was the project we thought would be the easiest and fastest!  NOT SO MUCH.  Originally, the built-ins looked flimsy, but it turns out they were in there pretty good.  This took hammers, saws, and a lot of muscle, but ultimately we were victorious.  Once out, the living room INSTANTLY looked bigger and brighter–I love it!

Removing transitions: Another one of those “tougher than it sounds”.  Those bad boys were IN THERE.  We eventually got all of them out except the ones on top of the fireplace.  Those involved stripped screws that we are still working on…

Sanding down textured drywall: Tearing out the built-ins resulted in some areas that need to be patched.  However, the home owners had sprayed a wonky drywall texture on the REST of the wall.  In order to fix it and get it ready for re-dry-walling this week, I had to buy a belt sander and sand down the ENTIRE wall.  Once I got the hang of it, it was quick and fun work.  Now our walls are smooth!

One of the most fun parts of the house so far–drywall sanding!

My man, showing those built-ins who’s boss!

 

Other Randomness:

The baseboards: Removing every baseboard on the entire first floor, taking out the nails, and relocating them was a BEAST.  They came off the wall super easy (thanks to awesome tools) but tearing those nails out… MAN!  We are so buying a nail gun to reinstall–not just because it’s quicker, but because the smaller nails were 1,879,029x easier to pull out than the massive ones.  Future homeowners/remodelers, you’re welcome.

Figuring out floor installation: THIS was no fun.  We had to research for HOURS to try to figure out the best way to prep our floors that wouldn’t a) void our warranty or b) cause us mega trouble down the road.  A whole ‘nother post will be coming on this later.

Removing doors: All of our doors are the wood color, and we plan to paint them all white (using our fancy new sprayer).  Scott took ’em all off the hinges and moved em to the basement for now.

Picking out Paint Colors: the FUN part of buying a house!  We’ve got samples for the bedroom, living room, office and kitchen.  We’ll put ’em up on the wall to see what we like best this weekend.

Hardwood floors: We purchased these bad boys on Monday and they were delivered on Friday.  We had to move each of the 21 heavy boxes into the side room where they are currently “acclimating”–and  will be ready for install on April 15th.  I’m eagerly counting down the days!

Got baseboards? These 4 tools are a GIRL’S BEST FRIEND!

Seriously, I could rip out these babies (with no damage) WITH ONE HAND!

Annnnnd, now for the problems:

• As I noted before, removing the built-ins left us with quite a bit of drywall to patch.  We know enough from our current place that big patches like this are left to the experts (who can match texture and PROFESSIONALLY hide the seams!).  Thank goodness we know a drywall expert!
• Originally, we had hoped to just pull up the plywood from the kitchen.  It was COVERED in thin set (that grey looking stuff where the tiles were) and it just seemed like the easiest way.  This fun little story spirals, so I’ll save it for another post.  Just know that nothing is ever as easy as it seems in the world of DIY 🙂
• Our master shower: not a problem per se, but once we went to actually measure, we found out our shower is about an inch off of what we’d need to make it bigger.  So, we had to go with the world’s smallest shower kit (32 x 32 inches.  Seriously.)  This is a bummer, but means we are certainly moving “master bath remodel” up the future priority list!
• Along those lines, a re-shifting of priorities in general.  This isn’t a problem, but we are finding that so many things we had hoped to wait on just didn’t make sense anymore.  For example: we wanted to save the pantry/fridge switcheroo for down the road–same with the laundry area door.  However, it’s becoming clear that spending the money now will save us more down the road, so while it’s not super fun, we’re taking the time and money to just do it now.  We’ve had to tack on several of these little projects, and while we know they are the right choices, the unexpected costs and time are starting to add up!
• A few other little things that require back story, but kind of aren’t worth it, so I’ll just list them:  Stove placement, re-attaching the island, metal transitions, fireplace columns, and vent re-location.  WOO!

 

We’re in a really good place right now, and it seems like we’ve  tackled the biggest and scariest things so far (You guys, Scott was wielding a saw and literally TEARING OUT WALLS.  So badass :)).  The only challenging thing left for us is installing those wood floors and even that is fairly straight forward (just involves a LOT of math and a lot of cutting..)  Everything else either is really straightforward (painting) or we’re hiring a professional because it’s definitely NOT a DIY type thing (adding a vent line to the laundry area).  We have really, really enjoyed the process so far.  We’ve both been extremely patient with and kind to one another.  Scott has pushed himself to become more of a problem solver (typically my role) and I’ve learned when to give up on strategic thinking and just hit the damn thing with a hammer (Scott’s style).

This week we are fixing the floors in the kitchen, dry walling the living room/kitchen areas, and getting started with paint projects (trim and priming).  I cannot wait to see all of this dust and wood start to shape up into our first real home 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We bought a house!

So it’s official… Scott and I are home owners 🙂

Me & my Boo… and our new crib!

Yesterday we got the keys and that baby is ALL OURS!  We promptly followed closing with a quick brunch stop at Bruxies (waffle sandwiches!), a stop to marvel and measure our new pad, then a trip to Lumber Liquidators for the last day of their quarterly sale.  We got a KILLER deal on hardwoods for the entire first floor and are quite pleased with ourselves!

Tonight we’re headed back over to do some planning.  We’ve got lots of work to do in the month before we move in, and we’re determined to make it happen.  We’ll flesh this out more together, but right now, here’s what we’d like to get done in week 1 of home ownership:

• Remove the built-in shelving in living room
• Take off baseboards in the kitchen (and possibly living room).  Set them up downstairs for painting later.
• Paint wall samples in the living room and choose our color
• Start demo on the kitchen floor tile
• Research some other ideas we’ve been mulling around 🙂

Unfortunately, Scott and I both ave busy work days this week so progress may be slow to start.  However, we’re just so excited that this baby is finally ours, and cannot wait to start making this house a home 🙂  More pics to come!