Monday, May 25, 2015

Maegan and Cody vs. the Floors: Episode 1

Before we even bought this house, we could see little hints of hardwood floor underneath the gross, stained carpet that currently lived there. It was one of the selling factors for us: we both love hardwood floors, and it's not that difficult to refinish existing flooring, right?

Well, no...it is that difficult. We should be used to this by now!

I'll rephrase that. Most of it isn't that difficult, but as per the usual, we encountered some problem areas.

We pulled up the carpet and were really excited:




GOODBYE, CARPET! GOOD RIDDANCE!

We were so ecstatic to see the hardwood, but we had two problems.

1. Someone had put a square of laminate in front of the door, and there was dried glue all over it.
2. We would have to patch the places where the closets used to be in the master bedroom.

Because the second problem was not in my caliber, I got to work on the patch of dried glue. 

Oh, dear.

Breaking a sweat, with little to no progress

This putty knife sure isn't doing it.

I ended up using so many tools to remove all of the glue:
- Putty knife (too weak)
- Rags and towels soaked in water (too annoying)
- Razor blade knife (too strong)
- Electronic sander (good enough!)

In this lengthy and tedious process, I got a bit bored and started making shapes.

It's Kentucky!

Okay, it's not perfect. It might be Virginia. But I tried! After a ton of elbow grease, I got all of the glue off and we could see real floors throughout the living room. 

Finally.

Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, Cody was busy tearing out old hardwood and planning the patchwork. I had decided to see how things were coming.

Oh no, why did I come look at this?

We ended up buying new hardwood to cover the patch. The old hardwood we tore out will be used for a later project (FORESHADOWING!). Phillip and Cody's friend, Jesse, were there to help lay the new floors. Our system was good: Cody cut the hardwood on the deck, handed it in through the window, and Phillip would nail it into the floor. 

Thanks, guys!


Kind of like a drive-through window. Except with a saw.

When it was all done, it looked great but it didn't match. That was a job for a new day, however.

Is that middle part...shinier?

This is a cliffhanger for Episode 2...







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