Wood Floors 2

I think finally we have a system going for these floors. Tonight's work session seemed to go a lot quicker than the previous nights. Our biggest problem is the layer of tar/felt paper. Wetting it down with boiling vinegar water does get it up, but it makes a huge mess. And we are still left with a very thin layer of paper and glue to get off.




Tonight our friend came over with a heat gun. We were able to scrape off the thick layer of paper using it. The area we worked on only took 20 minutes. Even though we still use the boiling water to take the remaining thin paper and glue off, this trick cut our time considerably. After two hours of working, we completed the section we started AND prepared another section for the glue removal. I am seeing a little light at the end of the tunnel.



The white strips you see to the left of the photo is where someone patched in 1/4 inch strips into the floor using wood and putty. Since we did not realize this had been done, we took a bunch up. I think once we hit the water stage tomorrow night, the rest is going to pop out of there. Now we are wondering what we are going to do about this one. Right now, the only solution we can come up with is to putty the areas back in.

Right now, I am going to hit the tub and soak my aching back. I am not feeling stressed, it will be a good soak. I am feeling good since we are finally getting somewhere!

Wood Floors

We have lived in this house for a little over one year. I know with this large house that the list for home renovations is running quite long. The one area of this home that drives me insane is our kitchen. For several months we have debated on how to tackle this problem. An entire kitchen renovation tops our want list, but our lack of funds puts it at the bottom. Originally, we set a goal of five years. In five years we will tackle this huge problem, the right way.

Now, what do I do for five years? Honestly, a wise person would say put up with it. Well folks, I am not a wise person. Last week, I felt I couldn't look at the seafoam green kitchen one moment longer. So started the 'Project Spruce Up'. I would spruce up the kitchen with inexpensive paint and curtains. I set a budget. $150. I set up the garage area to paint my cabinets. Got that done. Friday night, my husband and I put two coats of shortbread yellow on the walls. Saturday morning we came downstairs to the new color. We loved it. But there was something that wasn't quite working. We looked at the floor. The problem. A bluish green industrial carpet. With stains. Large stains. I guess it didn't look so bad with the seafoam green cabinets. With the yellow walls and black cabinets. Yick.

There was only one thing to do. Rip it out. We knew there had to be hardwood floors under the carpet. Possibly a layer of linoleum. This was going to be a lot of work, but the alternative was the carpet. In our previous home, we did a kitchen redo. Painted walls, cabinets, even some wallpaper (shh! don't tell anyone!). By the time we got to the floor, we were burned out. We left the 1970's avocado carpet. The carpet with a huge paint stain in the corner. (Ask my husband about the stain...) Everytime someone would see our kitchen they would love it. Until they looked down. Then the moment was ruined. So, we will not leave the floor as it is.

Yesterday we tore the carpet out in the little hallway next to our kitchen. We were right, there was a layer of linoleum underneath. It didn't matter though, because it came up with the carpet. Not that it had much choice since the carpet is glued to every square inch of the room!

I was almost giddy that I didn't have to scrape up linoleum! Until I saw what it had left behind. A layer of felt like substance, glued to the floor. Oy. I got to work with a mixture of vinegar and water. My neighbors had told me that they removed the glue off of their floor with vinegar and water. A little section at a time. After an two hours, I made little progress.



I was ready to hang it up and get some Pergo. At this rate, I would be finished with the kitchen floor in 2010. Later in the evening, I gave it another try. This time, I let the vinegar and water sit for about an hour. The felt came up like a dream. After scraping all of the felt, I washed the floor with vinegar and water again to get all of the glue off. Evidently, older glue, like REALLY old glue was put on thin for linoleum floors. Not like how it is now. I was able to get it all off in 45 minutes.



Today my husband, a friend, and myself tackled the pantry. I wish I could report that this went just as well. I don't know if a different type of linoleum was under the carpet or what, but this felt like crap wasn't coming up. We tried everything. Vinegar and water. Adhesive remover. Paint Thinner. While it did take up some VERY thin layers, we still had that felt stuff on the floor. After four hours, this time I really was going to go get Pergo flooring.



While taking a break from the mess and fumes, I decided to Google our problem. Most sites recommended everything we had tried. There was even a site that recommended we give up. Heh. Every site talked about adhesive. Nothing written with crappy felt like substance left from linoleum. I finally came across a new solution that pertained to our problem. Boiling water. Boil some water, pour over the area, in small amounts, and scrape up. We gave it a try and it worked. An area, a VERY small area, that we had been working on took us 30 minutes to scrape.



I guess I am not ready to throw in the towel yet. I still got the Pergo 800 number on my screen, just in case. I used to think that my kitchen was too small. Now, I am thinking it is not small enough with all of that ugly carpet to be pulled up!

Welcome

Welcome to The Big House!

For over two years, my husband and I looked at 12 different older homes. On the thirteenth try, we finally found our gem. It had almost everything we wanted. Four bedrooms, two baths, living room AND family room. Hey, this place is 2600 square feet of space! With four children, space is what we needed.

Most of my life, I have always wanted an older home. An older home with character. Most of the previous houses had woodwork stripped out of it or updated to the point where the original character was missing. We got unbelievably lucky on this house. The previous owners had left all of the woodwork and had done some major house repairs (roof, furnace, ac, siding, and half of the windows). All this at the best price we had seen.

We were all too eager to snap this up. Now, all that is left is to put our stamp on it. This blog will chronicle all of our efforts in giving our gem a new lease on life.

Happy reading!