Sunday, July 5, 2009

Floored

I made up for the Lazy Friday with a Very Busy Saturday.

All day long it would pour one minute and the sun would try desperately to shine the next. Crazy. I watched most of this transpire through the kitchen window where I spent the majority of the day on the floor.

It's also where I was tonight when the blasts from the fireworks' grand finale shook the windows. It was the first time in four or five years that I didn't go see the display.

I knew there was a reason I wasn't anxious to start this job. In fact, there are FIVE reasons. The five layers of flooring I have to tear up. It was slow going. I really hate tearing up that floor. Those vinyl planks have been great. And when I put them down a little more than three years ago, they were pretty easy to put down. (Much easier than standard 12x12s, that's for sure!)

Here's a look at the various layers of what I've been pulling up. Most of it's vinyl tile with the occasional piece of wooden subfloor (to replace some of the damaged parquet that makes up the rest of one of the layers.)

When I finally gave up for the day, I was two-thirds of the way down to the last layer. My plan is that once I get down to the last layer and I start pulling it up, I have the backerboard ready to put down. This would have been a little easier had I started this when we didn't have a stove.

Here's how far I got by mid-evening. (When I quit, every piece you see here was down to its last level. Isn't that green linoleum just lovely?! It's the floor that was in the kitchen and dining room when we moved in. It was among the first things that were changed within months of moving in. I think it's not hard to guess why.

Tomorrow (or more accurately, later today) I have to go pick up some things. With all this rain (it was pouring yet AGAIN about 90 minutes ago) I'm not even going to worry about the lawn. I'm going to focus on the floor ... and on a door project AND, ideally, on getting the backsplash up. But first, it's time for some medication and heading to bed!

3 comments:

Why S? said...

Looks like it was a pain in the everywhere. But I have to say, that vinyl wood didn't look half bad, at least in the photos. I'm just wondering what prompted the purchase of that greenish stuff. What conversation went on there? I can't help but obsess about these things.

Vicki said...

Your ceiling is a couple inches taller now! Good work!

NV said...

Why -- Yes, it's been a serious pain -- everywhere. Butt from sitting on floor, knees from crouching and kneeling, hands from ripping ... everywhere! And yes. How in the hell did we BUY this house after glimpsing that floor?!
And you have NO idea how sad I am to destroy those vinyl planks. They have been a seriously durable floor, easy to keep clean.

V -- Thanks. But not for long. I think I'm putting back everything I'm taking out ... plus a fraction of an inch. God help me on my foray into porcelain!