Extreme Floor Makeover

I realize I have been seriously slacking in the blogging department lately, both reading and posting, but it is mostly in part to a project that has taken over our lives the last few weeks.  We also ended up with an empty fridge, a whole collection of new weeds, and a sink full of dishes, so obviously the blog has not been the only thing being neglected. 

Brett and I were sick of our old dirty carpet, and decided to update with some hardwood floor.  We decided the best time to get the project done would be during Brett's three week break between graduation and residency.  Easy, maybe, except we also decided to do everything ourselves.  With alot of help and guidance from my parents we pulled out our carpet, pried up the carpet tack strips, scraped the carpet glue off the cement, removed all the baseboards, chiseled out our entryway tile, ground down the high spots in our cement, cut up the door jambs, repainted the baseboards, measured and cut the wood, laid the wood floor, and re-nailed and re-caulked the baseboards.  Seriously!!  It saved us ALOT of $$$, but it took many VERY long days (one night we didn't get to bed until 3:00am) of VERY VERY hard work.  I am happy to say we are now ALMOST done!!!  YAY!!!

I didn't get a "before" pic because I came home from work one day and Brett had moved out all the furniture and started ripping up the carpet.  These will have to do as "before" pics, although they are from 2007 so they are very outdated and don't show much.

The carpet and pad ripped out and the entryway tile chipped up.  The baseboards and tack strips still need to be removed from the hallways.

Leveling out the high spots in the cement.  Brett concocted this cover out of PVC pipe and plastic sheeting to help keep in the dust.  It did help, but the grinding took so much longer because we could hardly see thru the plastic.  Eventually we decided to ditch the cover.  I couldn't get anymore pics  at that point because we could hardly see across the room.  Our entire house was tarped in plastic to help keep the dust to the living room and hallway.

Starting to lay the wood.  Laying just the living room took 4 of us (Brett and I and my parents) 13 hours to do!  P.S. Notice I painted the wall while we had no baseboards or floor to worry about dripping on.

Taking a quick break to eat dinner in true workforce style: Filibertos' outside on the grass.

The wood is all laid!  The blue tape helps keeps the boards together until the glue dries. 

The final product!  I LOVE it!!  All we have left to do is to putty and paint over the new nail holes in the baseboards and then re-caulk them.  WAHOOO!!!!!!!

A few things we learned along the way:

It took 4 hours to remove all the old baseboard caulking by hand. Using a putty knife could have accomplished this in a few minutes.
When I'm ready to give birth all I'll need to do is volunteer to grind someone's cement again and this baby will come flying out.
Hot light bulbs don't like to be cleaned with cold wet rags. They explode.
Knees were not meant to be knelt on all day (and night).
It is very difficult to remove wood floor glue from wood floor.
It is very difficult to remove wood floor glue from skin.
It is very difficult to remove wood floor glue from clothing.
It is very difficult to remove wood floor glue from shoes.
It is very difficult to remove wood floor glue from carpet. (Are you seeing a pattern? I have decided that wood floor glue has got to be the nastiest stickiest stuff on planet earth.)
It is ESPECIALLY difficult to remove wood floor glue from dog paws and fur (just imagine glue paw prints everywhere!).
The table saw and miter saw get painfully hot when they sits out in direct sunlight all day.
You can clean one room for 8 hours and you'll still find cement dust days later.
Straight walls are never actually straight.
Straight wood is never actually straight.
Our little boy does not like it when mom works all day crouched down and hunched over, when she accidentally inhales cement dust or lacquer thinner fumes, when she is sleep deprived, or when she forgets to eat.  I don't like it much either.
They don't rent power jamb saws at Home Depot anymore. You now have to cut all your door jambs by hand.
Carpet tack strips don't feel good on bare feet.
Don't let your husband leave to Lake Powell during the middle of a project. It's much easier to get things done we he doesn't come home on crutches.
And finally...
There IS a reason the wood floor installers get paid so well!