Floored!
We’re not fans of carpet in our family. Too many allergies, too many sensitive noses. For various reasons, we reached the end of our rope with the carpet in the basement and out it came.
Because Weston was putting in our new deck out back at the same time, it was the ideal time to take advantage of the lovely dumpster sitting in our driveway. There was plenty of room for the carpet, and the children and I got to work being destructive.
Plus, it was great to be able to pick Weston’s brain with a few questions. Use all available resources!
Obligatory “Before” post:
We made a big pile of carpet and padding in the garage, then tossed it into the dumpster.
This was after we’d removed 75% of the pile.
The big truck delivering the 64 boxes of laminate flooring.
And Wonderful Weston using his truck to make my life easier.
The laying of the flooring was a process of; move furniture, pull out carpet, padding, and carpet strips, scrape up the glue, vacuum, vacuum, vacuum, move the furniture some more, vacuum again, lay out plastic, underlayment, and flooring, move the furniture again, vacuum again, lay out more plastic, underlayment, and flooring, repeat, repeat, repeat.
Friend J came down to help with the work on this day, and after hours of floor work, Buds said, “I’m hungry. Let’s go to Five Guys to celebrate our floor.”
So we did.
And it was good.
Niece Teresa provided the tools that saved my life on this project. Her chop saw and air nailer made this so much easier than previous floors I’ve laid.
At various times I texted her to tell her how much I loved her, but how much more I loved her tools.
The floors were done enough to have friends over for a game night we’d been planning for weeks.
I had to create a make-shift painting room in the closet since I was still sawing in the garage so I couldn’t paint out there.
And World’s Best Contractor Weston let me use his table saw to cut the side boards, which made all the difference. I haven’t used a table saw since high school shop class, but I came out of this project with all my fingers and my nose, so I did great!
Then, seemingly suddenly, it was done. The trim is all in. The chop saw has been sent home. The air nailer waits patiently in the garage to go home to its owner.
I scooted around on the floor and caulked trim while we watched “Trolls” for family movie night. There are still nail holes to fill and plenty of wall paint to touch up, but it looks great. It feels so bright and open, and no icky carpet to haunt me any more.
And all the lovely spaces we have down there to be together:
It didn’t feel like that much work as we were in the midst of the project, but as I look back on it I’m so happy to have it complete. And I love that our children are exposed and part of work like this. I might not know how to do something, but thanks to the internet and help from friends and loved ones, we can figure it out.
On to the next project!!!
