(Mis)Adventures in home improvement, part 1: the floors
Kimmer
terms of "home improvement" - sure, we painted the outside trim, put new
tile on the kitchen floor, and redid the main bathroom a couple times,
and we had the carpet in half the house replaced before Caitlin was
born, but that was because of a pipe breaking and flooding the
bedrooms - it was decided that things needed doing. The things that
were decided on were new floors, a kitchen re-do, and exterior painting
(and possibly new windows, but we'll burn that bridge when we get to
it). It was also decided to finally get air conditioning, but that will
wait until January when demand is lower.
Okay, we decide that the floors get done first. The carpet in the
family and living rooms came with the house and gets the most abuse;
there are stains on the family room carpet that not even the best
cleaning has gotten out. It was also decided that since the largest
rooms in the house were going to be done we may as well do the front
entry - ceramic tile that is cracking in numerous places - and the
hallway. All right, funding was obtained, then we went shopping. My
first thought was Pergo; I like the way it looks, and it's fairly low
maintenance. We live just north of the "Anaheim Mile of Tile" - if you
ever come out here you'll see what I mean, as the mile of State College
Boulevard between Ball Road and Katella Avenue is one discount tile
store after another - so we drive down and see which place jumps out at
us. We go into one that has tile, Pergo, wood, carpet, pretty much
anything that you can put on a floor. We look around a bit and speak to
a salesman who is more than happy to answer our questions, especially
when it's learned that funding has already been obtained <g> Seriously,
he was really nice and answered all the questions he was hit with and
didn't flinch. After a long discussion we were leaning toward wood
floors, and samples were looked at and decided on. No decision was made
right then, but it looked like we were gonna go with wood, and we
visited a few more shops along the Mile to check prices; wanted to make
sure this place was in line with the others, and it was.
After cogitating on this for a few days, it was decided to go ahead and
take the plunge. Measurements were taken and cost was calculated -
yikes! but will look *real* nice when done. No time was set to do the
work, but that turned out to be a good thing because I ended up in the
hospital right around the earliest time it could have been done. About
a week later the salesman contacted me, and a date was set: August 14.
Okay, the date is getting closer, and I start to wonder how on earth I'm
gonna get all the stuff out of the family room and living room so
furniture can be cleared out and work done. Last weekend, with the help
of the kids, stuff was moved. Wow...it's amazing how many books were in
those two floor-to-ceiling bookcases (and there were still piles on the
floors). I now have a wall of boxes full of books lining my kitchen
eating area. Most of my stuff from the living room was already in
storage boxes, and those were easy to move. The desk was cleared off of
junk, and stuff was cleared out of the bookcase in there. Sunday night
I thought I had a pretty good handle on things and took some time to sit
and knit before going to sleep.
Yesterday I got up at 5:30 and realized that I needed to get the rest of
the stuff cleared out in just a few hours, and panic set in. The
shelves still needed to be cleared of toys, the computers needed to be
disconnected and moved, DVDs needed to be packed up...Still, around 8 I
thought I had everything under control. I wasn't sure if the workers
needed everything off the bookcases or not, but I still had about an
hour and a half before they got there, so no worries.
Well...they got to the house at 8:30. There was still a bunch of stuff
to clear out. I at least showed them the areas to be done, and they
unloaded the truck into the garage, then decided that they'd give me and
the kids time to get the rest of the stuff cleared out of those rooms.
The kids were great; I woke them up earlier than expected, and they
didn't grumble and got right to work, even Sarah. I told the kids not
to micromanage things and just pick stuff up and get it out of the
family room. By the time the guys got back the only thing left to do
was disconnect all the electronic stuff in the family room; TV, DVD,
VCR that doesn't work, satellite box, game systems, stereo. The girls
then retreated into their room for a bit, and Ryan got his stuff ready
to go to a friend's place.
Furniture was moved, carpets and tile were ripped up. The workers
started with the family room so we stayed in the living room and
bedrooms until it was no longer possible to be inside. Ryan took his
leave of us then, and the girls and I sat on the front lawn until it was
time to lock up and let the sealant placed on the floors dry. The girls
and I checked into a hotel not too far from home. I was hoping to do my
work here, but I dropped my transcriber on the table and I think I
killed it. I'll be heading over to Office Depot or Staples as soon as
they open today to get a new one. I have no clue where I'm gonna do my
work at home, since the kitchen is holding the contents of the living
and family rooms, and work will be done on the rest of the house today.
Oh, and I forgot that I was hit with a surprise yesterday when the guys
were done inside. I was asked when I was gonna paint the baseboards.
Wait...no one told me I needed to do that. Turns out the baseboards
come in primer white and need painting before going on or they go on
primer white. Peachy. A run to Home Depot last night resulted in
procuring a gallon of forest green paint, so guess what I'm doing as
soon as I get home this morning? Yep, moving 20-foot long pieces of
baseboard from the garage to the backyard and painting. No clue when it
will be needed, but I should be able to do a few at a time and have most
of them done today, in between everything else.
It'll be a few days yet until all the work is done and I can start
excavating my kitchen. In the meantime I'm gonna be using a TV table to
hold my computer so I can work, set up on a bare floor in the living
room until I'm forced to move.
I'm not gonna do anything this major again...until the kitchen gets done
<g>
Lady Kimmer
Castle Troll Watcher
kimagreenfieldatyahoodotcom
Joan Mann
wrote:
LOL! It makes me tired just reading this! We used to be keen
renovators, sometimes doing it ourselves, sometimes getting
professionals to do it for us. I'm still not sure which was hardest!
Thank goodness I'm an old lady now, and don't have to do things like
this any more!
Kimmer, my ISP newsreader stopped working just when your head was
getting bad again, and I was out of touch for a week. I hope it's all
better now.
--
Joan Mann
Official Castle Mad Scientist
Unofficial Group Granny
Kimmer
Joan wrote:
> LOL! It makes me tired just reading this! We used to be keen
> renovators, sometimes doing it ourselves, sometimes getting
> professionals to do it for us. I'm still not sure which was hardest!
> Thank goodness I'm an old lady now, and don't have to do things like
> this any more!
We thought about doing this ourselves for about 10 minutes, then
realized that it would take us easily several weeks to do it ourselves
when you consider work, kids, and other obligations. Just easier to pay
professionals to do it, and do it right.
> Kimmer, my ISP newsreader stopped working just when your head was
> getting bad again, and I was out of touch for a week. I hope it's all
> better now.
Just about. The packing was stopped on Friday, and now it's just
dressing changes several times a day. I go back to the doc on Friday
for a follow up. I just want this over with 'cause I've got a wedding
to go to next week Saturday, and I'd kind of like to get my hair cut
before then <g>
Kimmer
>>done
>><g>
>
> room'
> and which is 'family room' even after living there for a few weeks ...
The family room is the one with the biggest TV in it. It's also the
largest room in the house, which was more obvious with only one small
child living here (and it's really hard to believe Ryan was once that
small child...). The living room will likely become my office/working
altar/knitting retreat/etc, since I spend most of my waking hours there
anyway <g>
> Second -- I'm quite happy here in a city flat, just one room +
> kitchenette
> (and a huge shower room/WC and a very nice balcony.)
> It has rather nice parquette, totally plastic <g>
> Otherwise good, but the furniture leaves rather heavy marks on it.
> Plus it doesn't much like the cig ash and/or my heavy usage of oil in
> my
> cooking. Hope I'm not be thrown away from here anytime soon -- not
> sure if
> I can handle the restoring penalty ;-
> (OTOH, when I moved here some 3 yrs ago, I had to hand over two
> months'
> advance, 'security' money just in case, maybe that'll be enough.)
> The problem here is that I can't do anything, even painting those
> boring
> walls, without a written permission.
I rented for a few years before buying, and both apartments wanted an
extra "security deposit" to fix anything that got damaged; one wanted a
full month's rent, the other only $200 (rent was $575 on a one-bedroom
place then). We got most of it back from the first place; only lost a
small bit because Opus shredded the drapes. The second place, however,
was really nitpicky. The only obvious damage we had when we moved in
was a torn patch of carpet in the walk-in closet that was noted. When
we moved out we were charged for all the little pinholes in the kitchen
cabinets that were there before we moved in; we hadn't put anything on
walls or anything, and we didn't think to check the wooden cabinets for
pinholes. We bitched to the management, but they refused to give an
inch. I would have cost more to fight than would have been recovered so
the issue was dropped.
I like being able to, say, knock out a wall if I wanted. Not that I'm
thinking of doing that, just that I like knowing that I can if I want
<g>
> &y, considering moving to Haunted Wisconsin ;-)
There's a great cemetery in Oconomowoc, with all the big old monuments
and stuff. Really creepy at night. My grandfather is buried there,
which gives me an excuse to go visit it. Of course, no one ever wants
to go at night...chicken <g>
> Religion is for those who fear hell, Spirituality is for those
> who have been there...
Oh, so true.