We are tying up loose ends with the new floors. We have a small section of new untreated wood. We need to keep it clean, especially from oils, until we get it refinished.
We took the vinyl flooring from the kitchen and cut strips to fit over the area. Pretty sexy looking, eh?
We removed the hardwood at the front entrance. It will be replaced eventually with ceramic tiles – something a little more suited to our winters.
Until then we installed some plywood and more of the vinyl flooring. It’s amazing how many different applications we managed with one small piece of vinyl.
Dave wired the dishwasher so we no longer have to wash by hand. Yeah!
He added the plug back to the island.
It feels like we are back to normal. As normal as this dysfunctional kitchen can be with it’s 4 different counter tops, drawers that won’t close, etc.
I get up this morning and I’m aching. My hand is sore from holding the big hammer that comes with the compressed-air nailer. The rest of my body is complaining mildly. It’s a good thing I get to go to work today and rest!
Tuesday night we are back at it. Oh my gosh we are finally finished! Now we have to put the kitchen back together.
It’s late, just after 11:00PM and Kathryn is hovering nearby.
“We are finished the floor. We’ll stop now and let you get to bed.”
“That’s OK. Keep going. I’ll sleep through the noise.”
She really wanted that kitchen put back together. So for the next hour we put the appliances back, washed and cleaned & hooked up the sink.
The dishwasher is full of dirty dishes but it has no power yet. Everything else seems to be working. The kitchen sink has hot & cold water.
Best of all – NOTHING LEAKS!
Dave has to work but I have the day off. I was hoping to get more done but I’m just not as good as Dave.
We almost manage to get the floor finished today. There’s just one section under the cupboards to do. We used some of the new flooring that we bought. What a joy to work with clean wood after sorting through old broken & dirty pieces looking for the right fit.
I liked putting the floor down especially when we used the new wood. I could do that part again. I don’t ever want to rip up old hardwood though. Leave that to the pros!
The fun just continues. The day was spent removing another section. It proved to be a bit more challenging. Some of the boards were glued down. Some had extra nails.
By now the kitchen is half functional. We are realizing we won’t get this all done on the weekend. We got one of the 3 heat grills installed. It is perfect. Dave is very good at this!
We finished the other cold-air return grill too. You can see the patch that had been glued down.
If it wasn’t for all the time spent removing the old floor we would have been done already. Next time we do old floors, wait, there won’t be a next time!
Much of the day was spent removing floor boards and preparing the cold air returns for the new wooden grills.
We needed to remove more pieces to feather in the flooring. The wood was cut blunt at the walls that once stood there.
The grills were custom ordered but did not come the size we expected. It all worked out but it’s a good thing we didn’t install the flooring before we received the grills.
By 11:00 PM we called it quits even though Kat was willing to put up with the noise of the compressor, air nailer and shop-vac until later.
We got a decent amount of flooring installed in the evening given that we are using old floor boards that require cleaning. Also not one board is the same length as any other. I don’t know how they installed floors in the 50’s but it sure makes it a challenge trying to match it up today to our custom job.
The grill is perfect. It ends up flush with the floor. It is the same wood as the floors just unfinished. It’ll all look good once we get the floors sanded and refinished.
What better way to spend a Friday night than prepping for flooring. It was quite a job to take out the cabinets, sink & dishwasher (again). First Dave had to find the screws (that I painted over) so he could clean out the heads to remove them.
The flooring is 50+ years old. Look at that checkerboard pattern – was that really in style at some point?
Where does it all go when you move it out of the way?
Here’s the first section cleaned out. That’s it for tonight. What a mess and it’s only just beginning!
thermostat that is. The old one took a beating during our last renovation. The workmen couldn’t figure out how to remove it from the wall so they forced it. Of course that caused it to break a little. It was also a weird colour. I never liked it.
“When are you installing the new thermostat? ”
“I’m doing it tonight. It won’t take but a few minutes. ”
Seems I’ve heard statements like that before and that usually means a few hours with at least one trip to Home Depot.
It really did take just a few minutes. It took longer for him to read the instructions to know how to program it. It’s much cleaner looking.
“Um, it won’t match the appliances. Does it come in stainless steel? ”
“No I’m sure it doesn’t.”
Well maybe it doesn’t, yet.
Is this like the saying “When one door closes, another one opens” but in reverse?
I’m at work, it’s about 9:00 AM. Good time for a coffee I think. I get up, look out the window and see the sidewalk plow (not a city plow) has hit the car beside me in the parking lot.
That car’s alarm is on and the operator is walking towards the building. Ah, he is reporting the incident. I hope my car is OK. I don’t get a call or email from security. All is fine I figure.
I go to the end of the building for a better view (I’m on the 5th floor). The car beside me has been moved. The operator continues on his way plowing the sidewalk. It’s -30C with the wind chill so I’m not going out if there is no reason to.
When I head home I find that the plow did scrape my bumper. I can see snow on the front that wasn’t there before. He didn’t report hitting the car beside me. It must have been one of their cars they parked while clearing the snow so they just moved it.
I can handle an accident. What got to me was that the operator didn’t report it.
Why does it have to snow in the city? I’m ready for hot weather…
We’ve been side-tracked the last week or so from our kitchen renovations. Our in-floor heating conked out (see Feb 1 2008).
Dave decided to do it himself with expert help from my Dad. It wasn’t in the plan. We were supposed to be doing the kitchen floor so that we can move forward with new appliances etc.
The in-floor system isn’t our only source of heat but the house is calibrated assuming that it does function. Our bedroom is one of the rooms that enjoys the warmth of heated floors. The past couple of weeks have been chilly. We still get some heat but not to the level that I like.
I have to admit the last day or so I’ve been grumpy about the cold floors. Finally today it appears to be done. I won’t get to enjoy it until tomorrow night though. We are on our way to Tremblant.
Today is a good day. The heat is on. The Sens play the Habs. Alfie & Heater are both back playing. Go Sens Go. The heat is on.
