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.
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.
Sure it’s cold outside but why do I feel chilly inside? The addition to the house is built on a cement slab. We installed in-floor heating to take away that basement cold floor effect. It works wonderfully when it isn’t broken. You have that warm fuzzy feeling as heat radiates from the floor up through the room. You feel chilly when it doesn’t.
We called in the repair guys. Our expansion tank (in red) is leaking. They pointed out several things wrong with the initial installation. This was done by a professional who our contractors claimed was the best. I guess he had a bad day.
1) The expansion tank (water!!) should not be near the electronics.
2) There are no shutoff valves. It would be much easier to replace the tank if they could simply turn off the water.
3) There is no pressure gauge so we have no idea whether the system is operating properly or not.
4) The pink box needs to be rotated 90 degrees. We found the instruction manual given to us when it was installed (Dave keeps everything). It specifically states to NOT mount it as it has been done in our case. It even has a picture of what NOT to do with a big red X through it.
The price to fix it seems high. Dave is contemplating doing it himself with the help of my Dad. It might be worth the $$$ to get it fixed sooner rather than later. There’s also the hardwood floor to be installed. Add to the list the fact that it’s snowing like crazy.
I think skiing will win out this weekend over heating & flooring. Besides, it’s not our only source of heat and we’ve been walking around the extra wood planks all week without injury. Snow on the other hand, is here today and gone next week (are they really calling for rain again?).
Appliances came with the house when we bought it in 1991. They weren’t in great shape but they worked. The stove was particularly well worn. I figured we would keep it until it broke or we renovated the kitchen, whichever came first. I really expected it to break down any time.
17 years later the old stove just keeps on humming along. The clock has been stuck at 12:00 for years. The plug along the back is useless. It’s been cleaned so much that the pattern is worn off.
Time for a renovation, time for a new stove. We have picked out this stainless steel model with a glass cooktop. It looks like it could fly. I just hope my cooking improves with this one. I think the old stove is holding me back!
Our house has hardword floors. Yellow birch mill run floors to be exact. Our last big project is to redo the kitchen. Now that we have an open concept we want to extend the hardwood.
We had quite a few bundles of leftover flooring. We spread it out over the living room and realized we were about 20 sq. ft. short.
The good thing about real hardwood floors is that even 54 years later you can buy new wood that will match.
Once it is in place and the whole floor is sanded and refinished, it will all look new again.
We have laminate wood over our heated cement slab. It’s only a few years old and already we cannot match it if we need to. Good thing we aren’t renovating those rooms again!
After adding on, reconfiguring rooms, removing walls are we done? If I can stop thinking about it maybe?
Here are the current plans.
