We Can Only Go Up From Here.

You know how they say things have to get worse before they get better?  Well, I found an exception.  It ("It" being the floors) really doesn't get any worse than this.

That's why I was sooooo excited to get started ripping them out on Saturday.  Normally, we could have laid the new floors right over them, but there were two reasons we couldn't do that here.  First, patches of the floor were missing, so we didn't have a level surface.  Second, we knew that some of the sub-floor needed to be replaced(because it felt soft underfoot), and we wanted to inspect all of it.

While Pat took Madison on a grocery run like the Super-Dad he is, I got started by ripping out the quarter-round trim around the cabinet bases. 

Then I found a good starting point for peeling the linoleum and got crack-a-lacking.  Or whatever you call it.  For your viewing pleasure, I've included all three layers of linoleum.

Layer 1:

 Layer 2:

 Layer 3:

 Layer three is so damaged in the above picture that you really can't tell what it looked like. Here it is in another location.

Once I ripped up all three layers of linoleum, I was left with this (treated? adhesive covered?  blackened for no apparent reason?) wood.

 It came up in decent sized chunks, which I hauled out the back door for later disposal.  Actually, we'll just be sneaking bits of it into our regular trash pickup.  It will probably be gone by March 2013.  

 The Pampers box was especially useful for the tiny scraps that peeled off along the way.  I hate construction (demolition?) mess.

An hour later, I had removed all but the most stubborn bits of backing.

 As I mentioned before, we expected to have to replace a good portion of the sub-floors.  Thankfully, there wasn't as much damage as we expected.  We marked the places that needed to be replaced, measured, and then Pat headed off to Home Depot to buy the lumber, plus a few other materials we knew we would need more of. 

 Once Pat got back home, he cut out the bad patches and ripped out that top layer.

 Once we cleaned up that mess, we were left with this.

 Pat caulked the edges to prepare for the next step: leveler. 

 Here's the floor all prepped for the leveler.  Or so we thought. 

 It turns out you have to use primer to prep the surface to accept the leveler.  And the primer has to dry overnight.  Meaning we couldn't apply the leveler until Sunday after church.  Meaning we wouldn't get to install the tiles that weekend.  Meaning we wouldn't have a working stove until at least the following Sunday.  After we absorbed that discouraging news, we read the instructions for the primer and got to rolling.

 We set up the fan to blow out the minimal fumes.  It was very cold that night, so we worked as quickly as we could.

 Thirteen hours after I started on the floors, we were done for the night.  Sunday after church, Patrick started on the leveler while I played with Madison/annoyed him by making him pretend to work while I got pictures.

 The leveler was about the consistency of runny pancake batter.  I would have been really nervous to do this step, but Patrick's pretty experienced with concrete-y type things. 

 The leveler spread into all the low places (of which there were many), creating a perfectly level surface.

 Madison supervised.

Once it was done, Patrick finally took a break,

during which he inadvertently let Bella out of the bathroom.  

 Since, as I mentioned, we are stoveless, we picked up some Little Caesar's.  And it was good.

 This is how the floors look for now.  Come quickly, Saturday!

 I can honestly say I think even this is an improvement over the before.  It doesn't look like leprosy, so that's a plus in my book.  Why, why, why, did we let that floor stay for so long?

Oh yeah, we're okay in the food department.  I went over to my mom's yesterday and baked a party-sized lasagna (healthy, no?) and made some beans and rice.  We'll be able to eat out of the microwave until Saturday.  Don't tell anyone, but I also brought the remainder of the banana pudding back from my mom's.  You know, for my potassium deficiency.  Health is first in the Philpot household!  I wonder what deficiency sweet potato pie would help me with...

What were you up to over the weekend?  Has Thanksgiving wrecked your diet(not that I'm on a "diet"), too?

-Kelli

Flores. Or Something Like That.

Do you know how when you use a word a lot, like a lot lot lot, it starts to sound/look funny to you?  Well that happened to me recently with the word "floor".  I typed it into so many search engines that I forgot how it was really spelled.  Thus "flore" was born.  I'll blame it on Madi.  I think I lost a few brain cells while I was baking her.  Maybe I'll find them again one day.  Maybe they're buried under my pile of paper on our desk.  Is it obvious I'm in a weird mood today?

Anyway, I think I was supposed to be talking about our floors.  Let me remind you what we were working with originally:

That's hot.

As classy as that floor was, Pat and I were ready for a change.  Real tile was not an option, because our house shifts a LOT.  We probably would have had cracks on day 2.  I was hoping to find hardwoods underneath, but that was not the case.  And the $,$$$ to install them was a little out of our price range, especially considering we've already hit the ceiling on the value of our house.  A floating laminate tile floor would have worked, but it would still have been more than we wanted to spend.  Plus, I kind of think those tend to look cheap.  So we were left with two options: vinyl tile and vinyl roll-out.

Initially, I thought roll-out was the way to go.  Then I found out there would have to be a seam.  Way not cool, so vinyl tile it was.  Pat and I were torn between two options in the vinyl tile category.  Pat wanted to use imitation ceramic tile, and to use a semi-new process of installing it where you actually grout the edges like it's real tile.  I tend to shy away from "imitation" anything (except when it comes to spray-"butter", and you all know where I stand there).  I was drawn toward this crazy idea of using commercial vinyl tiles (you know, like the ones used at Walmart) in a checkerboard pattern.  I was inspired by this kitchen:

Source: kathrynjasper.blogspot.com via Kelli on Pinterest

 Guess who won?  Here's a hint: my mom wouldn't let me join the debate team in high school because she thought I had an unfair advantage I was already too stubborn, and she thought I would get even worse.

Long story short...wait, I can't even make short stories short.    Anyway, Wednesday afternoon, Pat, Madi, and I headed out to the Home Depot.  We're typically staunch Lowes shoppers, but Lowes doesn't carry my our flooring.  We searched high and low, and had just about given up on finding what we needed when I spotted the mother-lode. 

And then we took pictures of Madi's first trip to a home improvement stoor store.  Wow, I really hope I get those brain cells back soon.

I'll leave you with a shot of our new tile.  I picked a much more neutral palette than the inspiration room, only because we hope to sell this place soon.

Tomorrow, I'll reveal how much we got done over our four day weekend!

Were you working on your place over the weekend, too?

-Kelli

What's on My Mind Monday

Linking up over here!

I.  I never would have guessed I would still be sore four days after the Turkey Trot 5k.  I think I recovered from the marathon in less time than that!  I blame Madison.  : )

II.  Not too many men can really rock a crocheted flower.  I guess I just got lucky.

III.  Until digging into our most recent project, I had forgotten rule one of DIY.  When estimating time and money required for a project, multiply by two, then repeat. 
IV.  I also forgot rule two.  If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong.  I'll explain more later this week.

V.  There's a refrigerator in my living room.  At least he's not lonely in his new environment; the stove is keeping him company.
VI.  I'm still in shock that Leinart is out for the season.  First Schaub, then Leinart, watch out Yates!  We still pulled out a win, but I'm more than a little concerned about next week.  Especially since Foster seemed off his game yesterday.  Two fumbles?  Really?

Happy Monday!
-Kelli