My Feet Are Tired!

Since I'm giving my knee the day off, I helped Thom lay wood flooring in our bedroom. Get your minds out of the gutter. :p My job was to pick the piece of flooring to go in each spot. It was rough. Seriously, my feet are killing me! I had to stand barefoot for four hours on a cement slab. And we're not done! It's going to look so awesome though when it is complete. I can't wait to get rid of all the carpet. I had no idea how DISGUSTING carpet is, until he started pulling it up. Nasty, nasty stuff!

V.

Oh cool..renovations!

Will you post the photos on tandem hearts??

Meanwhile, get mr tom to give you a foot massage!!!

C

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Originally Posted by crazycanuck

Oh cool..renovations!

Will you post the photos on tandem hearts??


C

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I hadn't thought about taking any photos of the floor. Maybe... after I get rid of all the cobwebs! :eek:

V.

Cobwebs on the floor :confused:

C

No on the walls behind where the furniture was. :eek:

V.

Few things are as physically tiring as home improvement work. I painted every wall in our house before we moved in (including stripping wallpaper in one bathroom). DH did wood trim. We worked on it after work almost every day for a month. Parts of my body I didn't know had nerves ached. (We had others do the floor re-finishing and re-carpeting - we reached our limit.)

I would imagine the concrete floor is also COLD!! :eek:

You can't imagine the amount of pelage I found under the dressers! Ar least it wasn't vair!

V.

I will never have wallpaper in a house again. Hanging it is evil. Stripping it is evil.

I want wood floors. The house I grew up in had wood floors. But rich people had wall-to-wall carpet. So when I was a kid I wanted a 2 story house with carpeting. I've got one now. :o

I was supposed to be giving my poor shoulder some rest, but instead we poured a slab in the backyard and I spent the day wielding a shovel and various concrete-smoothing implements. However, I made my husband pick up the 90lb bags of concrete.

Ahhh... gunite, fun stuff! I haven't pored a slab, but I've done my share of post holes.

V.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

I can't wait to get rid of all the carpet. I had no idea how DISGUSTING carpet is, until he started pulling it up. Nasty, nasty stuff! V.

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me too... I am slowly getting rid of the old bits in this house... I swore the last time my toddlers had a vomiting bug I would rip out every bit of carpet in the house - but by the time they got the next one, they were old enough to wake up before and make it to the bathroom in time...

It is very nasty - dirty, dusty, yuck. And we have nice rimu floorboards... but my limiting factor is that I work fulltime and prioritise bikes over floors...

Pleased you have time to do this - I look forward to my turn too :)

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Originally Posted by Veronica

I had no idea how DISGUSTING carpet is, until he started pulling it up. Nasty, nasty stuff!

V.

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Welcome to my life :rolleyes: I will never have carpet again....but right now, this.

Here I sit on my 110 year old oak tongue-in-groove floors, but they're covered by decades of linoleum, school tile, 3/4" plywood and, in one case, "indoor-outdoor" carpet squares circa 1971. :P

We took the horrible old carpet out before we moved in--and were so shocked to find what was underneath. But these floors are going to return to their glory, I hope this coming year.

Karen

You're so lucky! We're putting in glue down engineered flooring. We grew up in Maine with real wood floors and as much as we tried to ignore the click sound of floating floors... we just couldn't.

It's a royal pain in the arse to put in a glued down floor on a slab. The surface has to be level and so "lucky" Thom has had to grind away parts of the slab or fill depressions.

But the parts that are done, I am just thrilled with.

V.

V, you will come to love the hardwood floors. I grew up with real wood floors, had carpet in our trailer when we were first married, the floors were cold, and when we built our house years ago, we put carpet in the bedrooms. We removed the carpet last year to complete the house with hardwood. OH my, now I know why my allergies were bothersome. It was so disgusting! Enjoy all your hard work once your feet and body recoup.

Our house has wall to wall green carpet. Dark green. I like the color, but in such quantities... it's hideous. Along with the wallpaper and border in almost every room that is a yucky green and paisley type style. We have pulled most of it off and are painting, but they put the wallpaper right over the drywall when building the house and it is proving difficult (i.e. lots of patching, priming, etc. until it looks decent to paint). Now we just have the great room (i.e. ping pong room) and the kitchen to do. They put the wallpaper under the cabinets. Sometimes this house makes me wanna cry.

But when we're done with it, it'll look beautiful.

K.

My place already smells better :o I can hardly wait to have it all cleared out. It's much fun moving .... within my own home though :rolleyes:

Would you please tell my husband how lucky we are? All he can do is whine about how much work it's going to be to dig them out!

K.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

You're so lucky! We're putting in glue down engineered flooring. We grew up in Maine with real wood floors and as much as we tried to ignore the click sound of floating floors... we just couldn't.

It's a royal pain in the arse to put in a glued down floor on a slab. The surface has to be level and so "lucky" Thom has had to grind away parts of the slab or fill depressions.

But the parts that are done, I am just thrilled with.

V.

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Ugh. I feel your pain.
We recently went through a spasm of renovation in our house.
Ugly wallpaper came down. Old carpet came up. Hardwood exposed.
It seems a bit louder in the house, and we can certainly hear the other when walking around, but ... sigh ... I so prefer the hardwood.
Here's a pic of the task half done.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t/IMG_0185.jpg

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Originally Posted by Regina

Ugh. I feel your pain.
We recently went through a spasm of renovation in our house.
Ugly wallpaper came down. Old carpet came up. Hardwood exposed.
It seems a bit louder in the house, and we can certainly hear the other when walking around, but ... sigh ... I so prefer the hardwood.
Here's a pic of the task half done.
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z...t/IMG_0185.jpg

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Oooooh, puhrty. Keep posting those "after" pictures. It's heartening to see that it gets better. :o

We put cork on our ground floor last year. It is totally beautiful! It's available in all kinds of colors and patterns. It insulates sound and temperature, it's resilient to the step, and it's relatively "green" in manufacture. It resists stains and dents - and hides what stains and dents it does get :cool:

It's still a floating floor, for those who hate that, but I'm way happy with it.

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Originally Posted by Veronica

Since I'm giving my knee the day off, I helped Thom lay wood flooring in our bedroom. Get your minds out of the gutter. :p My job was to pick the piece of flooring to go in each spot. It was rough. Seriously, my feet are killing me! I had to stand barefoot for four hours on a cement slab. And we're not done! It's going to look so awesome though when it is complete. I can't wait to get rid of all the carpet. I had no idea how DISGUSTING carpet is, until he started pulling it up. Nasty, nasty stuff!

V.

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We got some old wood flooring (nail down-early 1920's brick house) out of one of the old sorority houses the college owned, so we ripped (over 400 sq feet) up 2 heaping truckful loads in humid 95 degree July heat last summer. Dh and I are putting it in the living rm and our bedroom during Christmas break. I don't like carpet anymore either. It feels good betwwen your toes when it's new, then after the first spill, Oh well, there it goes. Jenn

The bedroom is done and the furniture is moved back in. It really looks nice. Next room is the office...


V.

That's great, V. Someday I hope to have a room, or two or....done.

Here's Mae supervising the preparation phase. She likes her creature comforts, carpets, rug, lawn. She did not like the bare floor at all. Here she has a cheap rug, one of her beds, L.L. Bean dog blankie so she can supervise in comfort.

... taken at night with my cell phone, and the plastic protective sheet is still on the floor where it will stay till the rest is done. But this should give you an idea. It's a cherry laminate.

I plan to pick out the kitchen cabs on Wednesday.

Currently working on the family room. It had to be painted first. The carpet is out and the painting nearly done. Thom still has to grind the cement slab to make the floor level before we can begin putting down the wood.

V.

When I moved here I moved myself and Mae in my car. No truck. I don't have a lot of stuff.

Books, bikes of course, but I don't have a lot of "stuff".

There's a lot I lost in the "divorce", which is fine. I call that "chewing off my tail" :rolleyes: But how is it that I was able to move here myself, a few loads in the car and now I'm clearing out just the living room and kitchen for the work, the spare bedroom is full, I mean full to my eyeballs with boxes.

I did not have "stuff", don't really buy "stuff", I've taken trunkloads to Goodwill such as clothes I've shrunk out of via cycling.

Does it multiply? :rolleyes:;) Where does this "stuff" come from?

I'm off to slightly organize this as I imagine there's potential I'll be living out of these boxes for a while. I know how remodels go.

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Originally Posted by Trek420

I did not have "stuff", don't really buy "stuff", I've taken trunkloads to Goodwill such as clothes I've shrunk out of via cycling.

Does it multiply? :rolleyes:;) Where does this "stuff" come from?

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Did you bring some stuff over to my place by any chance? I have extra stuff too that I don't recall acquiring:rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Bruno28

Did you bring some stuff over to my place by any chance? I have extra stuff too that I don't recall acquiring:rolleyes:

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How could I have brought stuff to your place when I have more stuff than I thought :confused: Somebody else's stuff is going to both of our places. :mad:

Anybody missing a 12 bottle wrought iron wine rack? I have it and don't remember getting it and ... oh, it's cute with bike water bottles in it. :p never mind.

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Originally Posted by Trek420

Somebody else's stuff is going to both of our places. :mad:

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OK - own up. Who is it?????

Cool that you're almost done, V - what color are you painting???

Before we moved in, we painted every wall in our house, replaced most fixtures and I removed wall paper and a sink/console in a bathroom and painted Em's bathroom cabinetry. (We had the floors done by others, re-carpeting and re-finishing the wood.) I was NEVER so exhausted at the end of the day as that month we were doing all that work. And I was riding a lot back then and in good shape - it was just harder all over body aching work, using muscles I didn't even know existed.

I had a lot of fun with my friend Holly painting Em's room cloudy (sponge painting with glossy blue and white).

May I whine a bit in this thread? Please?

My sister and BIL and I bought my aunt's house from her a couple of years ago, in order to give her a monthly income since her children and grandchildren have bled her dry of the comfortable nest egg she was left with when my uncle died about 12 years ago. She's lived there rent-free since we bought it. (The house is on 3 acres with two large farm buildings in the midwest, and is across the road from my sister and BIL's house. I'm here in the DC area.)

In September, she moved to town into a senior apartment, since her eyes are too bad to drive the country roads into town. (She shouldn't be driving at all, but that's another rant.)

Since she moved out, we've been clearing out 40+ years of crap, all of which my aunt thinks is priceless but no one wants. We sneak it to the burn pile when she isn't looking. (We've still got to figure out how to dispose of 50+ old car and truck and tractor tires that her grandson left behind, but again, that's another rant.)

We have removed many layers of wallpaper, some of which won't come off without bubbling up the paint underneath. We've hired plasterers to come in and skimcoat several walls and redo several ceilings. We've torn out nasty 30-year-old shag carpet that is so gross I can't even think about it. We upgraded the fuses to breakers.

Finally, last week when I was home for Christmas we started putting things back together. We painted four bedrooms, the kitchen, the bathroom, the stairwell/landing, and two closets. And it looks gorgeous. Smooth plaster walls in a 95 year old house are amazing!

The floors are pine, but are not in good enough shape to refinish, so we're just slapping down carpet so we can sell the place. But there's still a new countertop, plumbing, flooring, trim painting, replacement of lights and switches and receptacles, out-building cleanup, etc to do. I feel bad that my sister and BIL have to finish it by themselves (a new bathroom is going in this weekend) but I am so excited that it is almost done. I've taken three trips out there to work on it since September, and the end is in sight.

I went through all of this with my own 69 year old house when I moved in 15 years ago. I feel for all of you who are remodeling. It is a lot of work.

Wow, Trek, Mae is super cute.

(Gawd I am such a dog slvt. Don't tell Russo. :rolleyes: )

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Originally Posted by divingbiker

May I whine a bit in this thread? Please?

..... And it looks gorgeous. Smooth plaster walls in a 95 year old house are amazing!

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Please whine!

That's what remodeling is all about :D

Aren't old houses the greatest? I'm bored with brand new houses, gimme a house with some history. 'cept it is a lot more work.

Good for you helping out your aunt :) Brphffpt to the other family members. :mad:

Maillopoits, yes, Mae's a cutey, she's smart and a very good dog.

She's a rescue and she does have some issues especially with other dogs. Friday my carpenter brought someone in half a day to help her with the floor. I was at work.

I told her that my neighbor would come over and get Mae for the day because I thought the excitement of 2 new people and construction and one of 'em a guy (she does not do as well with guys) would be too much.

So I call on my break. I hear a very happy woof :) in the background. H. tells me Mae and her helper are best friends. She walked over, gave him a lick and is sitting in his lap while he works. Of course he'd been making her do tricks and rewarding her with Trader Joes Peanut Butter filled pretzels first. :cool:

My turn to whine. I bought this place after a break up and even worse that was the year my Dad died. I suppose if I had concentrated on nesting and turned this joint which I bought waaaaaaaaaaaaay below market I'd be sitting pretty financialy. I would have turned it at the top of the market.

Instead of turning the house I turned to cycling and did back to back to back to .... CA Lifecycle rides.

But I have no regrets.

I met people, saw sights and parts of CA, had experiences that will last a lifetime. I got to spend a week with my neice on her first ALC. :D And we did a lot of good. And even given recent injury I'm now in better shape than I've been in years. Plus I met Knott whom I probably would not have met if I'd been walking the aisles of HomeDepot instead of riding and reading about riding.

Recently my 85 year old Mom said that the week she, Duck on Wheels and Mr. Duck on Wheels spent going down the coast following ALC, seeing UK Eliphant on the ride, meeting up with us in camp and the closing ceremony was one of the best experiences she's had in years. :D

So I'm remodeling now, when nobody's buying. No regrets.

Well, back upstairs I just tore out the carpet strips in another room and have to clean up. :cool:

The family room is staying builder beige with an accent color on the mantel. We had to do the ceiling because we had some water damage.

I wish it were almost done. We still have the living room to do. But at least it's just the floor, we're not painting it.

We do have to figure out what we're going to do with this.

http://tandemhearts.com/coppermine/a...ew-piano-2.jpg

V.

Divingbiker - it sounds like you guys have restored a beautiful home. And what a wonderful thing you have done for your aunt.

Trek - I can be won over with TJ's PB pretzels as well! No regrets on ALC. It's all good.

V - what wonderful ART and that music stand - wow!! Your living room looks amazing! I don't know what to do with a piano. We get by with a large keyboard for the musical one. She will learn something on the violin or guitar and then immediately go down and play it on the keyboard. I'm sure it's easier than it sounds, but I can't imagine. My brain wasn't wired that way. :rolleyes:

Wow, V. It looks beautiful now.

What do you want to do with the room? Besides fill it with bikes :cool:

I do a lot of drawing. I'm horrid at math, tried draft paper, cad programs, nothin' .... but I can draw.

Now when I think "maybe we should do this ____" I draw it. Really helps as I think about the colors.

It's also my way of staying sane through a remodel. I know that no matter how it will be, living out of boxes, tarps everywhere .... I can look at my drawings and say "someday it'll look like this!"

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Originally Posted by Trek420

Somebody else's stuff is going to both of our places. :mad:

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bruno28

OK - own up. Who is it?????

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Not me, they seem to have dropped a bunch of stuff off here too. All in nice boxes. Someone should really sort through it all. Any volunteers?

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Originally Posted by Trek420

Does it multiply? :rolleyes:;) Where does this "stuff" come from?

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It's aliens, you guys. I thought you knew that. They're in charge of clothes hangars and single socks as well.

Trek, it'll be okay. It may be that when you're done, the market will be improving again.

The piano is going back in. :D It just has to be moved so we can do the floor. I did use to keep my bike in that room when Thom had an upright. It just didn't fit when he moved up to the grand.

That artwork on the wall is very cool. It's a kinetic sculpture.

V.