I am at it again. WE are at it again, I should say. Me and P.
Bright and early this morning, we embarked on the most grueling, labor intensive home improvement project we have ever attempted.
It's no secret that I hate my carpeting. HATE IT. We can't keep it clean. We're not the "take off our shoes at the front door" kind of people. We don't do it, and we don't ask our guests to do it, either. Consequently, our carpets are always trashed. We have a steam cleaner, but what a hassle. No, the only solution was to get rid of it.
So we got some estimates for wood laminant flooring. Discovering that it would double our cost to have it installed, we opted to do it ourselves. And we're doing the entire main floor. Living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway, breakfast nook, powder room. All of it.
So today was "prep" day. Which means all of the existing flooring had to be removed, including all of the baseboard moulding. Moulding? No problem! Carpet? No problem! Vinyl in the kitchen, breakfast nook and powder room? Problem.
The new flooring has to be installed on the sub-floor. Well, vinyl is installed atop of an underlament floor, which is on top of the sub-floor. So all of that had to come out. Crowbars were necessary. There were many, many nails. Much chipping and hammering. It took us 6 hours just to do the kitchen/breakfast nook. We didn't even get to the powder room.
Every single muscle in my body hurts, and tomorrow I may not be able to move at all. My hands are so sore I can barely type. We popped advil like junkies today, in a feeble attempt to ward off what we knew was sure to come.
My stove and refrigerator are currently in my living room. At least the refrigerator is plugged in and running. But we won't be cooking any time soon, unless it's microwaveable.
The most surprising thing of all is that, considering this is really the first time P and I have done a project like this together (it's usually me doing the project with him helping now and then), we worked amazingly well together. We didn't argue or snap at each other all day. We had a job to do and we did it! I couldn't believe it when P suggested we do this. Of course, the thought of saving $2,500 is pretty good incentive.
Everyone told me that tearing out the underlament floor would be the hardest part of the whole job. They were right. Right now we can't even conceive of how we are going to have the strength to tear out that floor in the powder room (which is also our laundry room). And the fact that we have to remove all the moulding in there, the doors, the washer and dryer, and the toilet... well, it's not making it any easier for us to feel motivated about it.
I guess we'll just have to see how we feel tomorrow. I have to retrieve B in the afternoon some time, so it's either get up and get to it, or ... not. And then...I don't know. Do it next weekend, or leave that room out, I guess. I'm hoping we find the energy we need to just do it. It'll look so good.
Gonna finish my beer (I earned it!) and then watch some tv. I may or may not be able to make it up the stairs.
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