Nancy and Randy: What have I gotten myself into?

Always loving a good project around the house, I decided last weekend that it was time to put down some wood laminate flooring in our downstairs entry-way and dining room. Nancy and I had talked about doing this ever since we moved into this house in June 2008 (Has it been that long already?). But I think Nancy was thinking more like 5-6 years down the road. Sitting around watching football last Sunday and being a little bored, I bumped up the timeline a few years. Nancy did not sound too thrilled when I asked her if we could start this little project. Seeing as how we are likely having visitors at Christmas, and definitely at New Years, I think she doubted (with good reason) my ability to get it done in two weeks.

You see, as much as I enjoy working around the house, building things, and these kinds of projects, I am sadly not much good at them. Nancy's dad can throw together a new wing on your house in 2 hours, but I inherited much of my handy-ness from my dad...who also enjoys working around the house, but, like me, tends to cuss a lot, hurt himself in some way (my dad recently shot himself in the thigh with a nail gun...no idea how that happens), and hire someone else to finish it.

So I can understand Nancy's frowns and skepticism at the thought of me ripping up all the carpet in her new house that is less than a year-and-a-half old and putting in a new floor that actually looks nice, all in two weeks. But I am stubborn, and talked her into letting me get started on this, with the promise that I would hire someone if the going got too tough. Very excited about my small victory, and assuring her I would do it myself and not require her assistance, I sped off to Home Depot for the supplies. I knew from my internet research what I needed as far as tools and supplies, but first I had to pick out a floor. When I walked down the flooring aisle and looked over the 2,348 different styles of laminate flooring, I knew I was in trouble. The first step in my project and I needed her help. I had to call her to drive up to Home Depot to help me pick out the floor. There was no way I could do that myself. An hour later, we had finally decided on a floor we liked. We bought a whole truck load of flooring, tools, and supplies, and as the cashier rang up the total is when I first realized what I was getting myself into.

Still gung-ho about the project, I waited for Nancy to go to bed and started ripping up the carpet. I got about half of it up that night, but I thought Nancy was going to cry the first time she saw her new downstairs torn to shreds. Again I assured her of my floor-installing capability, despite having no clue at all what I am doing. After all the carpet and padding was up, it was time to remove the wooden tack strips that hold the carpet down at the edges. The trouble is, they are nailed down every 6 inches into solid concrete. After taking 30 minutes to get the first 4 foot section of tack strip up... was the second time I realized just what I had gotten myself into. Two weeks to install the floor? Hell, it might take me two weeks just to get the tacking strips out of the concrete.

The first section of ripped up carpet, tack strips still firmly in place.

Eventually, I figured out a little faster way to separate the strips from the concrete, and I eventually got all the carpet, padding and tack strips removed in just two nights of work.

Very proud of my handiwork, and anticipating a future blog entry, I snapped a few pictures.

We initially were going to leave the ceramic tile in our entry way (pictured above) alone, but along the way we decided to remove it as well. After researching the best methods of doing so, I decided that this particular part of the project was best done by a professional, with more powerful tools than a hammer and chisel. Mr. Castillo will be out bright and early tomorrow morning for this apparently very fun job.

So yesterday after work, Nancy vacuumed up all the dirt and dust from the dining room, and I was ready to go. The first step of laying down the foam underlayment (red stuff in the pics) went off without a hitch. Time to start laying some floor. We started with the dining room first, because it is square, unlike the rest of the entry area, with its crazy angles. By last night, I had finished the dining room, and, surprisingly, it looked pretty good. And I only cussed a few times in the process. Today began the more difficult part, and the part where I was certain I would be calling the nearest remodeling contractor after 30 minutes. But so far, it has managed to go okay, with only a few hiccups along the way. So far, I have not thrown anything, irreversibly broken anything, hurt myself in any way (seriously, how do you shoot yourself in the thigh with a nail gun??), or hired someone else to finish it. My dad should be so proud. But there's always tomorrow.