Carpets

Tom has a friend with a big dump truck or pick up who has agreed to do a dump run for us. We are getting everything out that we can to accommodate the one big dump. Tom took the saber saw to the broken hot tub and sawed it up like slices of cake. If only it had really sliced up that easily. The job took a couple of days. Nasty nests of black carpenter ants broke open under the saw blade. We now have big slabs of foam insulation and fiberglass in manageable weights and sizes, and the carpenter ants have to find a new home.

The other night I asked Tom if he wanted me to rip out the carpet in the game room even though we haven't decided on the flooring. I was hopeful to know if he wanted to include the carpet in the dump run. We have been discussing prices and options on replacement flooring. Tom wants something heavier and less flexible than laminate. He wouldn't mind a thick engineered floor, but non of the thin stuff. He tells me he really doesn't care that much but as we discuss I find he cares a lot about the selection. We would love to match the natural oak floors in the living room.

As I do my research I find that the only way to really match that flooring in our budget is to put in unfinished floors. The engineered floors have eased edges or beveling. They do that to hide any discrepancy between boards in thickness or seams. I like a smooth finish with no creases or seams to catch dirt The finished floors are several dollars a square foot more expensive than unfinished. But I am beginning to think to achieve the results I would like and have that traditional smooth finish I may need to go unfinished. We could do it and still stay in budget. It just might take a few days longer do to the staining or the three to five coats of polyurethane I would want to put on to seal it. Tom is dwelling on the idea as it is a little more work. He wants to chat with people who have done unfinished floors.

Tom did give me the green light to rip out the carpets up in the game room so I didn't hesitate to begin. We want to dump that carpet. Carpet hides all sorts of sins. This wasn't hiding anything as you could see the stains right on the surface. As I began removing the pad underneath I found huge areas of dark damaged sub floor. I think either the material had been left out in wet weather or the roof had leaked or some big water damage had occurred. Several of these water damage spots were under the carpet in various areas.

I am guessing the carpet was original to the house, 1989. Over twenty years and it had served its time. Either that or as I have always said carpet just never gets clean, ever. It just collects filth, especially in neglected corners.

The room is around a thousand square feet. We have already put some furniture in it. I move the furniture from one area as I rip out the carpet and pad then move the furniture back. I will need to take a couple of days to do this project. The staples will need to be pulled and the tack strips. I'll do that while the boys and Tom are at work as that is noisy work pulling the tack strips.

I had the boys help me for an hour today. That is all any of us could take with their whining whether the hour was up, could they get water, they had to go to the bathroom. It was also hot in that room as it is not connected to the air conditioning in the rest of the house. When the time was up I was amazed at the progress they had made despite the hyperbole. Still much more to attend to but we have made a great start.

I am going to paint that sub floor while we wait to decide on the finish floor. I want to seal it from further damage in the future and give it a clean look. It may be a while before we can decide what to put down instead, but we just want it clean regardless. I want to be able to still have guests come over and use that room and not have it look too unfinished.

I am grateful that Tom doesn't want to put carpet back in that room, nasty stuff carpeting.