Installing the floors

Tom told me he wanted to help. Well, he is doing most of it. I went off to Home Depot to see about buying that air compressor angle nail gun. I looked into renting it but for our time and usage it did make more sense just to purchase one. I figure I can sell it for 50% on Craigs list when we are done and make money.

After trying to rent one at home depot for $134 a week, I knew it would take more than a week to do this project on our time frame with Tom working. Home depot didn't have one in stock to buy. They had one on line but you know us, we are a right now kind of family. Besides the one comparable to the one I saw at Lowe's the other day was $578 on line at Home Depot, at Lowe's I can get one right now at $400.

I checked at two other used repair stores that I had hoped might have a used one, but one didn't carry that kind of item. The other store had just sold one a couple of days ago, but the price he said he sold it for was more than I probably would have paid for a used one. After scurrying around with Tom moving right ahead on the install without me, I finally bought the nail gun and nails and came home.

Tom had been installing the first row using our regular nail gun. I had told him the new gun wouldn't fit to do the first couple of rows, the way it is designed. You surface nail the first couple of rows untill you get far enough away from the wall. He had done only a few boards by the time I got back.

Tom spent an hour trying to figure the new toy out. It had to be assembled. He has never used one before. After assembly we find that the gun needs the male assembly for the air compressor. $400 and it doesn't come with its own attachment for the air hose. I run off to Ace only to find they don't have the size I need. Ace has failed me a couple of times recently. The store has shrunk and they don't have quite the inventory or coverage they used to.

I also needed a new claw as the claw I use to change out light bulbs was broken. That made me mad. I yelled at my children, Trevor having admitted he had been terrorizing Bucky with it, though he swore it was in working order when he stopped using it. Really?

Tom had some light bulbs in the ceiling out in his room. Once it got dark he wanted the bulbs changed. I sent the boys upstairs with the ladder. But the sight of the boys and the ladder was more stimulus than Tom could take in the demolition site, with the boxes open and the new flooring exposed. He sent them back down stairs with the ladder and said changing the bulbs right now was not as important as he thought.

I left him alone to dwell on how he wanted to install the flooring. I headed out to get the missing items, when Ace didn't have the coupler, I headed to Lowe's, where I had purchased the nail gun. It is dark, as it is after 8:00pm. I found the missing item and headed home. I also topped off my tank on the way as I was now on empty. I don't like doing these things after dark, but I was glad to get it done.

Tom installed the needed piece and plugged the air compressor up to the gun. We set up some practice pieces like the manual recommends. Bang bang goes the nail gun, but nothing comes out. No nails set. Tom looks again at the assembly. The nails are jammed in the front. After an hour of digging the nails out, with me reading the dismantling and trouble shooting part of the manual, we realize I had been given the wrong size nails for the gun.

I had asked them to give me everything I would need. What a pain. No coupling for the air hose, wrong size nails, it was too late to go back and exchange or return. I asked Tom if he wanted me to return the whole gun, but he thought it would be much easier than the air gun he had been using. Every few nails had to be hand set when using the straight nail gun. This should just shoot the nails right in at the right angle without as much work.

I will just have to come up with more wood flooring projects to justify the purchase. I had told Tom earlier, by the time we buy all the proper tools we could almost have hired someone. Not quite, everyone was bidding the project at over $3 a foot. The $500 trip to Lowe's is still worth it at this point. I will let you know how we feel in a couple of weeks after we have the floors in ourselves. I remind myself I am saving a couple of thousand of dollars doing it this way. Though at the moment it is all Tom doing it.

Tom's sweat is leaving little round spots of water on the paper vapor barrier. As we are forced to quit for the night due to the gun misfiring with the wrong nails, Tom comments that he is feeling old doing this project. All this crawling across the ground, bending and stooping, we are going to ache in the end.

I can tell once I get started I will have fun with it though, if Tom lets me. He wanted to set that first row himself to make sure it was straight. The key to a good install is those first few rows. We were supposed to wait and let the flooring get acclimated. At this rate the floors will have plenty of time to acclimate despite Tom trying to get started right away.

The delivery men forgot to leave the bull nose for the stairs, which crushed me because that is where I wanted to start. Tom ended up nailing at the opposite end of the room. It is going to be really tough getting a tight fit at the stairs as a result. I hate those tight perfect cuts. It is going to be hard and waist a lot of material getting such a visible area just perfect. The bull nose will be redelivered this week.

Today I canceled work. Riley is home again for the third day. His cough is deep. I called the clinic. They don't like to give cough suppressants as they like productive coughing. They said to take a shower or bath and breath in the steam. Benedryl is great to use. I like to keep the nose clear, prevent more bacterial growth. Tom is concerned but I pointed out Riley is still on antibiotics every weekend. But just on the off chance he takes a turn for the worse, I am staying home from a work opportunity today.

I will do my exchanges at the store and also pick up a new thermometer. All our thermometers are shot. Drives me crazy when I find three and none of them work right, dead or dieing batteries, or just cheap inaccurate. Telling me I had a temperature of 94.1. Just another item to add to my stress today.

I am off to exchange nails at Lowe's. I have to stop at Ace and take back the claw I bought from them. It doesn't have the suction cups on the arms that helps take out light bulbs. I liked the style we had that broke much better. I have to find a decent working thermometer.

I am not too worried about Riley. He wanted waffles for breakfast. Slathered on the whip cream and butter and maple syrup and ate the whole thing. A good appetite indicates a boy not overly sick. We just need to get rid of that chesty cough. He just needs a little more time than most children.

Our friend with the bone marrow transplant finally got his bounce. Numbers blew by Riley's this week. What has taken Riley over a year and a half to achieve, this young man did in two months. That is the difference with the medical therapeutic cure and the real deal. Even though you get closer to death and it is much scarier with the BMT, if you survive, the results are better, stronger, and more permanent. All or nothing with BMT. Way to go to our dear friends. They aren't quite totally out of the woods, but sooner than us.

Off to get that thermometer and the right size nails for the nail gun.