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lazy_gardens

Removing Yucky 90s Carpeting and found ))))

lazy_gardens
10 years ago

Craptastical 90s plywood :- (

I'm not to that point yet, but it looks like they might have ripped out the oak flooring and nailed on plywood as a subfloor for the carpeting.

Comments (14)

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    10 years ago

    I believe you but ,WHY would somebody take the time to rip out the flooring?

  • chucksmom
    10 years ago

    How old is the house????

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    The front bedroom has oak laid over a painted pine floor that was the original flooring until they could afford the oak. I was hoping to find the old, battered oak under the carpeting, but it might be all gone.

    I only have a few small chunks exposed - they 1/4 round shoe molding is over the tack strips so I have to remove molding, then lift carpet. I'm hoping they only removed the "bad parts".

    Jaysmom ... 1885 or earlier, based on some town panoramas.

    Christopher - Beats the heck out of me, unless the old floor was totally wrecked and rotted.

  • PRO
    Christopher Nelson Wallcovering and Painting
    10 years ago

    As Jim Morrison once said
    "people are strange"

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I found a few bits of newspaper used to stuff gaps before liberal application of caulk on the 1/4 round that holds the carpet down. One refers to "President-elect" Clinton ... so that carpet is from Nov-Dec 1992 or Jan 1993. No wonder it looks bad!

    Good news is that the oak in the hallway appears to be still there - at least in the corner I've pulled back. I'm revitalized!

  • weedyacres
    10 years ago

    They caulked between the shoe molding and the carpet?????

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Mostly the caulk is between the shoe molding and the baseboard ... but there are some places where it's stuck to the carpet too. Wrecking bars are a wonderful thing.

    Good news is that the whole hallway is old oak and not in horrible shape. That's 100sf less to buy and install :)

    This post was edited by lazygardens on Thu, May 9, 13 at 18:44

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Yup ... it's 3/4in plywood nailed to the joists. With nothing but air under it.

    :(

    This post was edited by lazygardens on Sat, May 11, 13 at 15:45

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    On the bright side: here's the floor in the middle bedroom. It's scuffed to bare wood in spots, but it has no major problems except along one wall where I need to fit a board to fill a funky-shaped gap.

    This is a scuff sand and Waterlox project/

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Here's what's under the LR and DR ... yes,that's drywall mud "sealing" the gaps between the sheets of plywood. I'm knocking it off as best I can and using caulk.

    It's about two months before the flooring arrives. So I'm painting the floor just to make it easier to keep clean.

    The bright side is that with all that carpeting and padding gone, the house smells far better.

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    As a temporary fix, I painted it.,

    I painted it purple! Sort of a greyed purple found in the local "oops" mistint bin, but at least it's smooth, easy to keep clean and all one color.

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    And it's almost done! I have to insert the partial boards at the edges, but the main part of the floor is DONE!

    Compare with the pre-paint image a couple of images above.

  • sunnyca_gw
    10 years ago

    Looks terrific, what a change! See you have a back massager on the sofa, bet it gets a lot of use! My DD bought me 1 that does Shiatsu massage & I love it, next best thing to a person giving a massage, has heat too! Do you have to finish the floor or is it prefinished? My dd had a flood from pipe breaking in the cement foundation so she is shopping for new flooring too.

  • lazy_gardens
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    That's some sort of a floor chair my previous roommate had. I rely on doing small quantities every day, and taking frequent breaks.

    The floor is prefinished 2 1/4 red oak ("character grade"), from flooring.org

    There was a budget constraint, and also I didn't want the mess and extra time of site finishing, and was willing to give up the super-smooth floor that site finishing gives to avoid the hassle of sanding, staining, multiple coats of topcoat.

    Installing is not difficult - it's the same thing, row after row after row ... whap the boards into place, cut the last one to fit, use the floor nailer to nail them down and repeat on the next row.

    The difference between an amateur and a pro on installing most floors is speed. This is as good as any local pro could do, but it took a lot longer.