When I initially set up blogger was down, so I just started on LJ and figured I'd probably quit after a week anyway, having other things to do. But I'm sick of LJ, and finally moving it.
Last night I started ripping out the carpet and parquet flooring in the living room/stairs, poor floor. The parquet was a few feet wide and went from the doorway into the living over to the kitchen, then the living room and dining room are all carpet. Fugly old stained carpet. I removed the carpet from 2 stairs, I didn't photograph it up close, but the stairs have moved so much, there are gaps between the steps trim would cover, but the sides don't fit into the wall where they should. I'll get a picture later, it's a mess, it was totally hidden by the carpet.
The floor under the parquet just has the parquet adhesive stuck to it, we're going to get something to remove it later today. The floor in front of the fireplace also had parquet, and under it there is a lovely piece of plywood, apparently nothing under it.
The plywood didn't meet the hardwood, so they covered it with some plaster-like substance, where the plywood meets hardwood it was about a 1/4 inch thick. It extends about 7 inches onto the hardwood, getting thinner and tapering off. Most of it chips off pretty easily, some of it requires more work.
The BIG pain in the butt is the entire floor had some ancient adhesive stuck to it, it's like virgin floor under most of it, no wear, no scratches. But also no idea what it is or how to remove it. It doesn't break down with water, but water seems to soften it and make it scrape off a tiny bit easier. I scraped off about a foot of it in an hour or so, trying elbow grease, water, and Goo Gone, because it's what was on hand. If paint stripper is in the picture, it was used on paint, and incidentally made no difference with the mystery substance.
This stuff is under the carpet padding and from ages before the current sixties carpet, not at all related to this carpet or padding. In one spot I found ancient black looking carpet fiber stuck to it, upstairs. Heck, we even have ancient wallpaper rolls in the attic, they'd been lost in the floor the PO broke up, it's pink and gold and flowered, but crumbles if you touch it. Very old.
Today we'll also either try the parquet adhesive remover on the rest of the floor, or buy acetone and a few things to try. It's in the dining room, the living room, and the entry at the top of the stairs.
The wood under the parquet shows some wear, and has a really big gouge, compared to the perfection of the rest of the floor, well, future perfection, very noticeable.
I know it's Oak, but how do I know if it's red oak or stained reddish? It's yellower in our room and Amelia's where it's been finished, but under the carpet it's flat where it's visible through the mucky adhesive, not shiny with varnish, and much redder.
Here's the mess. I'm tearing it out while Joe's at work and Amelia's napping. She's 22 months, so I have to do it in small amounts and clean as I go, in case she wakes up and comes downstairs while I'm working. The 3 stairs took one entire 2 hour nap period, mostly removing ten thousand staples.
Didn't they put pretty shit brown paint on the stairs?! The paint on the stairs didn't test positive for lead, but I want to retest and make sure I got all the layers, it seems waaaay too good to be true, especially considering all the other lead paint here.
Removing the parquet that went to the doorway raised the kitchen floor enough to trip the baby the 1st day, when I put the cork in it will get even higher. ugh.
Last night I started ripping out the carpet and parquet flooring in the living room/stairs, poor floor. The parquet was a few feet wide and went from the doorway into the living over to the kitchen, then the living room and dining room are all carpet. Fugly old stained carpet. I removed the carpet from 2 stairs, I didn't photograph it up close, but the stairs have moved so much, there are gaps between the steps trim would cover, but the sides don't fit into the wall where they should. I'll get a picture later, it's a mess, it was totally hidden by the carpet.
The floor under the parquet just has the parquet adhesive stuck to it, we're going to get something to remove it later today. The floor in front of the fireplace also had parquet, and under it there is a lovely piece of plywood, apparently nothing under it.
The plywood didn't meet the hardwood, so they covered it with some plaster-like substance, where the plywood meets hardwood it was about a 1/4 inch thick. It extends about 7 inches onto the hardwood, getting thinner and tapering off. Most of it chips off pretty easily, some of it requires more work.
The BIG pain in the butt is the entire floor had some ancient adhesive stuck to it, it's like virgin floor under most of it, no wear, no scratches. But also no idea what it is or how to remove it. It doesn't break down with water, but water seems to soften it and make it scrape off a tiny bit easier. I scraped off about a foot of it in an hour or so, trying elbow grease, water, and Goo Gone, because it's what was on hand. If paint stripper is in the picture, it was used on paint, and incidentally made no difference with the mystery substance.
This stuff is under the carpet padding and from ages before the current sixties carpet, not at all related to this carpet or padding. In one spot I found ancient black looking carpet fiber stuck to it, upstairs. Heck, we even have ancient wallpaper rolls in the attic, they'd been lost in the floor the PO broke up, it's pink and gold and flowered, but crumbles if you touch it. Very old.
Today we'll also either try the parquet adhesive remover on the rest of the floor, or buy acetone and a few things to try. It's in the dining room, the living room, and the entry at the top of the stairs.
The wood under the parquet shows some wear, and has a really big gouge, compared to the perfection of the rest of the floor, well, future perfection, very noticeable.
I know it's Oak, but how do I know if it's red oak or stained reddish? It's yellower in our room and Amelia's where it's been finished, but under the carpet it's flat where it's visible through the mucky adhesive, not shiny with varnish, and much redder.
Here's the mess. I'm tearing it out while Joe's at work and Amelia's napping. She's 22 months, so I have to do it in small amounts and clean as I go, in case she wakes up and comes downstairs while I'm working. The 3 stairs took one entire 2 hour nap period, mostly removing ten thousand staples.
Didn't they put pretty shit brown paint on the stairs?! The paint on the stairs didn't test positive for lead, but I want to retest and make sure I got all the layers, it seems waaaay too good to be true, especially considering all the other lead paint here.
Removing the parquet that went to the doorway raised the kitchen floor enough to trip the baby the 1st day, when I put the cork in it will get even higher. ugh.
2 comments:
Wish I were there to help!
-Mom
Oh my lord...what a job...it made me tired just reading your description...hope it's progressing okay and you haven't gone stark raving made yet...
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