What lies beneath...
Renovations began today! The first project is the upstairs/attic bedroom. I have decided that it will become our "master" bedroom. It is the largest room and, most importantly, has the largest closet. Because this room will be our haven in the months to come, I want it to be finished first.
The wood details in the room are nice. All of the woodwork is stained reddish brown and covered with shiny polyurethane. The stairs have a smooth handrail and lovely newels at the top. The baseboards and window frames are in good condition.
Not nice: the loud, 70's-style carpet. It is orange and red and brown with an octagonal pattern. I am sure it was "swingin" at one time, but now it is just ugly. We knew the backing was firmly glued to the floor. We did not now what was underneath...but we were hoping for the hardwood we found in the closet.
Ripping up the carpet was a piece of cake! What came next, was not. The gray, spongy backing was stuck to the floor. We came prepared: with a scraper tool from Home Depot. It has a long blade attached to a 4-ft metal handle. We diligently scraped the floor and picked up the pieces, eager to see what was beneath. Under the fog of glue and remaining backing, we could soon pick out black and white diamond-patterned linoleum. I was a little discouraged by the thought of one more layer to remove, but I kept the thought of gleaming hardwood floors in mind.
We had nearly removed all of the carpet backing when we found a place where the linoleum was loose and peeled it up. Beneath it was plywood - sheets of plywood, nailed to the floor with about a million nails.
The linoleum removal is still in progress. We need to come back with a putty knife for the remaining linoleum and a trash can for the stuff we have ripped out. Once it is gone, we will have to recover the floor. The plywood look isn't to our liking.
I am a little overwhelmed by the choices of covering. Should we cover it in carpet, tile, or laminate? (NO LINOLEUM!) Mike likes carpet. I am leaning more towards tile or laminate. Whichever covering we choose, we will also opt for professional installation (there are stairs involved). I have not yet investigated the cost. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
The wood details in the room are nice. All of the woodwork is stained reddish brown and covered with shiny polyurethane. The stairs have a smooth handrail and lovely newels at the top. The baseboards and window frames are in good condition.
Not nice: the loud, 70's-style carpet. It is orange and red and brown with an octagonal pattern. I am sure it was "swingin" at one time, but now it is just ugly. We knew the backing was firmly glued to the floor. We did not now what was underneath...but we were hoping for the hardwood we found in the closet.
Ripping up the carpet was a piece of cake! What came next, was not. The gray, spongy backing was stuck to the floor. We came prepared: with a scraper tool from Home Depot. It has a long blade attached to a 4-ft metal handle. We diligently scraped the floor and picked up the pieces, eager to see what was beneath. Under the fog of glue and remaining backing, we could soon pick out black and white diamond-patterned linoleum. I was a little discouraged by the thought of one more layer to remove, but I kept the thought of gleaming hardwood floors in mind.
We had nearly removed all of the carpet backing when we found a place where the linoleum was loose and peeled it up. Beneath it was plywood - sheets of plywood, nailed to the floor with about a million nails.
The linoleum removal is still in progress. We need to come back with a putty knife for the remaining linoleum and a trash can for the stuff we have ripped out. Once it is gone, we will have to recover the floor. The plywood look isn't to our liking.
I am a little overwhelmed by the choices of covering. Should we cover it in carpet, tile, or laminate? (NO LINOLEUM!) Mike likes carpet. I am leaning more towards tile or laminate. Whichever covering we choose, we will also opt for professional installation (there are stairs involved). I have not yet investigated the cost. Any thoughts from the peanut gallery?
posted by Kasmira at 2.10.04
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