Remember when I talked about our kitchen being like an onion? Here is the rotten layer.
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| Original Hardwood floors under the sink cabinets. |
I really wish we could have salvaged these old wood floors, but it seemed like a lost cause. Sad, but true! Our next step was to build up the subflooring to compensate for the layers they had built on top of the original hardwoods. This was not an easy task since none of the layers were even, and I had to take the time to chisel out the glue/gunk that was under some of the tiles.
Due to my complete lack of upper body strength, this was one of those tasks that I could actually do. So, I got the pleasure of completing this one on my own. Lots of scraping and chiseling is also good for the soul. :)
The subfloor was ready to be cut and installed, after about 14 rounds of measuring, scraping/chiseling, measuring/compensating, and measuring again.
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| Subfloor installed! |
Once we got the subfloor down, we really started talking about how the flooring should be installed. Since the last people who installed the hardwoods did not want to take out the cabinets, the wood floors cut off at the toe-kick. So, we decided to cut this in a straight line, and add a wider board running perpendicular to the other boards.
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| Kevin cutting the existing hardwood floor. |
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| Measuring the board before install. |
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We thought this would help with the fact that all the boards would end in a straight line, so this way it looks a little more intentional. I'm pretty sure we could get a job with HGTV!
Going back to my lack of upper-arm strength... Jeff and Kevin got to use the fun floor staple gun thing. I apparently could not combine the precision to hit the rubber trigger with a hammer, hold the gun with my other arm and foot, and not giggle. Plus, one time I missed the target all together and almost hit myself in the shin. Jeff was an expert immediately though.
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| It looks easier than it is. Don't judge me :) |
But, the good thing about flooring is that there is plenty to do besides using the mean staple gun thingy. I got to use the miter saw to cut down all the pieces of wood. YAY!
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| Using a miter saw for lots of wood! |
Another fun task I was delegated was pulling out all the carpet and staples/nails under the stairs where we wanted to finish out the wood floors. This was another "alone" job. During this one I found out that Penelope was not the only small, furry creature living in our house. At some point we had rats. And, they lived under our stairs. I vacuumed many rat terds (sorry Mom) from the carpet before ripping it out, but I did not get them all. And, practically all the ones that I didn't get, would shoot off of the carpet and into my face or hair as I was pulling it from the floor. Double gross. Yanking out staples from the floor was not much fun either, but it least it wasn't rat poop flying at me from all directions.
The good news is that we have patched all rat holes, and there are no more "remnants" left behind. So, hopefully we will NEVER have a rat problem again.
The other good news is that instead of gross, old, rat infested carpet, we have beautiful hardwood floors under our back stairs.
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| New maple under the stairs. |
Now, we get into the good stuff. After all the floors were installed, we wanted everything to be refinished so that the color/stain would be consistent.
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| New floor verses old floor. |
As you can see, we needed the floors refinished badly. We were going to do this ourselves, but after pricing out all the equipment and getting a few quotes, it was well worth it to hire professionals for this one. We went with ADC Floors who did a fantastic job, and were super flexible with their schedules. They have amazing reviews on yelp, and they come highly recommended from me. Check out their website at
http://www.adcfloors.net/.
ADC Floors also use Bona brand stains and finishes, which is what Jeff wanted to use. And, they even let us pick out the Bona Traffic product because Jeff HAD to have this specific floor finish. If you want to check it out, feel free;
http://www.bona.com/en-gb/United-States/TopMenu/BonaSystem/Coatings/Finishes/BonaTraffic/.
Now that I have given all my shout-outs, we are ready for the big reveal!
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| Refinished Maple floor in Bona Traffic Satin |
If you haven't gotten this yet, I couldn't be happier. When I walk in my kitchen it feels like a ballet studio. Once or twice I rubbed my face on the floor. It's true love.
