Finally floored.

The last few days have been incredibly hectic. So much so that I've made a lot of progress since Tuesday. Finished the floor in the first room. Installed three doors: a bifold at the electrical panel, and two others.

Found baseboards and casing at the Home Reusables store, and put those on as well, using my nifty new air nailer. I even got the window trimmed out with some other stuff I found at Home Depot. (Moulding six expensive, and there is a LOT of it in a house. At a buck or so per linear foot, the small bedroom alone cost over $100, with half of that being purchased at a discount reclaimed products store.)

View of the finished first room: just need doorknobs and a ceiling.

I like the way the flooring turned out in the room. It has character.

On to the hallway, which was a fantastic challenge. The planks needed to be pounded in lengthwise, and pressure put on the end as it slipped under the previous plank. Definitely a two person job. How relieved was I when I continued the floor over past the hallway to the living area and did a rough fit to see if it would line up... And it worked. Phew!

Finally, today, I pushed through and completed the rest of the floor. It took about 8 hours nonstop, but its done:

Next steps before the family gets here for a visit: throw a couple of doors on the utility room and storage closet, and buy doorknobs for at least a partially finished look.

 

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Lessons learned of Laminate

Well, I has originally hoped to be done the flooring by the end of yesterday... Obviously that was a somewhat unrealistic goal. Although laminate flooring gets laid down quickly, when you don't REALLY know what you are doing, there is a lot of figuring out that has to happen. And of course, there are always stumbling blocks along the way.

Underlay: went out Saturday to get some blue stuff with little dimples on it that I saw at Rona a few weeks ago, and of course they didn't have it. Checked for other material at a variety of other stores, and wasn't satisfied with any of it. Lesson learned: do your research before going to 15 stores trying to figure out what you want.

This is what I ended up with. It has little styrofoam balls stuck to the bottom, and acts as a vapour barrier as well. I bought four rolls, and once I rolled out the first roll I quickly realized that that would not nearly be enough. Lesson learned: calculate how much you need before buying it.

Putting down the first row was tough, and tricky. First, it was deciding which direction the planks would run. (We decided lengthwise down the hall) Next, it was deciding where to start. (Electrical closet) Then, it was ripping the tongue off the first row, as the tongue edge goes against the wall. Not soon enough, I realized the first problem: what do do next to the door jamb. Simple solution: cut a u-shape to fit!

As it turns out, that was not so simple. How to cut it... With a jigsaw, of course. Which I don't actually have, for some reason. Well, then a keyhole saw should work. Which I also don't have. How about a rotary tool? Burned out a bit (it was a drywall bit, whoops) and the wood bit wasn't sharp enough. Plus, it's really hard to keep a straight line with a rotary tool. Lesson learned: use the proper tools: not only is it easier, it does a better job. Off to the store again (for the third time in the same day) to purchase a jigsaw.

Speaking of proper tools, I have to give a shout out to Trevor here: I had originally intended to use a chop saw for most of my board cuts, but he loaned me a table saw and cross-cut jig. He was right. Turns out, I am finding that I need to rip several lengths of board (imagine trying to do that with a chop saw, or hand saw?)

And finally, here are the results of about an hour of actual work, once I got going.

A couple of hours' work after the kids went to bed got me to the doorway, and more figuring out using brain power at the end of the day just wasn't happening, so I called it quits.

 

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At Transformation

Not just a title of a great 'Hip song. It's truly amazing how much a coat of paint can transform a room.

A few notes so far: drywalling window casings is a bad idea. The windows closed abruptly and gouged the drywall. Thus, I will be installing a veneer or some kind. Metal or vinyl if I can find it.

On another note, drywalling is a pain. Mostly because I don't really know how to do it, I just make it up as I go along. I've learned that you need to put more mud down than you think before you lay the tape. Else wise, it creates an air bubble that no matter how many other coats you out on afterwards, it remains a weak spot in the wall. Eventually, you'll just give up and cut it out, re-mud (and sometimes re-tape), sand, mud, sand again.

They also say that "less is more" when it comes to mud, and now I know what they mean. The more mud you put on, the more you have to sand off later.

 

Anyhow, progress update: drywall finished to satisfaction, primed, and first coat of paint is on. Next steps: second coat of paint and any touch ups necessary, followed by lining the floors with subfloor or underlay, and the laminate. Here's hoping it gets to that point by the end of the long weekend!

 

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