…one step back.
Well, we were all set to finish off the living room and dining room, and then put a big dent in the sunroom.
We got most of the way across the living room/dining room yesterday, and noticed there was a spot where the floor dipped down, and the laminate sunk when you stepped on it.
Yesterday, we tried to fix it by putting another layer of the underlayment on it. Didn’t work. Today we tried to figure out just how big the uneveness was. Pretty big. We ended up removing most of the boards we’d put down yesterday.
Trip to home depot #1: buy paint for bedroom and floorboards, and some sand? maybe we can put sand in the uneveness?
Sand is a no go. Kevin decides it’s too risky.
Trip to home depot #2: pick up quick drying quickrete
quick drying quickrete dries a little too quickly for comfort. first off, the direction seem to be way off on the amount of water to add - barely enough to even stir it. By the time Kev decides to add MORE water, it’s already setting. it won’t spread on the floor. I am frustrated. Kev is downright pissed. Note to quickrete people: expect a call.
Put in a call to Ace. Oh yes, they have something that will work. That is fast drying, but not SO fast drying, and it’s only $10.99 for 25lbs. Oh good, how late are you open today, sir? Umm…we’re closing…now.
It’s 5:00, we’re getting desperate. We call another Ace. They’re open until 6:30. We get there and find something specifically for uneven floors. We buy two boxes. It mixes up smoothly and evenly, and Kev gets it on the floor with minimum trouble. The downside? You have to let it sit overnight before you lay flooring on it.
So instead of laying laminate today, we went to the pool.
And then I picked up some Mrs Winners chicken.
They forgot to give me the biscuits.
I was not taking that crap. Not today.
Back to Mrs. Winners. For the biscuits. I am triumphant. I am full of chicken and biscuits and sweet tea.
tomorrow, I will go into the lab for half a day, then come back and FINISH THIS FLOOR.
And if ANYONE thinks I will be doing this for them any time soon? THINK AGAIN.
But there is some good news today. My darling brother, who never officially graduated because of a class he failed his sophomore year and never made up, and SHOULD have graduated 4 years ago…FINALLY took the art history class and got an A!
He is now officially the best educated tattoo artist in western pa. Boo-ya!
Ok, so I found my camera’s USB cord in the pile of furniture in the sunroom. There are more over at the flickr site. Click below for PICTURE GOODNESS!
the dining room prepped and ready
the first few (and hardest) rows done
Kev, working hard, and about to rob a stage coach
my friend, N, from the lab. I don’t technically have her permission to post her pic, annnd she doesn’t know I have a blog. So let’s just hide her face a bit, hmmm? Thank god she was there - we got so much more done than we would have without her. It took all morning just to haul out the carpeting and prep the space.
my sexy knee pads. oh yeah, you want me.
progress by dinnertime - aka quittin’ time as we were all exhausted and hungry. let us to Taco Mac! Here is the living room…
and dining room
annnnnd…here is how much of the dining room we ripped up, with bonus footage of the patch job we had to do. click for extra fun details.
Ah, Quikrete. I know it well. I also have a father who is a professional home renovator, so I know better than to pay attention to water requirements.
See, concrete becomes concrete through the use of hydration, not drying. So the correct ratio of water to Quikrete is “enough to make it workable”.
Of course, I am telling you all of this far too late for it to be useful, so, I guess I am just being a smart ass.
well, the key to THIS quickrete seemed to be “whatever, you’re screwed.” we stirred in the recomended amount of water, and got a giant lump of solid quickrete surrounded by powder. quickly adding more water resulted in more lumps of solid quickrete crap. this stuff was majorly fucked up - I’ve used quickrete before (homeowner = familiarity with most of the aisles home depot has to offer) and it never acted like this shit.
I have pictures. I shall put them up, post haste.
Oh, that is going to be so beautiful when you finish up! And the fireplace! Wow - does that WORK?
Gratz to your Bro. Word.
Congrats to your Bro!
Stories like yours is why I usually pay someone to do stuff like that, though I’m fully capable of doing it. As a good friend of mine once said, “The amount I have to pay him is more that worth the acida I would get if I did it myself.”
Oh, and your knee looks totally hot! How can anyone get any work done around you?
Yay for the brother finally being certified as edumacated! And yay for you guys and your home improvement skillz. Go on Trading Spaces and blow them all away.
Hahaha. That’s awesome about your bro - where in Western PA is he exactly? I may need a trip to the tatoo parlor on a visit to my ‘rents…
Cinn - does it work? as in, can I put a fire in it? yes! there’s also a gas starter in it, which I don’t really use. Mostly I buy those compressed logs which are supposed to burn for 6 hours, but it’s really more like 3. Easy cleanup and no weirdo bugs to deal with in a woodpile.
Vince - alas we are poor and cheap. why should we pay for what we can do ourselves? the hard way? with much pains? WHO WOULD PAY FOR SUCH A THING??? maybe when we’re richer and lazier.
Julie - trading spaces could never handle the awesomeness that is us. we all got along great working together…until Kev and I were left alone on monday and things started going wrong. then it was much anger and snippiness.
Nicole - my brother is currently without employment, as his boss is a fuckup who decided not to pay rent on the shop for a couple of months. resulting in the possibility that my brother may be becoming a 26 year old small business owner. but that is a whole other post. email me next time you’re in PA, and I’ll let you know where to find him.
are those appropriate floor laying shoes? cute but not practical =)))))
I likey the new comment layout
That other one was a wee bit of a pain.
Anyways!!! The place looks great! It’s going to look faboulous when it’s all finished!
this “layout” has always been here - it’s just what you see when you look at just one individual post.
note to everyone - you can use this comment form instead of the pop-ups, all you have to do is click on the title of each post.
funqi - appropriate? I’m working on the floor right now, and I’m barefoot! not like I’m working with power tools, or anything.
I never noticed the comment thingy… I will forever click on the title! It remembers my info!
Oh, and your brother can sooo live with me if his unemployedness becomes a problem, he’s cute!
my brother is soooo living with his hooka bar working girlfriend.
and I would imagine if the ownership of the tattoo parlor does NOT pass to him, he will be quickly snapped up by another place.
but i will pass that offer along to him, just in case!