Friday, July 11, 2008
Awaiting My Long Weekend
This past week has been a major pain in my back. Monday (my day off) I tore up the carpet and underpad in the soon-to-be master bedroom and pried up about 87 million staples from the plywood below. I then moved on to the hallway where I tore up the hardwood that the previous home owner had installed (poorly). After that, upon his return from work, The Squeeze and I removed the laminate floor from the guest room. Oh yes, I almost forgot. All of the baseboards in the aforementioned rooms had to be removed too, which meant about 4 thousand finishing nails had to be removed. By the end of the day my hands felt like hot hamburger meat. How blisters never formed is beyond me.
Why did I do all this, you ask? Because we decided to do the entire second floor (except for the bathrooms) in new hardwood, and Tuesday morning our installer was arriving. When the installer arrived, we looked at each other a moment, and he said "You have the picture framing shop over there." Ahh....right, now it all made sense. He's actually a new client of mine. Jordan is a super nice guy, quite friendly...perhaps a bit indecisive when it comes to picking a frame. But let me tell you, he knows his hardwood! When I came home Tuesday night the master bedroom looked incredible. Wednesday he returned to do the hallway and spare room. Again, it's simply amazing.
Wednesday night we needed to move everything that we had piled into the office/temporary master bedroom that had come from the other two rooms. The Squeeze didn't get home until 7:30. Luckily, our good friend and eager beaver, Dan, came over to help. Thank God! Because after moving just a few small items (if you consider a solid oak dresser to be small), my back gave out. I spent the remainder of the night hunched over and carrying small piles of books and such. I was pretty much useless when it came to things like book cases, dressers, desks, beds, and well, pretty much anything that couldn't be carried while I was at a 90 degree angle.
Dan and The Squeeze worked until about 10:30, removing the carpet that we're saving for a friend's basement, and giving me the underpad to roll up around the broken nailing strips from around the room. I was quite a sight, squatting on the floor rolling the stuff up, but it was more comfortable than standing.
Luckily, the next morning I was a fair bit more limber. The Squeeze and I got back in the room and tore out the baseboards and nails just as Jordan arrived to do the final room. I couldn't wait to get home that night to see the finished result. It was amazing. Instead of two rooms with carpet, one with laminate, a hardwood hallway and vinyl bathrooms, it's all hardwood (except the bathrooms, of course).
This weekend, young Norbert, the 22 year-old "kid" who works for me at my shop will be coming over to do all the new baseboards. This requires all of the furniture to be pulled a couple of feet from the walls tonight. I'm not terribly jazzed about that, but when I think that just about everything on the second floor will be done by the end of the weekend, it makes it a bit less painful to do. Unfortunately, The Squeeze is working late tonight, so I'll tackle that myself until I screw up my back. Then we have to pack because Saturday we leave for Chicago to see Yaz! I can't wait to see this concert. I'm not necessarily looking forward to an 8 hour drive, but I'm sure it will go fast. Ya, right.
Why did I do all this, you ask? Because we decided to do the entire second floor (except for the bathrooms) in new hardwood, and Tuesday morning our installer was arriving. When the installer arrived, we looked at each other a moment, and he said "You have the picture framing shop over there." Ahh....right, now it all made sense. He's actually a new client of mine. Jordan is a super nice guy, quite friendly...perhaps a bit indecisive when it comes to picking a frame. But let me tell you, he knows his hardwood! When I came home Tuesday night the master bedroom looked incredible. Wednesday he returned to do the hallway and spare room. Again, it's simply amazing.
Wednesday night we needed to move everything that we had piled into the office/temporary master bedroom that had come from the other two rooms. The Squeeze didn't get home until 7:30. Luckily, our good friend and eager beaver, Dan, came over to help. Thank God! Because after moving just a few small items (if you consider a solid oak dresser to be small), my back gave out. I spent the remainder of the night hunched over and carrying small piles of books and such. I was pretty much useless when it came to things like book cases, dressers, desks, beds, and well, pretty much anything that couldn't be carried while I was at a 90 degree angle.
Dan and The Squeeze worked until about 10:30, removing the carpet that we're saving for a friend's basement, and giving me the underpad to roll up around the broken nailing strips from around the room. I was quite a sight, squatting on the floor rolling the stuff up, but it was more comfortable than standing.
Luckily, the next morning I was a fair bit more limber. The Squeeze and I got back in the room and tore out the baseboards and nails just as Jordan arrived to do the final room. I couldn't wait to get home that night to see the finished result. It was amazing. Instead of two rooms with carpet, one with laminate, a hardwood hallway and vinyl bathrooms, it's all hardwood (except the bathrooms, of course).
This weekend, young Norbert, the 22 year-old "kid" who works for me at my shop will be coming over to do all the new baseboards. This requires all of the furniture to be pulled a couple of feet from the walls tonight. I'm not terribly jazzed about that, but when I think that just about everything on the second floor will be done by the end of the weekend, it makes it a bit less painful to do. Unfortunately, The Squeeze is working late tonight, so I'll tackle that myself until I screw up my back. Then we have to pack because Saturday we leave for Chicago to see Yaz! I can't wait to see this concert. I'm not necessarily looking forward to an 8 hour drive, but I'm sure it will go fast. Ya, right.
# posted by Dave @ 2:30 PM 
