Wow! It's really been almost 3 months since I put something here? Just been really busy with the "real" world. Me 'n' the girl just took a week "staycation" to install new hardwood floors upstairs. I originally wanted bamboo, but I decided to go the even more eco route and get reclaimed hardwoods from Distinctive Building Materials. They buy like old barns, tear them down, and mill the wood into tongue-and-groove flooring. To top off the lefty feel-goodness, it's a local, woman-owned business.
We ordered it a few months ago and also ordered a pod that we moved half our shit into. Then I started doing prep work - tearing out the carpets, etc. When I was working on one of the rooms, I found a damp spot under the carpet. So, I rip off the baseboard, and it's covered in a beautiful black MOLD! Seems the AC drip pan had cracked and been spilling its contents in the attic for who knows how long?. I stuck a screwdriver through the ceiling and held a pitcher under the hole to catch the water. I went into the attic and removed handsful of sopping insulation. Fudge.
So, it cost me $350 to get the AC fixed. I got an estimate on drying the place out and rebuilding. It would've been just a couple grand, and I have a $1000 deductible. Since I could do it for about $100, that was a no-brainer. So, I pulled down 3-4 sheets of gyp board from the walls and ceiling, removed door casements, a light fixture and crown moulding. I had to scrub the framing with bleach and wait for it to dry then rebuild it. It wasn't super hard until the ceiling. The piece of drywall I had to cut for that was an irregular pentagon with a light fixture in the middle of it. I got a bevel gauge to measure the angles. I drew it out on the drywall twice with two different results. Finally, I just said fuck it and cut the thing. It was a little big, but I just forced it up there with a bit of crumbling. I didn't even cut the hole for the light fixture. I just pushed until the screws for the junction box broke through then sawed around them.
Most of the seams are covered by crown anyway, and the one that isn't got plenty of mud.
We got the wood (huh, huh) on like the 15th and had to let it sit for 5 days to "acclimate". During that time, we finished the preparation. After we took up the carpet and baseboards, we used vinegar to scrub up a few pet stains.
I scraped old mud off the floor and pounded in some nails, etc. Then we used some oil Kilz to seal the floor against added pet stains. That shit is effin' nasty. Just about Kilz'd us.
Eh, I'm tired of writing right now. You'll prolly have to wait another three months to get the rest of the story.
XO, betches.
m@
We ordered it a few months ago and also ordered a pod that we moved half our shit into. Then I started doing prep work - tearing out the carpets, etc. When I was working on one of the rooms, I found a damp spot under the carpet. So, I rip off the baseboard, and it's covered in a beautiful black MOLD! Seems the AC drip pan had cracked and been spilling its contents in the attic for who knows how long?. I stuck a screwdriver through the ceiling and held a pitcher under the hole to catch the water. I went into the attic and removed handsful of sopping insulation. Fudge.
So, it cost me $350 to get the AC fixed. I got an estimate on drying the place out and rebuilding. It would've been just a couple grand, and I have a $1000 deductible. Since I could do it for about $100, that was a no-brainer. So, I pulled down 3-4 sheets of gyp board from the walls and ceiling, removed door casements, a light fixture and crown moulding. I had to scrub the framing with bleach and wait for it to dry then rebuild it. It wasn't super hard until the ceiling. The piece of drywall I had to cut for that was an irregular pentagon with a light fixture in the middle of it. I got a bevel gauge to measure the angles. I drew it out on the drywall twice with two different results. Finally, I just said fuck it and cut the thing. It was a little big, but I just forced it up there with a bit of crumbling. I didn't even cut the hole for the light fixture. I just pushed until the screws for the junction box broke through then sawed around them.
Most of the seams are covered by crown anyway, and the one that isn't got plenty of mud.
We got the wood (huh, huh) on like the 15th and had to let it sit for 5 days to "acclimate". During that time, we finished the preparation. After we took up the carpet and baseboards, we used vinegar to scrub up a few pet stains.
I scraped old mud off the floor and pounded in some nails, etc. Then we used some oil Kilz to seal the floor against added pet stains. That shit is effin' nasty. Just about Kilz'd us.
Eh, I'm tired of writing right now. You'll prolly have to wait another three months to get the rest of the story.
XO, betches.
m@