Hardwood Floors

Most of the floors in the parsonage were beautiful hardwood. But over time, they were carpeted. Eleven years ago we pulled up the carpet in the study, when we were turning it into a fourth bedroom. That was utterly atrocious carpet, early-70s colors, falling apart and warping from age, and thus tripping silly people who expected a floor to be relatively flat.

The living room, dining room, and hallway were newly carpeted shortly before we moved here 16 years ago. Carpeted in a very light gray. Kids live here. Kids eat in the dining room -- the carpeted dining room. The dining room that was once-upon-a-time carpeted in light gray. I've tried, but there's only so much you can do with a light colored carpet and eight people who actually live in a house all day every day, instead of just two people living in a home on evenings and weekends.

Andrew has been dying to pull up the carpet. A year or so ago, the church started talking about using AAL funds for new carpet. But I would so much rather have the hardwood with some area rugs. It'd be better for those of us with allergies than wall-to-wall carpet. So all this time, Andrew has been wanting to rip up carpet. I told him that, when we started, we would tackle only the hallway, a small section. That really gave him incentive. Doncha just know how cool it would be to go running across the living room and sliiiiiiide down the length of the hall in your stocking-feet?

Andrew has been so willing to do this work. But all along, I've told him it's a bigger job than he imagines. I kept telling him that we don't know exactly what's under there, and we don't know how we're going to have to deal with it. I kept telling him that I wasn't sure he could handle it on his own, and that he needed to wait until I could work with him so that we could "problem solve" our way through it together.

Tonight was the night. Two lessons learned:
first, how carpet is attached to floors -- with lots of nails pointing up;
second, that moms really do know what they're talking about when they say a job will take significantly longer than 14-yr-olds expect a job to take.

Although Andrew was disappointed in the large amount of work and time that the job entailed, it actually took far less time than I had expected. I think that's because my husband pitched in too, and Andrew really was a diligent worker. It was only two hours from starting to rip until the time the hardwood was all cleaned and washed. Even with nail holes still to be puttied, and even with a little water damage that had been done in previous years, it sure does look nice.