We’re Floored

Monday: Still working down at Dawn's place in San Jose. Today we tried to figure the most efficient way to de-goo the floor after removal of the old vinyl tile. We're installing linoleum and did not want the little squares to show through. In addition, many of the old tiles are loose or broken. And the final reason for removing the old flooring is that we do not have enough room under the kitchen counters to afford another 1/4 inch of new floor thickness. The dishwasher barely fits right now.

When we told the other tenant in the house of the new floors, we learned there was some damage to the sub-floor in their bathroom. Today, I exposed enough of that to know how serious it is. Not too serious. Evidently the tubs shower door leaked at both ends and there is some damage under the toilet. It's mostly just a job for under-layment repair except for a spot with minor termite damage. This house was built in 1917 and the bathroom floor was leveled with about 3/4 of an inch of leveling compound on one side. Fortunately, the leveling compound is still good. Tomorrow I should be able to remove the rest of the floor and make the repairs to the under-layment and fix the leaks as well.

Lou finished the goo removal in Dawn's kitchen. With the technique perfected, the other tenant's family room, kitchen and breakfast nook should go fairly quickly. They come to install the flooring this Friday so it looks like we'll meet the deadline.

Tuesday: Lou started to remove the tiles in the kitchen while I goofed off and went to the store to get material for the bathroom floor repair. She called shortly to say that a bunch of the tiles wouldn't come up. I worked most of the rest of the day chiseling off stubborn ones, about a dozen were replaced due to some water damage a number of years ago. We evidently did a wonderful job, that time. We managed to complete most of the family room (9x9), kitchen (9x12) and breakfast nook (7x7).

Wednesday: I concentrated on the bathroom floor repair while Lou finished up in the kitchen. I moved out the range, refrigerator, and dishwasher for her. It was a bit difficult to get the floor back together in time for the tenants use this evening. The damage was a bit more than I had hoped. And, of course, moving the commode is always a thrill. But, mission accomplished.

Thursday: We drove down to San Jose separately. We just had a few things left to do to prepare for the floor installation tomorrow.

Lou has a dentist appointment at 1pm. She came down a little later after mailing our tax returns. No it isn't April, but it is almost 3 months after April and our extension times out. Enough procrastination. We were on the road at tax time, enjoying Western Colorado I think. Last weekend, I prepared the forms using TaxCut, then Lou reviewed and supplemented the information. So off they go.

I pulled out the washer and dryer to remove the flooring under them. i then started a little repair to the under-layment under the diswasher to remove a little bump caused by some water damage a few years ago. Lou arrived and stripped the goo from the floor where the washer and dryer were. i stripped the rest of the floor in the bathroom. Almost done now.

Dawn returned from her class and we enjoyed some leftover pizza from the House Of Pizza for lunch. Great pizza, one of the few things we miss from when we lived there. Then Lou went off to her dental appointment and Dawn went with her.

I remained to cleanup and re-caulk the bathtub shower door. Hopefully preventing further damage to the floor. A call from the tenant would have been helpful.

All done. I was home by 3pm and enjoyed a little R&R in the backyard.

Friday: I headed down to San Jose arriving by 0830 to meet the installers. They were scheduled to arrive between 9-11.

Lou and Dawn came down separately. Dawn's final exam was scheduled for 1000. I walked Dawn to her test and Lou called to say the installers had arrived as i was just starting to return. It's all of three blocks away from the house. Lou watched them while I headed out to the stores to try to get some supplies. It took visits to three stores to get everything that a good hardware store used to provide. When I did return, they already had the floor prepared and were doing a dry fit. This is a very complex installation being sort of an "s" shape going from the breakfast nook, through the kitchen into the family room, all in one piece being about a 30' piece that dodges all the kitchen cabinets. Because the whole thing is also nearly 20' wide, there is also some piecing in the nook and family room but the main path through the house is one piece. It was almost painful to watch them get it in but it worked out pretty well. Except, they were not able to finish, only completing the big piece and the rest of the nook. Monday, they will return to complete the bathroom and Dawn's kitchen and finally the family room. This didn't please the tenants but what are you going to do? Hind site is 20/20 and it's obvious that it would have been better to have scheduled it for Thursday but then we would have still needed to have the place torn up some through the previous weekend to repair the under floors. It will be nice when it's done.

This is an old house with real, wide board baseboards. I didn't want a bunch of vinyl baseboard nor quarter round additions so I removed the baseboards for that "perfect" look when they are finished. I reinstalled the wood baseboards in the breakfast nook and painted them so at least it was ready to move in to. It was rather late when I left but earlier than I had planned since I didn't have to also complete the family room baseboards.

Lou and Dawn headed down to Fresno after lunch to help Lou's sister move into her new house.

Saturday: Before the installers left Friday, they replaced the washer, dryer, refrigerator and range. Unfortunately, the water valves for the washer leaked when they were turned on. I came down this morning to replace the valves. Since I was there, I also re-installed the dishwasher. I got home about 3pm. Long week. Time to relax.

Sunday: A day of rest.
Monday: Up early to get to San Jose to meet the floor crew. They finished the installation with ease about 1 pm. I installed most of baseboards. I still have to install the baseboards in the tow holes of the kitchen and bathroom counters. I was going to use vinyl base molding but I've had enough trouble getting it to stick to the wall, like always, that I've changed my mind and will install plastic baseboard molding instead to see how it works. I tightened the copper tubing connector under the dishwasher which stopped the leak. I finished up about 4pm. I stopped by Home Depot to get the base molding and will install it tomorrow. I also still need to finish Dawn's apartment baseboards and move her back into her kitchen.

Tuesday: (estimated) Sears returns to attempt the repair of the dishwasher which has an error code showing. I'll finish up with Dawns place. I understand it might rain Wednesday, which is bad timing as that is when I can finally get back to the concrete work there.

The Future: Sometime next week, we, hopefully, will head out in the RV for a few weeks for some much needed rest and recuperation. But first, I'll need to actually pour the concrete walk in San Jose.