Remodel: Starting on the Floor

Well we got off to a slow start on the floor this weekend. To preface our story, I must say that installing hardwood flooring is a home improvement project that is very doable by the amateur do-it-yourselfer. But when you don't do this very often, there are all sorts of little things that you don't anticipate. Sorry for this long post but I want to document all of our trials and tribulations!

To put down our flooring we had to rent a pneumatic stapler (just a huge stapler powered by an air compressor). We spent early Sat. afternoon getting everything prepped. Then around 4pm Sat. Joel went and rented the stapler and picked up the few last supplies from Home Depot.

And then the problems began. We had to hand nail the first row of boards, which was time consuming (Joel had to pre-drill all the nail holes). When we got the stapler home, we realized that we were also going to have to hand nail the second row in order to allow room between the stapler and the wall. So that took extra time. Then we were ready to staple. But we had no clue how to use our new air compressor (we bought one since it cost about the same to rent it). After spending about 30 minutes learning how to operate the air compressor, we were finally ready to hook up the stapler. Then we realized that we didn't have the correct connector to connect it to the stapler. So that meant a trip to Home Depot.

OK, we were finally ready to get to the business of laying down the floor. We were working on row #3 when Joel had to take a break to cut a board to fit around an air vent. While cutting the board with his band saw, the blade came off the saw. He spent an hour fixing it. Just in case you are wondering, by this time it is 8 pm. We were both really tired at this point and worked very slowly until 10pm to finish 2 more rows.

But today (Sunday) we had a much more productive day. Joel worked from about 9-3 and I helped him until 1:45 (the girls had a birthday party to go to). We quickly realized that things would go much faster if I manned the stapler. Joel would pound the boards in place with a rubber mallet (they are tongue and grove so you have to wedge them together). Then I went behind him and stapled. That sounds so easy in writing but what I actually had to do was drag around this heavy stapler and then pound on it with a mallet to shoot out the staple. But I got lots of breaks when I had to stop and tend to the girls.

When we finished today, we had installed the bamboo flooring on an area that is 26'x6'. It was definitely slower than we anticipated but now that we have the technique down it should go much faster when we start back on it.

Also this week, we had an electrician come in and put in new lights. The chandelier in the picture is a totally new light--there was no light there before. Behind it you can see a 3 light spot-light there was a single spot light there that we had him replace. Adding light really improved the room dramatically--it had been so dark before. Now we can actually see our food when we eat (that is once we can move the table back into the room).

Stay tuned for more tales from the home improvement front! And next time I promise to get some action shots of Joel and I using the big power tools.