This weeks Before and After is brought to you from my first floor hallway. I’m preparing to lay hardwood floors in about 2 weeks time. And there is a lot to get ready.
To prepare, I’m removing all the quarter-round, baseboards, carpet, carpet pad, and existing hardwood. It’s slow going but I hired Bryan to help (and it was well worth it).
The carpet was the easiest. I just took a box-cutter knife and cut it into strips. Then rolled them up and secured with tape. You wouldn’t imagine how much dust came up out of the carpet. It reminds me of Freds post about not installing carpet. The pad came up easily and I bound that into rolls too. But the installers sure used a lot of staples. We went over the entire area with pliers removing them one by one.
Before yesterday, I had a hardwood floor in my hallway. I debated keeping it and trying to integrate the new floor with the existing. In the end I decided to scrap it. Here’s my rationale. I wanted a seamless look and that would require removing a few boards and replacing them with new boards. Not the easiest task. The next obstacle would be to match a stain or refinish the boards. Either way I be applying the finish myself. And that is another job I’d much rather avoid.
I don’t feel like the pictures really do it justice but check em out.
Now it’s your turn! Link in your Before and After project here. Make sure and leave a comment.
Ugh. We had to remove forty-year-old carpet from our house before getting the floors refinished, and you’re right, there is an amazing amount of dust. And the staples! I will never install carpeting–hardwood or bamboo floors are the way to go!
I have damaged press wood on top of my subflooring that Im going to have to take up and I need to know what’s the best cutting tool for the job because I need to cut close to the molding as possible without cutting the subflooring ? Thanks