They are in and I am in love! My floors were installed all day on Monday and all day on Tuesday. I could not love them more, but here is a list of the surprising things I learned about laying hardwood.
1. It takes way longer to glue hardwood than nail it. My dad’s job was bigger but he had wood floor rather than concrete on the bottom. The whole thing was done in a matter of 6 hours. Mine took closer to 24 hours of actual work.
2. Transitions, stair noses, the padding for underneath, and the glue are VERY EXPENSIVE. I needed 25 feet of transitions to put between the doors down the hall and in the room where we were separating the carpet and the flooring. I also needed three of the front of the stairs to make the stair edge. I was totally expecting these few boards to cost oh say around $100.00 – $420.00 later, I was trying to decide if I had lost my mind in this project. Then, I knew I had after it was too late to turn back and I needed a 5 gallon bucket of glue for $150.00 and a roll of padding for $109.00. So much for the good deal on the actual wood.
3. Hardwood laying guys don’t tack the carpet back down (at least my guy didn’t, and I couldn’t be mad, cause he did an AMAZING job and I am not even sure he ate or drank anything during the 24 hours he was at my house). So, here I am with this amazing wood floor and carpet that is able to be lifted up and is fraying all over the place. Now, the only reason I could see this as a good thing is to be able to lift up the carpet to sweep all the dirt under, but since I didn’t think this really should be left this way, I realized it must be fixed. I thought I would just do it myself until my dad informed me that I needed to find a carpet guy to do it. Greg and I have a rule: if my dad will do it himself, we may think about it and may actually do it; if my dad would outsource the task, we won’t dream of doing it.
To Craigslist I went and found an ad for a guy that does carpet repair and stated no job was too small. I called him and he said he could come out that night to do the job. I called Greg to assure he would be home before us as I was sure I was going to be killed that night. I said my final goodbyes to everyone just in case, and went home to wait. I kept the kids close and right on time the car pulled up and out jumped Rick. I recited that saying in my head – Don’t judge a book by its cover, and let him in. Rick looked a little scary and I kept thinking maybe this wasn’t a good idea after all. We agreed on a price, well, he told me his price and I didn’t argue as something about him screamed out that he could use the money. So, an hour and $150.00 later, the carpet in the living room and at the end of the hall was secured down tight. A half an hour after that, he was back to do the door I forgot about. On my own choice, I paid him an extra $20.00 for coming back he told me that he really appreciated it and that he could really use the money and work has been very slow. He looked so happy as he told Greg and I that this particular day was a “blessed day” as he had a job with a friend in the day and then I called for this job. Ok, scruffy or not, I was so happy and every cent was worth the cost.
4. The room doesn’t feel less cozy, smaller, like two rooms, etc. All my fears were unfounded.
5. And the final surprising thing about the floors is that Greg and I actually love it so much.
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