Step Back and Regroup

Last week I went to buy the flooring we had planned to use in basically the entire house except for the bedrooms.  It was a new flooring sold by Home Depot and looked like hand scraped wood but was waterproof and very durable.  It was a mechanically locked together flooring system.  What I liked was I thought I could do the whole house in a day and it would look decent.

When I went to buy it they didn't have enough boxes and while waiting to order more I noticed a bunch on a pallet that had been returned.  When I inquired I was told some people were experiencing problems with the seams not holding.  Red Flag!  So we decided to re-evaluate our plans.

The result was that we will no do a more conventional system.  Ceramic in the hall and bathroom and solid wood floors in the family room and kitchen.  It will add about a month to the project completion and will be a LOT more work to install but at least I will be comfortable in knowing how it will perform and last and I will not have any seams coming loose.

So I spent the last 2 days installing the ceramic.  I still need to grout but I got the tiles installed.  Two days on my knees and bending over tested my endurance.  Ah hour before finishing I started getting back spasms but it held up long enough to "get er done".

Doors are done

Finished hanging the interior bi-fold doors.  Set the basement vanity and installed a shower door.  Trimmed out the loft with base and casing around the window.

In the loft I framed in (2) openings where there was "dead space" that runs the length of the room on both sides.  I will make a couple of doors to cover it and then we can use it for storage, or a secret clubhouse for the grand kids!

Kitchen Cabinets

Cabinets all in.  Now the guy will come measure to make the counter top.  This weekend I plan to install the vanity and sink in the basement bath along with a shower door so I will have a fully functioning bath if all goes well!

Relievers

In baseball you go to the bullpen when you need help.  Last week I was lucky to have a good friend help with the stone and this week my good friend Kent came up with me to help with the railing and cabinets.  Pictures below are of the railing.  I'll post the cabinet pictures when we finish it up next Tuesday.

Not Bad for Two Rookies

My good friend Pat helped me put the stone on the fireplace Tuesday.  Good thing he helped because we basically both worked non stop and set the last stone in place as the sun was setting.  Neither of us had ever installed stone before but we were pleased with how it turned out.  I still need to grout between the joints and glue the hearth stones in place but it is 95% complete.