Ow.

[pjthompson]

We set out this weekend to pull up the carpet in the hall and begin the process of pulling it up in my bedroom. This was a horribly tacky old brown carpet that's been in the house since the roommate bought it in 1987. The house was built in the early fifties and we knew there were hardwood floors under there that had probably been covered in carpet since the house was new. We were hoping they were in good shape because next to the brand new black and white tiled floor in my bathroom, that carpet looked truly barfworthy.

Hallelujah! They were nearly pristine. Or okay, pretty darned good. Dirty, of course, and unpolished—but gorgeous. There's a tiny bit of water stain from a disaster that must have happened before the roommate moved in, and a tiny strip of dry rot just at the junction of hall and bathroom, but those are very fixable.

My knees, hips, and back are trashed, but the reward was worth it. We haven't finished taking up all the tacking strips, but we wuz tired. We'll do the rest in increments. Same with the bedroom. So I'm going to be living with a pinto pony in there for awhile—partly horrid brown carpet and partly beautiful hardwood floors. But there's only so much weekend warrioring either of us can take.

I'll be glad to get back to work so I can rest up and get some writing done. :-)

The painter comes tomorrow to do the bathroom and hall and when he's done we'll polish the floors. I'll try to post before and after shots when I'm a little less snoozerific.

Comments

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

That's a pretty sweet deal -- hardwood floors can be pretty expensive to put in. Some day someone will explain why people decide to cover them up...

[pjthompson]

Back in the day carpets were considered far more high class than hardwood floors. Only poor people had hardwood. And there's all this mythology about how hard hardwood floors are to take care of.

[kmkibble75.livejournal.com]

Ah, that would exlpain it.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

cool! What an excellent find, just like on all those tv shows.

So, was the carpet a frosted brown?

[pjthompson]

cool! What an excellent find, just like on all those tv shows.

Yeah! It was actually watching some of those shows that got me to pull up a hidden corner and see what was under there.

So, was the carpet a frosted brown?

Thank God, not frosted, but bwoogity!

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

You know what's messed up? Now you're going to put down throw rugs. WTF, man?

[pjthompson]

Not too many. I lived with a hardwood floor once before and had minimal throw rugs. I live in a climate that rarely gets cold enough where they're needed.