We Installed Some Floors!!!

Author:  Spring (Jordan)

First of all I would like to thank everyone for the birthday wishes.  I had a great birthday.  Now I would like to wish a big Happy Birthday to my Mom aka Autumn.  Happy Birthday Mom!!!

Another one of our DIY projects is finally finished. After tackling our back yard and building a patio (here), replacing the windows in our Florida room (here), and having the outside of our house repainted (here), we got up the nerve and stamina to take on another biggy.

(Before)

 The floor in the room was a huge eyesore.  I noticed it the moment we walked in the front door when we looked at this house over a year ago.  We waited till this winter to take on the project because the last thing we want to do is be inside when it is nice out.

To our surprise we found the original hardwood underneath all the tile.  You can read about it and see pictures here. We asked for your opinion on if we should work with or replace the old floors.  Thanks for all your input.  We loved reading what you had to say. But, after discussing the pros and cons of both choices, we  decided to rip it up and put down new pre-finished Bruce flooring.  We matched our existing floors as closely as as we could, but it’s impossible to replicate the patina of the existing floors.

 

This is what the 1928 subfloor looked like after ripping up all of the old hardwood.  The blue tape was for us to know where the beams were located.

 

 After removing the old hardwood and paper, we discovered a few things that made it take a little longer than expected.  There were two large holes that were covered with the tile.  It is part of the return for the duct work.  However, part of it was missing.  This was right up Mr. Spring’s alley so he went to town fixing it.  On the other side of the room there was a box that made the floor a little raised and we knew that wasn’t going to work with our flooring plan.  Mr. Spring went to town again and rerouted the duct work from the basement to the Florida room.

 

Here is an overhead shot of part of the duct work he repaired.  However, we still had a hole in the floor since only one side was the return.

 

Mr. Spring cut a piece of wood to fit into the section we would not need.  After that we were finally ready to put down the new floor.

 

 Decked out in my work gear, I stapled down the paper.  I LOVE  this staple tool.  This whole process to staple down the paper took less than five minutes.

 

We opened all the boxes of the flooring and mixed them up because the colors were slightly different between each box.  We used 3/4 inch  Bruce Hardwood that we purchased from Home Depot.  It cost us $2.99 a square foot.  Not bad for real hardwood!

The floor hung out in our house for two weeks before it was installed.  The directions said to let it acclimate for at least 72 hours, so meanwhile we decided to head off to Utah for a week-long ski vacation to let the wood adjust.  Not a bad life…..

 

Once we started actually installing, we had a great system.  I was laying out the pieces and knocking them into place, and Mr. Spring came behind me with the nail tool we rented.  It was safety first with the eye and ear protection.  I didn’t really need the eye glasses since Mr. Spring was doing the cutting, but I forgot they were on.  Besides, the photo makes me look really official.

 

Mr. Spring nailed floor with the blind nailer, which  we rented from Home Depot.  He used his nail gun when he was by the wall, because this wouldn’t work.

 

The floor is down at this point.  Mr. Spring marked out where the return will be and made a cut. You can see the old floor and new floor matched up perfectly so we had a smooth transition and didn’t need to add a wood piece for the connection.

 

Now the floor return is installed, and the duct work is correct.

 

I am thrilled with the results.  We still need to paint the bottom trim and add a little piece of wood but overall I love the look.

 

To go from this…….

To this is amazing.  I am so happy.  Our house feels like we added square footage because it is no longer a random room. There is a good flow from the living room to the sunroom now. Overall, the actual part of installing the floor was a lot easier than we thought.  So, if you want to attempt this in your own place,  do not hesitate.  Stay tuned as we add furniture and eventually build some pieces for the room.

*****

Our $50 gift card to The Container Store ends at midnight Tuesday.  You have three ways to win.  Go here for more details.

Cheers!!

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Birthday image from google.