Vaughnshire Farm

So if the carpet removal in four rooms and the hallways took about an hour, how long will it take to get the 30 year old linoleum out of the kitchen?

Actually this is two layers of linoleum - and don’t forget we laid a nice new parquet wood floor over the top of both of these just a few months prior to this exercise. Here is one more before look.

So how long? The answer is a very long time. As of today we are still not finished. We demolished and rebuilt the entire bathroom and the kitchen floor is still needing some “final scraping”. But we did get it about 90% complete and we may say at some point that it is finished… That will depend on the new floor installation as we look forward to that.

We started the removal by removing the base boards. We were then able to take our pole scrapers and cut under the wood floor and the first layer of linoleum. This came out in roles as we cut the edges and rolled both floors together like a big carpet role. While it took what seemed like several hours, we eventually got down to the nice yellow and orange 70’s floor. This was the beginning of the end. I would give this first part (the top two layers) a 6 on the level of manual effort involved. There was a lot of cutting with a long pole scraper that needed to be sharpened with the grinder and a lot of manual rolling the floor, which was fairly heavy.

Once it was complete, we looked long and hard at the final layer that had the 30 year old hard glue melting it into the floor boards. We took one look at it and called it a day and went home. The next day, all refreshed and ready for a long hard day of manual scraping we started nice and early and it did not take too long before we abandoned the kitchen and started on the bathroom. We soon found out the bathroom had the same time harden 70s flooring in there as well.

So we scraped and scratched, and scraped some more. After uncovering a 10 or maybe on the outside 20 square feet area of the floor, we decided that it was time for a bon fire to burn some of the yard waste and to clean up some of the brush. As we enjoyed the outdoors we discussed the notion that somewhere on this earth someone had to run into this situation before and they probably had a solution to our problem - if we just knew the right folks to ask. We enjoyed the afternoon outdoors and called it a day.

It was several days before we made it back to the house for another “work day”. Before we came back we made a trip into town to Lowes, or as our 4 year old calls it L-O-W-E-S. I stopped in the nations tool rental center and asked him if he had some kind of floor scraper that would remove 30 year old yellow and orange 70’s style linoleum. The guy didn’t even flinch, he walked me over to the corner and promptly introduced me to what we now affectionately call “The Machine”. For as little as 60 bucks for the day along with an extra blade and a few other floor scraping accessories, we could load up The Machine and take it to our house. I was loading it in the van before the cash register could complete the transaction.

I should probably explain a little bit about The Machine. First it was a rental. This means that I still have no idea how it was suppose to work, because there were several broken pieces which I fixed, several times. Next this contraption had a 50 pound weight sitting on the front of it above the nice sharp cutting blade. It was electric powered, although it made the noise of a Harley. The directions say do not put weight on the blade, but let the machine role on the back wheels across the floor.

All this produces is a floor with a few deep gouges in it every few inches. It did not remove the floor at all. A quick aside, you notice the nice padded gloves in the picture. This was not because it was cold. This thing was a jack hammer, with a blade and wheels. You would think with all the noise and vibration that the floor would jump up and run out of the house. But no… not this floor. It actually wanted a tool that could remove it. Not just make noise and vibrate the brains out of the operator.

Never the less, I discovered that if you did indeed lift the machine off the back wheels and put the full weight of the machine on the chopping blade that it did actually remove some flooring… about 5 inches at a time. 5 inches is better than no inches so we proceeded to spend the day being vibrated around the kitchen by this massive electronic jack hammer with wheels until we could not see any more of the 70’s yellow and orange.

That is not to say the floor was removed. That’s just to say that the top layer had been scraped off. Somehow, while we were getting this top layer we also managed to get several nail heads from the sub floor as well. Of course they wouldn’t be cut off The Machine would just jam on them and not move past them, until you stopped the machine, straightened the blade, and beat the nail back down into the floor board.

Of course as soon as you start the vibrathon machine back up it promptly vibrates the nails back up out of the floor. So this is how the day progressed and how we arrived at a mostly stripped floor at the end of a long day.

Unfortunately we only had the machine for one 24 hour period so we started the next day nice and early and went over the high places once more which is how we have arrived at a floor that is about 90% scraped and ready for flooring. But before we return this industrial strength beast we still have the small matter of the bathroom. It was just as stubborn as the kitchen, but at least it was small… then again it was small. Did I mention that The Machine was over three feet front front to back?

That’s right just a little smaller than the average width of a small bathroom. We did find a second use for The Machine however, … if your ever looking for a quick method of removing a toilet let me know and I’ll tell you about it. Ok so we didn’t quit resort to using The Machine to break apart the toilet, but I thought the thing was going to vibrate in two before we were finished.

We made it through a fairly tough day. I’d have to rate this one about an 8 for physical exertion, manual labor, and endurance. The machine was heavy and the vibration for wearisome. In the end, we were very thankful for having been introduced to The Machine. If you ever need to remove your 1970’s flooring, make a trip down to the local tool rental place and tell them you’d like to meet The Machine. I’d recommend it above all the other tools I found for this job. Oh wait, there weren’t any!

After moving the stairs and finishing the build out on the bunk bed the house was occupied for two years and we did not do too much work on it - other than the addition of the kitchen floor, which is seen below. Now that the house is empty and we are planning on moving in, we had to decide what to do to fix up the house and get it ready for our family of nine.

The first thing we tackled was the floors. It had carpet throughout, with the exception of the kitchen and the bath room. We determined that it is easier (and cleaner) to sweep the floor rather than vacuum so the plan is to put hardwood floors through out. Actually, we have determined that we will simulate hardwood floors with a Corning product, which we’ll show you when we get to that phase.

First for the demolition. Having determined that the carpet and current flooring needed to go, we let the kids loose with tools. You’ve never seen a happier face on a couple young men with hammers and pry bars as they are told that it all has to go. The carpet took what seemed like just a few moments. I don’t think I touched it except to drag the roles out of the house. You can see the remains of the last room in the hallway below.

Now that the carpet was out of the way, we had to get started on the trim.

Never mind the fire raging in the ditch out the window, it was leaves. Again we set the demolition crew in motion. It did not take too much longer for the carpet and all the trim to be completely removed.

Here are two of the demolition crew. Followed by their brother below.

The saying, many hands make light work, has never been truer as we worked along side of one another, it seemed like the carpet and trim was done in no time. Not only did I enjoy watching the children learn how to use tools and enjoy themselves at the expense of the poor house, the work was completed quickly and somewhat efficiently.

Of course that was the easy part. There was one small lesson learned during this process. Pry bars will make holes in the wall. So unless you plan on doing some putty work be careful.

The next challenge was what to do with 2 layers of linoleum, one of which has been down for almost 30 years! It was not an easy task, but we found a tool that helped with the job… well it helped a little. More on that next time. For now it’s time to paint.

Here is a quick view of the kitchen as it stands now. We are about to start on it this next week as we finish up the bathroom. I will be posting more on the bathroom remodel as I get time. For now, I just wanted to test out the photo uploads and make sure it is going to work.

Remember I mentioned the ceilings and the texture. The kids are scraping, but boy have we learned some lessons on the small little ceiling in the bathroom… we’re still not looking forward to the Kitchen. If only we hadn’t moved those stairs and left that big ugly spot on the ceiling.

It’s be fixed soon, but I’m tired already.

It’s seems that I forgot one other “minor” project we completed when the floor was done. We built in a bunk bed over the new stairs, once they were moved. In order to salvage the use of the bedroom and double the use of the space, we built the bunk directly over the stairs.

This worked well for my nephew who enjoyed the “elevated” bed and the cubby hole at the head of the bed. I don’t have any photos of the actual remodel while it was in progress, but I’ll try to get some added as I get a chance.

We are currently making good progress on the house, but not on the blog. I try to get it caught up a little this weekend.

So if you ever look at a set of stairs and think to yourself, “I’d really like those to be somewhere else”. Read this post before you reach for your saw! I would do it again, mind you, but I would have a much better idea of what I was in for. First here is a picture of the stairs in the kitchen when we first bought the house. (Refer to the last post for the house layout or view this image.)

I stated previously that we were already in work on this project. I should probably clarify that as I look at the size of my children here in this photo. We bought this house 3 years ago. We made the first couple changes I’ll be covering back then. My sister lived in the house for a couple years and now we are continuing with the remodel plan. So you will see some older pictures of the stairs, the expansion of the doorway between the living room and the kitchen, and a little work in the kitchen, mostly around the removal of the stairs, but also some trim work, and paint. Also, since you will see these same working children in some of the newer pictures I didn’t want you thinking we had some kind of super growth hormone we put in our foods here in TN.

So the first thing I did is pick up a hammer and knock a whole in the center of the wall in the dinning room. Not for any particular reason other I always wanted to be able to pick up a hammer and knock a whole in the wall and never had the opportunity. (sorry I couldn’t find that picture, but I’m still looking) After a great anticipatory let down when nothing happened other than a hole appeared in the wall, I pick up a screw driver and the hammer and started removing the trim.

Notice the narrow standard size door I’m working over, this was a 32″ doorway (If I remember correctly - it was small anyway) and the first thing we did was knock out about 20 or so inches to expand it into more of a walk through.

You can see the new dimensions of the door after we made the cuts here. We removed the paneling and sheet rocked the remaining portion of the wall shown exposed here. Also shown is the move of the stair well door. Notice the open stairs to the right and the new door to the left. If you were to open this door at this point, it would go into the back side of the closet in bedroom 1.

The next effort was to remove the stairs from their old position and remove the walls, thus adding a good 3 and a half feet to the kitchen. It makes sense, at least to me, that if you are going to move a large family into a small house then the kitchen and dinning space is going to be a premium. But then again, it made sense to me to start this project to begin with so I may or may not be a reliable source. At any rate, that was our chief motivation for moving the stairs in the first place.

Here is a view of the old stairs from below. The calm before the storm.

The storm begins as we stripped off more paneling and removed the coat closet that was in the living room and over the end of the stairs.

You can still see the door to the closet, and the 30 year old nicotine stains around the old cabinets. Notice, the paneling to guard against the open pit below. Once I figured out I had created a small child hazard, I had to get the new place for the stairs ready so they could be moved and my wife could be at ease again with the children “working with daddy”.

I first started with a drill and made a hole in the floor board - then proceeded to use the new reciprocating saw that I justified just for this project. Ah yes, did I mention new projects justify new tools? You should see what I got when we started the bathroom! OK, back to the floor, before I get carried away….

Just a note of caution, you should really watch out for electrical outlets when you start cutting on walls, moving floors, etc… they tend to get in the way, and I understand the can be dangerous….don’t ask me how I know. Just a word to the wise, one man to another - I would also recommend that your wife not be present with you when you work with electricity… it’s easier on her that way.

So after much demolition of the closet, the outlets, and anything else that got in the way, I was finally able to role back the carpet and get a clear run with the recip saw. It did great.. I was a little shaky, but the saw did great. I somehow got a hole in the floor the size of the stairs, more or less. Now I had two holes in the floor where small children could fall through! The plus side, was that the old floor made a great landing for the bottom of the stairs.

Now to actually move the stairs. Did you know that apparently sometimes they cement stairs in the basement when they poor the basement? I did not. Neither did it ever occur to me, until I had every nail, screw, and anything else that looked like an attaching device removed from the stairs and they still would not move. I would also add that the nails they use in the attaching of stairs are not small and don’t just “pop right out” as most other nails one commonly comes in contact with. As a frequent stair user, I’m thinking this is a good thing. However, as one who was then trying to move the stairs I couldn’t for the life of me think of what the people who installed these were so afraid of.

So the concrete… I finally figure out the stairs were not just sitting on the basement floor, but that they actually extend - for some distance I might add - beneath the floor. Fortunately, I had this great new tool… did I mention the new recip saw? Yea it’s great. I wouldn’t destroy a house without one. So I cranked it up and left nothing by nubs sticking out of the concrete where the stairs use to be.

Of course now I had a bigger problem. The stairs were free. Do you know how much stair weight? Me neither… but they’re heavy. The first thing I thought of, was no wonder they had all those rail road spikes hold these things up! What a massive work of wood. Somehow, with the use of straps, chains, and ropes I managed to get the stairs down without breaking anything on me or them. If I recall correctly, they laid on the basement floor for several days before I would even consider dragging them to the new hole in the floor and look longingly up at the top towards the new door and wonder how in the world I would lift the massive things back up to the floor they are suppose to connect to.

Again through the miracle of ropes and chains, and what ever else I could find to prop them up with at the various stages of “lifting” I managed to get them “hung” on the main floor again. I say hung because it took me a while to find a railroad supply store to get the right size spikes to secure them properly! But in the end, they were moved and are still standing today after a couple good years to test them out properly.

I did still however, have two big holes in the floor. All I had done was trade the location of the stairs, I hadn’t made any progress in securing the place for small children, who by now were learning to not fall down big holes… just kidding, but they were learning to stay away from them! I don’t think I have any pictures of the replacement of the floor in the kitchen. I know my father was in town that week and helped out with that project along with my youngest brother, but it seems that we were too busy swinging hammers to pick up a camera. If I find any I will post them later. But we just laid “matching” boards around the hole we had made and then extended the support joists underneath as close enough to perfect as we were able. One glitch, was we had to replicate the extra layer of linoleum on the old floor so we purchased a cheap patch of it from Fred’s and put it down… worked like new and provided the foundation for the wood flooring we put in latter. (Some men from the church, surprised my sister while she was out of town, so this was an unplanned project that ended up being a temporary solution for my sister, but that we are changing currently. - more on that later too) Speaking of later, be sure to note the “hanging” electrical outlet. It just keeps getting in the way.

At any rate, here is the new kitchen as it appeared after the musical stairs and doors game and after the new floor.

Notice the ceiling that needs attention… I’m sure you will hear me talk a lot about it in the not too distant future. As Peyton and I worked on this today in the rather small area in the bathroom, it is all I can do to lift my hands to the keyboard. I’m not looking forward to the kitchen. We are trying to get rid of the 1970s texture. If anyone has any ideas, please let me know. We are scraping and sanding.

This post covers three years… not in actual work on the house or attention time, but in actual living time. This will bring us up to the current projects that have been taking place during the last couple of months. We should be able to catch up fairly quickly now that we have moved into the current year. Take a good look at this picture, because now that we have all that finished, we removed it all… all the way to the studs. More next time.

- Paul TN

I should mention as we get into this, that this project has already begun and there has been a lot of work that has already taken place, so for the first several posts, it will not be occurring “live”. We are currently working on the bathroom, but the posts will start from the beginning to catch you up to the current live status. This shouldn’t be too hard as I find that typing goes faster than hammering.

Next, I should probably start by giving you a few details about the layout of the house, so you’ll know what we are trying to accomplish.

First it is a very basic 1,000 sq ft. house. 40′ X 25′ It sits on a basement and is positioned on a slope so that the front of the house is 5 steps above the ground and the back is level to the ground but also accommodates a fairly aggressive slope from front to back. There are 9 windows 2 personal doors, one sliding door (to the deck) and one garage door. We will be focusing most of the attention upstairs first and then after that is complete we plan to move into the house as we work on the basement.

Here is a simple floor plan of the upstairs portion that we’ll be working on.

The stairs are shown in light blue in their new location, as they have already been moved, but they were originally on the kitchen wall that boarders the living room. The first steps we took were to widen the entrance to the kitchen and to move the stairs into bedroom 1.

That is where we will start in the next entry. Moving the stairs. Feel free to leave comments if I leave anything un-clear.

All the modern psycho dribble says that men like to fix things, that we are rough on our wives because we always try to “fix their problems and they just want to vent, to talk, to communicate”. It occurs to me that perhaps we over focus on our wives because we have nothing else to do. We live in a soft society where men, don’t have any real adventures to set upon. Where is the wild west Teddy Roosevelt explored, or the Mississippi river mapped out by Lewis and Clark? They have been conquered and explored. What do we have left to fix other than our wives? Not that any of our wives needs fixin mind you. It’s just when you don’t have anything else to do you began to strive for perfection in the things that are close by!

Face it men, either we are playing a part in some greedy, money hungry “barbarians at the gate” ritual, or we are simply driving to work, so we can turn around and drive home from work, so we can eat dinner and get some rest so we can drive back to work so we can drive home from work…you get the picture.

If this sounds familiar to you and you are tired of the traveling. I have a solution for you, pick up a hammer and hit something… not just anything, but a project. Build, construct, create have some fun. Your wife might be a little resistant at first, but simply remind her what I stated above, if you fixing something else you want have to be looking for something to fix around the house!

OK, so now that I’ve at least attempted to justified this insane project, I’ll give you a little bit of the focus and what we hope to accomplish. First we are a family of 9 now , after our latest edition. The project house is currently 1,000 sq ft. (shown below) Our current house is 2400 sq ft which we bought brand new 4 years ago.

Welcome to My Home Remodel! I’ve had such a hard time finding useful information as we started our complete home make over, I decided to blog it all down for others to enjoy.

I don’t claim an particular expertise, other than I’m remodeling my home and I’ll walk you through what I do and show you pictures along the way. That way you can decide if I should have done it that way or not!

We’ll try to keep it fairly regular between the actual work being done and the time it takes to keep the BLOG updated.

I should add that I’ve taken a three month leave of absence to be at home while my wife gave birth to our seventh child and to complete this project. For photos of the baby visit here. For photos of the house, stay tuned.