Feb 22 2009
Operation: Home Reno Apocalypse, minus the apocalypse
I owe everyone an apology. It seems we never took any real “before” photos when embarking on this project, so instead I’ve posted a picture of the living room of our house as it was when we bought the place.
The floors were one of the big features of the house when we first looked at it. The wide pine floors looked beautiful, but after settling in we discovered that there was no subfloor, and every step we took caused a bounce in our step that seemed genuinely bad from a structural perspective.
The paint job (off white walls and dark brown trim) when combined with the relatively dark floors conspired to turn our living room area into a dark den of despair. Compounded by the creaking that was caused by the slightest movement and the fact that I could make the TV sway by bouncing a bit on the couch.
This then was to be our vacation. Budgeted for $1200 we planned to attack the living room/den in a multi-pronged assault. First floor would be supported as best we could from below. Sections of 2×8s were used to box in the joists, where 2×8s couldn’t be used (due to wiring, plumbing and so forth) 2×4 lengths were used in the hopes that some support was better than none.
We then promoted the floor to “sub-floor” status and used approximately 500 screws to secure every floor board to every joist. The effect was immediate and startling. The floor became a floor, rather than a trampoline.
The next stage was patching cracks and holes and priming the dark trim, we hit a scheduling snag here when the plaster work conflicted with the painting, but we managed to make it work.
Priming and painting then sort of overlapped as we tried to brighten the rooms just a bit.
The Floors:
With the new (old) subfloor properly supported and screwed down we finally got started on the new floors. We had originally selected a blond maple as the new floor, but on a last minute check of a local flooring place had come across a nice bright bamboo and decided that it’d be perfect (both from an Eco and a fiscal perspective).
It’s easiest to think of the living room as one large rectangular room bisected midway along it’s length by an archway, leaving us two small sections of wall that jut into the room.
This presented us with a challenge. We wanted to run the new floor across the joists, but this meant that we had to do some fiddly work making everything match up right.
We got off to a slow start spending WAY too much time measuring and planning, but finally the crash of the power nailer could be heard through the house and we were off.
The start was slow, as we had to finish the first side of the first projection, and then measure the second side out carefully so they would mate up properly (and of course figuring out how to continue the pattern in the wood).
Once we got past the first projection we made great time, even fitting in a social call before calling it quits and prepping for the second day.
We finished the nailing 30 minutes before the power nailer was due back to home depot. Then raced back and got tucked into the last few rows of wood, and finally the quarter round.
Misc other aspects of the project loomed (addition of an new cable jack, telco and two cat5 jacks in the room to replace surface mounted stuff), but just a bit behind schedule we started moving furniture back into the room and shortly there after we could be found lounging on the couch.
The Finished Product:
Several times through this I felt like I was getting drowned in the little details and that we were being overly ambitious with either the scope or our estimates of time (or both).
We painted the shelving to match the trim, got most of the electical covers back in place (we’ll need to pick up some new covers so they match…details) and everything looks presentable, no?
So you ask, finally, what was the damage?
We had budgeted about $1200 for the project;
$700 for the flooring.
$350 for misc wood and paint.
$150 for tool rental.
We truthfully went just a smidge over budget, but some of that is tool cost and that doesn’t really count, now does it?
Hey! - if you can bring it in within 10-15% of budget, you’re doing better than most people. Especially on an old-house reno, where there are always surprises.
Better to spend a bit more time measuring and planning than not enough … LOL!!
But the result looks great, worth the effort, and painting those bookcases does really make a difference in terms of brightening up the room.
Don’t forget the ‘before’ pictures next time
Wow, looks great!
There’s just something about fresh paint, makes everything seem clean and new.
For “The first big house project”, you really did get kind of ambitious.
No bouncing, squeaking or huge splinters any more? Don’t reno all the “Charm” out of the place…:)
You didn’t even go far over budget/time, I say crack a cold one and enjoy the short
pause till the next project.
If at the end of the project you have all the digits, limbs and loved ones you started with, you must be doing something right.
I’m really impressed with what you and Lisa has done. I can’t wait to see it in person and at least Lisa was around to ensure it gets done right.
Dad: We’re pleased with the fiscal aspects, we anticipated going over-budget by about $100-200, but the initial decrease in material costs gave us more room to play. Also nice was that the project was paid for (mostly) by saved money instead of borrowed money. Makes enjoying the floors that much better.
Piet: Thanks man!
Agreed, new paint is likely the best money spent on any reno project.
Some stress during, but we already talked about that…
-GRIN-
Internet problems have resurfaced, am now exploring other options for sorting our phantom disconnect down.
Grrrr….
Marc: Holy frejoles! They let you out?
-GRIN-
You’re always welcome out here, let me know when you’re schedule allows for a dinner and we’ll make it happen!
Now that you are finished can you come over and do my place. Arn’t renos fun. Good job and looks like you had a great little helper.
Cheers
Nice work. I’d really like to own a house but until the market stops collapsing I still can’t afford one.
Looks super! Hope you really enjoy it…
Congratulations, looks really nice! Getting in underneath and making a floor tight is nasty hot work.
Dan: Do someone else renos? Fat chance brother, I’m still aching in wierd and wonderful places. Jilly was a good helper, although over six days our patience level dropped considerably.
Bad us.
In the end it turned out ok, and Jilly loves sliding around the new floor. Silly kid.
Thomas: I hear ya, we bought less house than we figured we could get but just right in so far as what we could afford “worst case scenario”. We’re paying the same as when we rented, so the costs really haven’t significantly changed and we’re building some equity for our efforts (plus I feel better about cutting holes in the walls and stuff when I actually own the place, ya know?)
KD: Thanks! Still loving it.
DirtCrashr: This is probably the first and only time I’ll be happy that there is a relatively low ceiling in the basement, made mucking around down there a little easier. Although I hate “overhead” work with a passion.
-GRIN-
Looks good. When you get sued by the neighbours for all the noise, lemme know.