TheBanyanTree: To the Light

[Jena Norton]

When we last visited our two plucky do-it-yourselfers, they were putting in the floor at a rapid pace, being experienced now at installation. Measuring and sawing were a breeze. Of course, sometimes mistakes were made and boards were sawed the wrong way. We looked on those not as mistakes but as opportunities to increase our knowledge and skills. 

We were approaching new challenges. DYI Donny and Marie called these "transition areas." These are where the flooring meets carpet or some other entry way. We had the door to the hall, the archway to the bathroom, the double closets, and the sliding glass doors to the patio to transition. Fortunately, the alleged experts at America's do-it-yourself store had ordered me plenty of transition strips.

Of course, we discover that putting in the transition strips requires at least two more trips each to Home Depot and the hardware store. 

The transition strips fit into tracks which, we had been told by DIY Donny, could be "nailed, screwed, or glued to the subflooring." They even had Donny doing a couple of these things with speed and ease. Of course!

The first trip was to the hardware store for cement screws and a small box of Fix It all. We had left extra carpet at the entrance to the closets to be sure everything fit right. Some more ripping, stripping, and pulling ensued. We leveled and patched. We were ready to drill and screw.

The cashier at the checkout at the store now greets me with, "Thought you weren't coming back to see me anytime soon!" Each time I go there, I tell her I think this is it, we have it licked. She is very encouraging, probably because of all the money I've spent there!

We got my drill out and tried to drill holes in the slab for the screws. After breaking one bit, we decided to try Char's drill (actually, it's Ken's, but we've now claimed ownership of all the tools). No luck with it, either as a drill or as a screw driver. You know what this means!

I made another journey to Home Depot. This time, I decided to make sure I had whatever I needed AT THIS TIME to finish the project. I added a couple of gallons of paint, another tarp (the first one I bought is buried under refugee furniture and stuff from the bedroom), a fat roller for textured walls, and this cute little spongy roller for trim.  I was going to repaint the bedroom because I kept seeing places I missed. And of course, I got the epoxy to glue the tracks down. Oh, and the wood putty for patching.

Folks, we tried it like DIY Donny told us to. We glued the tracks down, waited 30 minutes, then tried to put the transition strips in the tracks. Didn't work like a charm by a long shot. Damn strips wouldn't slip gracefully but snugly into the tracks. Char took a critical look at our options and decided we'd do two steps in one. We'd put the strips in the tracks, then glue them down. 

I lugged some brick edging pieces in from the backyard to weigh them down until set. This meant knocking snails off where they were hibernating, brushing spiders away, and scraping worms off. Sometimes you have to ignore the gross stuff to get the job done.

Fortunately, this technique worked well. Now we were ready to nail the quarter rounds down. You have to drill, then nail, then counter-sink. I drilled, Char nailed and counter-sank, then I applied the wood putty.

Once more, we were lulled into a false sense of security and accomplishment. We had corners to do, both innies and outies. We used scrap wood to figure out how to get the angles right so the two pieces would fit together nicely. Sometimes, we'd get them cut right and then couldn't figure out how we did it. Mostly, we just wasted wood and got frustrated.

We consulted a remodeling book. None of the quarter rounds were like ours and the directions supposed more knowledge than we had. We decided to consult with males in the neighborhood. One didn't have a clue but gamely tried to help us figure it out. Another said he'd seen it on one of those TV shows where they remodel a house, but hadn't ever done it himself. The next one showed us how to do it with flat pieces, but that didn't translate to the rounded ones. We even tried emailing males we thought knew how to do it.

Finally, one of them took pity on us and came over to show us. That's when I learned about a coping saw. And made another trip to the hardware store for a coping saw. 

That got us through the innies but we couldn't get the outies done. Char tracked her brother down and forced him to show her how to do this. All I know is that when I got in from work it was all done. Char said it's easy and she'll show me one of these days. 

At this point, we realized we had made a grave tactical error around the closet doors. We had these gaping distances between the baseboards and the flooring. Couldn't hide them under quarter rounds--the closet doors wouldn't close. Actually, they're probably 1/4" wide but they looked like the Grand Canyon to us.

We examined, consulted with each other about options, and came up with a plan. We'll cut little pieces that match the grain to fit, put them in, and use wood putty to hide the seams. One of these days, we'll get this done.

I spent a whole day repainting and trying not to get paint on the floor. I'm a very messy painter and this was not easy. Fortunately, the paint didn't adhere to the floor like it does to walls and my clothes. Cleaning up wasn't all that bad.

At last, it was time to put the furniture back in. Attaching the headboard and footboard to the frame wasn't as easy as taking them apart. Since I wanted to rearrange where things went, I had to decide quickly where things needed to go. And I had to move all the stuff like make-up, shampoo, and lotion back to my bathroom from the other one.

After almost a whole day of cleaning, polishing, washing, and moving around, I had my bedroom back. I hadn't slept in my own bed for almost a month! It felt strange to be in a real bed again after weeks on the sofa bed. Being back in my bath and my bedroom required adjustments.

I've since had time to muse on the project and all that we learned. I think putting in a floor is like childbirth--you're so happy with the results that you forget about the pain and are ready to do it again. Wonder what wood would look best in the living room? It doesn't have so many transitions and should be easier to do..........