We can rebuild it, we can make it better...
My big project this weekend was to replace the floor in my laundry room. Over the years it has experienced several washer overflows, and whoever installed the linoleum last did a crap job. Seams in the middle of the floor, crappily fit where they tried to extend it into the kitchen, and downright ugly. The underlayment was soft because of the repeated floods, even though I took care to dry the room as much as possible each time. And it had swollen in places, further pulling the linoleum apart at the seams, and destroying any glue that had once attached it to the underlayment.
I also learned that linoleum is now known as vinyl, or resilient flooring. Whatevah.
We began with an energizing breakfast at the Original Breakfast restaurant. I fortified myself with peanut butter and banana stuffed French Toast, while my folks and lynnarra consumed their favorites. Then back to the house, where we moved the baseboards and moulding, moved the appliances and the utility sink into the driveway, and pulled up the old linoluem. Most of it came up quite easily - the rest we removed with the underlayment. Which was *uber* fun - they had screwed it down with 4-5 inch screws!! Our full size pry bars just ripped the heads off of those, and we ended up applying vise-grips to unscrew them manually.
After removing the underlayment, we cleaned up the subfloor, then headed off for the new vinyl and underlayment.
The longest part of the process was fitting the new underlayment. Measure, measure, cut, trim, place, trim, place, trim, place. When we finally had it, we put down some #30 felt to protect the sub-flooring from any future moisture, then laid in the underlayment, and caulked generously around the seams and edges.
Then we cut the vinyl, placed it, and trimmed it.
Since this whole operation involved hammering and the occasional use of power tools, the cats turned supervisory duties over to Wendy the Wonder dog.
It looks much nicer than the old stuff. I learned how to install this type of vinyl (no glue!), and that I should look under the appliances for money :)
Could not have accomplished this without Lynnarra's help, nor my folks. Besides Dad showing us what to do, Mom reminded us to eat in the afternoon, then ran to the store for pizza for dinner. AND made homemade banana pudding. YUMMY!!
So this is done. Now to work on the rest of the house projects:)