A Few Lessons...

I have learned a few lessons while having the floors installed...

1. Removing laminate flooring is easy. Removing the underlayment UNDER the laminate flooring is a real pain. The Mr. has some cuts and bruises to prove that.

2. According to the floorers, it is standard to put at least 300 staples per sheet of underlayment. We were under the impression that had to pull each and every one of them out of the floor. After we were half way done we found out we could hammer them down. D'oh!

3. Toilets are really, really heavy. Like, really heavy.

4. It takes a lot longer to paint baseboards than I ever thought it would.

5. It also takes a lot longer to paint stair facing than I ever though it would. (think an entire day from start to finish to sand, putty holes, tape, prime and paint.)

6. I am really glad that I didn't paint the walls before they installed the floor since they left several black marks, dings, and scraps on the walls.

7. If you thought your house was dirty and dusty from ripping all your flooring out...wait until the floors are installed. Ours were prefinished - and the layer of dust (and pollen from the door being left open all day) was quite disgusting.

8. Habitat for Humanity's Resale store apparently only takes "new" carpet even though their website says "new and gently used". Sorry for wanting to donate something to you to help you out...but now I'm going to just throw it in the trash can. Stupid.


I am sure I had more gems that came to me while I spent days sliding across the floor painting baseboards. It's unfortunate I didn't have a method of recording them while I was on the floor.

Speaking of floors - they were really hard and my butt hurt for days from sitting on the floor for almost 2 days straight. Whew. I felt like I got my butt kicked all over town.