Upstairs Floors Post 5: You Can Walk Everywhere Now
So you saw last time that my floor patches were kind of terrifyingly unsupported because it looked better that way. After I wrote that my dad and I fixed the problem by putting subflooring up from the living room. Yep, fun job. Before that could happen, out came the old gas light lines.
Not only that bent piece, but it’s running through notches in all the joists the whole way through the room. I had to cut into about 14 sections to get it out. Then up went the plywood with lots of screws and Liquid Nails. And you know what? I can jump on that floor and no creaks or vibrations! Here, look at the not-so-pretty prettiness.
Then onto the back bedroom. Before the floorboards were just laying in there to help me figure out how much I had. I was all ready to put them in for real this weekend. I was really sick on Saturday, got on an antibiotic, and worked 7 hours Sunday. In 7 hours (with me and my dad working) we got this much done, to the left.
Not a whole lot, but it looks pretty good, right? The boards are kind of a random mix of lengths, so it kinda reminds me of the super new (1970’s I think) random width flooring my grandparents had. But those were good floors, so that’s just fine.
The carpenter next door loaned me a power nailer and a big contractor sized caulk gun so I could buy the cheaper big tubes of Liquid Nails. That sure made the job a lot easier. But these boards are a PAIN. None of the walls in the room are straight, so we were trying to use the boards to square things up. But the boards aren’t straight either! So we had to push them straight and hold them that way with nails. Sometimes coaxing them straight meant banging the edges with a hammer! And a couple spots that meant we damaged the boards.
So big important question: I can save a couple hours and maybe a couple hundred by letting the closet be wall to wall carpet. This seems like a good idea to me. Do you agree, or is that the burnout talking?
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Hey Chad – looking good! You could use carpet tiles with a little quarter round around the baseboard – just so you can replace with hardwood if you change your mind. But if you ever think you would want hardwood – do it now 🙂
Thanks Curt. I’m leaning in that direction. If I do carpet, it would be a remnant from what my grandmother had installed that my dad hoarded in his garage, and I’d just put it in with a staple gun. It’s only a closet. I’m leaning toward making the small investment (time and $$$) to put wood down instead.
Hi Chad. Found you a few months ago and am enjoying your blog. I agree with curt. If you think you are going to want hardwood then do it. I would not bother with carpet at all though. Give it a good clean and leave it until you are ready. Cheers.
I’m using old floors that will need to get sanded out and finished, so it’s now or never. Carpet wouldn’t really be a bother because I’d do a half-assed job installing free leftover carpeting. I’d do this just because I don’t care that much what the insides of my closets look like. But I kinda feel like after the massive amount of work I’m doing, cutting corners on the closet floor might be silly.
Oh and thanks for commenting; good to hear from you!
Chad, it’s your house, after all. If you feel fine about w2w carpet in the closet, who’s to argue with that? And it isn’t irreversible. If you decide years down the road (when you have more time and money) that you want hardwood in there, you can put it in.
We had plywood down forever while I tried to figure out what to replace the former owners wall to wall white carpeting with. (took our two huge dogs a couple of months to trash it and it was relatively new) so anyhoo the holidays were coming up and I was embarrassed by the plywood, my husband and I got a couple of pad applicators with handles that let you stand while applying and we put a dark Mahogany stain on the plywood. We actually got compliments on the flooring! I wound up putting Acacia in which I like because it is super hard but it has a reddish stain and some of the install is cupping and squeaking so that is worrisome. Good luck Chad with whatever you decide to do. I know your home is going to be beautiful.
Huh, was it exposed to a lot of moisture or something?
I don’t think so it is only in a few very small places and we had over a thousand sq. ft. installed.
If you think one day the closet will be removed then do the hardwood. Otherwise plywood or vinyl flooring would be fine. I’d avoid carpet in a closet though – too much dust and a potential home for little ‘critters’…
If you’d just bought the place and found the closet with carpet, unlike the rest of the flooring, what would you think? “Loser” OR “so what”? Personally having lived in a jury rigged house I’m for finishing the closet floor. I’m glad ours were finished when we tore them out and made them part of the room. Jo @ Let’s Face the Music
Tore out the closets. Jo
[…] patched them the same way as I did upstairs about a year ago, except didn’t try to make these patches look good since they’ll be […]