Great Room Project, Tuesday 10/6

Floor prep 1

Another glamorous, kneepad-intensive day here. But I did accomplish several good things.

1) I pulled all the carpet pad staples out of the subfloor. The kneepads got a good workout, along with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers.

2) I figured I'd just replace the 4'x4' sheet of subflooring that had the water damage. The original nails had been countersunk with good success, so I had to resort to a little help from my chisel to get them out. One all the nails were unearthed, the whole section came right out.

Surprise! Under the subfloor was another layer of waferboard. Or maybe OSB. Brother Tom would know. I thought I'd be peering down into the depths of the crawlspace (** see below), but no. This was very good news, for several reasons:

1. Sure makes replacement easier.
2. This means I can screw or nail any high spots securely to the sub-subfloor below.
3. I should be able to more easily fix that plywood area near the brick pavers.

Here are today's before and after shots. Like the before and after nail hole wall spackling pair, I'll spare you any before and after staple removal photos.

Carb o' the Day
Water damage zone, before

After

If the rest of the water spot is raised up, I'll just cut out a small section, instead of replacing a whole sheet!

The afternoon was graced by a visit to the local Home Depot where I got to do a Big Tool Purchace. Everyone knows that guys like me do these projects mainly to justify buying more tools, power and otherwise. Today I picked up a powered miter saw, a workstand for it, and a chalk line. And a sheet of 5/8" fiberboard to make the big subfloor patch. Now my life has meaning.

==============================================

Non great room editorialising:

Personal transport: I tell ya - you're not going to catch me driving a pickup truck unless I someday have reason to haul a lot of manure. Or maybe loose gravel. If you have to drive (as opposed to bicycle), minivans just rule!

Big boxes: Home Depot vs Lowe's. I usually buy stuff at Lowe's. There is one very close to my house, I know where things are there, they are always supremely helpful, and they usually have what I need (except for odd bass hardware bits, but that's asking for a lot). The Depot sometimes has a special tool I need, or maybe I'm driving by anyway, so I sometimes go there.

BUT... Lowe's has a much superior soundrack. Whoever does their Muzak does a real good job. It's always interesting, non-intrusive, appropriate, and played on a good sounding system. Well, good sounding for a big box store. I often hear music that I recognize and like there. Sometimes I catch myself browsing longer than I really need to. The Depot, on the other hand, cranks out cheesey, overplayed, bottom-of-the-barrel 80's pop hits thru water-damaged speakers. I just can't get out of their stores fast enough.

==============================================

** The Big Crawlspace Makeover is a somewhat painful project that I took on last summer. I did NOT blog that one! For one, photography would have been a real challenge, far beyond my point 'n' shoot abilities and patience. For two, it's a crawlspace, dangit! NOBODY ever said, "Chicks dig guys with nice crawlspaces."