Well, I haven’t been blogging in a while, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been getting anything done. Quite the contrary.
This weekend I had a great time with some fraternity brothers in the mountains, so I didn’t get a lot done on the house. However, it was a much needed break, because…
The subfloor had to be replaced. That was a crap job. About 20% of the particle board was absolute trash. In the worst spots, I was able to remove the majority of the subfloor with just the shop vac. What garbage. So, most of last week was spent replacing all of the subfloor, and most days I worked until past midnight. There wasn’t much room for blogging, as I was dead tired. However, last night, I finished replacing all of the subfloor with new 3/4 inch OSB. I learned a few things about subflooring, though. It’s very easy to do a crappy job, but it’s quite difficult to get everything right. And I know it’s just subflooring, but like the idiots that built this house, they saw the concrete they were pouring as “just the foundation” and now I’m having to repair it, too. So, I did a quality job and the floor is absolutely rock solid. No creaks, no squeeks, no mushy spots on the floor. That’s what you should expect with new subflooring that was screwed (and not nailed) into the floor joists. For those wondering (probably nobody), I used 7 pounds of screws. I also installed a 6 mil moisture barrier under the subflooring instead of 15 pound roofing paper. I’ve got Rosin Paper for the actual hardwood.
I’ve got some pictures of the job in progress, but since these pictures were taken, all of the subfloor has been put down.
I installed the floor jacks a few days ago and have already lifted the floor about a quarter of an inch. The kitchen door latched for the first time since we moved in!
I also fixed my air conditioner in preparation for the big weekend in the mountains. I’ve got a Delphi compressor that blows in the high 40’s on hot days. Comparing my car’s outdoor thermometer to the barista thermometer I Shanghai’d for my A/C vent, when I’m crusing at a decent speed I can get near a 50 degree drop. That’s just amazing to me.
I just finshed cleaning out all of the cabinets on the refridgerator/stove side of the wall. I can’t decide if I will rip them down next or clean out the other cabinets, but I am excited about ripping out my POS vent hood. I can’t wait to tear that thing up and I may take a few extra minutes to wail on it with my Engineer’s Hammer (An Engineer’s Hammer is what Lowe’s calles a 4 pound sledge. I had to buy it and I’ve used it many times.) Trash day’s tomorrow!
But for now, I’m going to take a bit of a break. It has been a very hard, absolutely draining day. We hope that Jay is in peace, and all of our love is with Susan, Virginia, and Elizabeth.