Family room remodel.
 

I think I posted about remodeling the family room back in April or May. Well finally getting back to that project. I painted the walls and ceiling back then. Removed the old cement slab from the fireplace hearth and made a new top of ceramic tile. Pulled up the old laminate flooring yesterday. I posted it in the free section on craigslist hoping someone would come and get it so I don't have to deal with getting rid of it. Well, looks like that won't be a problem. Got 37 emails overnight from people that want it. So hopefully it will be gone this morning. Then I can paint the baseboard trim and start laying the new floor.

Neighbors son came and took the old couch on Saturday so that's out of the way. Can't believe we haven't used that room since April. Good thing we have a TV, couch and chairs in the living room, which we haven't used in years. Guess we need to look for some new furniture too.

53 emails total asking about the flooring. It's gone so that's good. Spent half the day removing the pieces from the steps. It was glued down so it was a real pain. Now I can start painting the baseboard.

That makes it just about a whole house remodel in the last couple of years doesn't it? Man, aint retirement great!

Retirement is great Tony, never worked so hard in my life. We're working towards a whole house remodel. Got a half-bath, dining room and living to do after the family room. Plan is to get it all done before I'm too old to do it, may already be too late.

When you headed to Fl for the winter?

Was all set to leave on the 25th. The bitch that is in our rental house wrecked that plan. Her lease is up at the end of this month. She inherited a nice place from her dad in March. In May, I asked her if she would be moving in there anytime soon. She said she wanted to stay here for a while longer. Her brother was going to live in the new place. Friday she told me that she is leaving at the end of this month. Looks like the first or second week of Nov.

Seems like there is always getting in the way of plans. Well it's only a week or two.

Got a new renter lined up. Just have to get the placed cleaned out and spiffed up. Should take less than a week. Hope so anyways.

Floor is done. Moved some furniture back into family room yesterday. We're going to wait until after the holidays to start looking for new furniture and TV. Lynda is out in LA right now, helping Susan, our daughter, pack up her stuff. She's moving back to MI after being out there 11 years. On the 10th we're going to Pigeon Forge, TN. for a week. They light up the town, around 5 million lights, seriously, for the holidays. Then Thanksgiving, Christmas and New years. Too busy to furniture shop now.

I'll try to clean up some the tools and other junk in the family room and take some pictures. I really like this floor, think it looks great and it's tough as nails.

So here are a few pictures.

This is the hearth I made to replace the concrete slab we removed. I put the old fireplace doors on until we find some new ones.

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4956

Oh, this is the mantle our son made several years back. He worked for a guy that made custom furniture and cabinetry until he got a real job. There was a nasty looking rough cut pine mantle there before. We removed that and slid this one onto the 2 posts imbedded in the brick.

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4957

Here are a couple pictures of the floor. It does have gray tones in it but there is a little more brown than what shows in these pictures. Also can't really see the surface has an imposed wood grain surface, not a smooth surface.

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4959

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4960

This is the dead blow hammer I used to beat this floor together. You definitely need one for this type of floor. Actually this is a 12oz hammer, a 16oz or 24oz one would be better. There is also a 1/4" thick piece of nylon I used as well. Most laminate flooring is click-lock, slide one piece into the other at an angle then push it down to lock them together. That doesn't work with the herring bone pattern. The planks have a bottom lip with a round groove in it on 2 sides. The other 2 sides have a top lip with a rounded rib. Half of the carton are A planks, bottom lip on the top and right side, bottom lip on the other 2 sides. The other half of the planks, B planks, have the bottom lip on the top and left side.

You lay one plank over the other and smack it down to lock them together. Most of the time they go together pretty well. Sometimes, if the subfloor isn't perfect, you really have to smack it to get a smooth joint. That's where the junk of nylon came in. I stood it on end along the joint and smacked it. That directed the force where I needed it. Don't worry, you can hit this flooring as hard as you want and it won't leave a mark. I assume if you used a steel hammer it might but not with the nylon faced hammer.

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4961

I'm impressed with the engineering and construction of the flooring. The joints are invisible once you get them smacked them down tight. I lucked out on the size of this room. I have 3 full columns, A and B planks, from end to end. Then a half column of A's one side and B's on the other. If the room had been an inch wider I would have had to use another carton and a half to reach the side walls. Basically cut off a little triangle to fill in then throw the rest of the board away.

Oh, here are the steps that go up to kitchen/main floor. The flooring is from HD and you can get matching step treads and faces for just about any flooring they sell.

http://chevelleforum.org/picture.php...pictureid=4962

So for now I just have to paint and install the 1/2 round along the baseboard. TV, furniture, fireplace doors, floor registers, etc. can wait unti after the new year. I have a TV, blue-ray player and surround sound system along with a love seat and recliner, oh and a can a of beer. I'm good for now.

Wow ,that looks great .

Holy shit! That was a lot of work! It does look good though. Perhaps you should start a second career as a home remodeler!

Does Susan have a job lined up for here? Why is she leaving that democrat, liberal, illegal immigrant, over regulated shit hole of California for? I absolutely hated the people there when I lived there, and that was 40 years ago.

Looks really good. I’m almost ready to start laying the floor on my project.

It really wasn't that much work, just took a long time due to other jobs around here. I could have done it in a few days if I could have put in full days without interruptions. Instead it was a couple hours here and a couple there.

Susan's working on a contract basis at a hospital in Owosso through December and she's been contacted by Beaumont Hospital in Farmington Hills regarding a fulltime job there. If she doesn't get a fulltime job by January she can probably extend in Owosso. Assuming they haven't found a fulltime person. They already offered Susan the job but she's not interested in living in Owosso. I guess she's finally had enough of the traffic and crush of people in L.A. She also has group of friends here in Walled Lake area which is the area she wants to move to. Some of them have been friends for over 20 years and I think she misses them.

What type flooring you putting down Ray? We considered real wood, for a little bit, but this is the highest traffic room in the house. We enter the house through the patio doors or garage into this room and it's where we spend most of our time. I didn't want to have to refinish real wood a few years down the road. This flooring has a lifetime residential warranty, 100% waterproof and attached underlayment. That and mostly we liked the look of it.

So I bought a couple of those outlets with USB charging ports in them. Wanted to put one in the half wall. It's actually part of basement wall under the main floor of the house with paneling over it. The outlets are big, as big or bigger than a dimmer switch. Wouldn't fit in the metal post construction box in the wall. Hey, no problem, I'll get a newer plastic one that's larger inside. New box wouldn't fit through the opening in the paneling. Hey, no problem, get out the multi-tool and cut the paneling.

Hey, problem, paneling is about an inch from the concrete block wall behind it. They had busted out part of the concrete block to install the old box but not enough to slide the new in. Not wide enough and not deep enough. Get out the 3lb sledge and concrete chisel and wail away.

Nothing can ever be simple. As they say, "It's always something."

Well all her stuff is on it's way here. She'll work in Owosso at least through the end of the year. They pay for a furnished apartment and rental car. She sold hers to Carmax rather than have it shipped here. Guy she worked with at Carmax is from Ohio. Said he's moving back because he wants to start a family and no way he's doing that in CA.