New kitchen floor

Home owning can be more of a bear that we ever suspected. In our efforts to improve our 1921 bungalow, we have done a little something every year for the past five years -- new wiring; handrail to the basement; new refrigerator; new dishwasher; paved path from driveway to house; motion detecting outdoor lighting along said path; new range; washer and dryer. We managed to replace each appliance before it actually went kaput (except the dryer, which necessitated spending this spring's taxpayers' rebate).

This year's end-of-summer project was to replace the kitchen floor. To prep we had to move everything out of the kitchen. The fridge is in the dining room. (The dining room table is against one wall, covered with several cloths, and the microwave, toaster, electric kettle, etc. sit atop it.) The range is in the living room, along with the desk, the computer, and boxes of stuff that was on the counters and in the bookshelf. The bookshelf is in front of the stereo. When you look at it like this, we have an unbelievable amount of stuff.

On Wednesday American Environmental, an asbestos abatement company, came out to remove four layers of kitchen flooring: vinyl, 1/4" plywood, tile, more vinyl and fir wood. Yes, there was asbestos in one layer, but now it's gone. The "car decking" (subfloor) planks are set close together but not evenly, so that one can look down into the basement through the cracks.



Today Decor Carpet One, the flooring company, installed marmoleum. Marmoleum is an environmentally friendly flooring, a natural product made from linseed oil, wood flour, rosin, jute and limestone. The Golden Saffron color (above) should pick up nicely on the decorative Armenian pottery tiles at the sink backsplash. The sample looked great next to the wine-red painted wall in the dining room that abuts the kitchen.

BTW, we found both firms through the Home Owner's Club, (HOC) which friends who just completed a remodel recommended. For the $48 annual membership fee, the HOC send you one or two firms to bid on your project. You pay the Club, and the Club pays the firm when you are happy with the result. We also got second estimates on flooring and asbestos abatement before going with the HOC recommended firms, and they each gave competitive bids, sent professional workers, and did a thorough cleanup job when finished.

I'll be glad when we move everything back into the kitchen and dance on the new floor!