Lots of Progress

You can see from the pics Matt posted last night that we made a lot of progress this weekend. On top of all of our house work, I actually got up and ran a 5k this morning-I have no idea where I got the energy!! But it felt good to finish and I'm very glad I got up and went. The race, which was along Lake Michigan, benefited a local childrens hospital. The great fall day along with the beautiful scenery made it a very enjoyable run. We worked so hard pulling the floor up this weekend that I didn't think Matt gave it justice on his posting yesterday. The picture to the left shows the first layer of linoleum. It took me about 30 minutes or so to pull it up while Matt and Ron worked on the windows. I thought "Oh, this is a breeze. It won't take long." I was wrong!The layer under this one was the first of two layers of subfloor, one of which use to have lovely green carpet on top of it. Thankfully we didn't have to pull it up but they left us a small remnant so we could see just how fabulous it once was. The subfloors were so tough. Big nails and staples EVERYWHERE. Even a little glue on some of them. Bonnie thankfully arrived early afternoon to give me a hand. She also brought us a second round of her great food to get us by while we are without a kitchen. This has been such a big help for Matt and me. Its very nice to have something home cooked to toss in the microwave when we get home. We appreciate it so much. Matt pitched in with the floor once the windows were in while Ron finished up the electrical work. It took us Friday afternoon and all day Saturday to get it torn up. In the picture below you can see a little of the subfloors, the very old 2nd layer of linoleum, and the original wood floors underneath it all. The bottom linoleum was so old it pretty much crumbled. I thought it was neat in a way that something so old was still in the house but I'm glad it's gone. Ron and Bonnie left late Saturday evening after much help and hardwork.




















Today Matt and I finished tearing out the ceiling which had a layer of drywall and then a layer of plaster underneath. No, "do it right" was definitely not in the vocabulary of our poor little house's former owners. Cheap and easy certainly were. We are now laying in bed, sore muscles and bruises from head to toe, and very happy about the progress we made this weekend. Our task for the week is to work on pulling out the zillion nails and staples still remaining in the floor. We're planning on putting laminate down throughout the downstairs, likely the most durable option with two crazy dogs : )

Gatsby's mug shot!