De-Stapling the Hardwoods

I was thinking that somehow I could do this home renovation thing the same way that I did the road trip last year vis a vis blog coverage. Probably not realistic. For one thing, it’s way, way too easy to jump around to different projects. For another thing: meh. But I’ll forge on. Try and get something up every day so that you, the reader, can have the vicarious experience of getting down on your hands and knees and examining 50-year-old cat urine stains scattered across 700 s.f. of otherwise in-decent-shape hardwood flooring. Woot! for us all.

Right, so the main problem with the house right now is that it smells like 50-year-old cat urine. It’s probably not 50 years old. It’s probably all within the last six or so. But still: six. As such, getting the floors sanded, urine-neutralized, and re-finished is a very high priority. At some point — probably the 60’s or 70’s, someone decided to cover up the house’s hardwood floors with carpeting. I’m guessing shag and forest green — although this *is* Pittsburgh, so maybe black-and-yellow. At some point after the 60’s or 70’s, the carpet got ripped up and, when it did, it left behind hundreds of small staples, which would tear up the sand paper on a floor sander if left alone.

Ergo, pulling up staples:

Yep. Staples.

Degree of difficulty on pulling them up ranged from “hard” to “easy”. The hard ones generally broke off, leaving two small staple nubs. It was like pulling slivers out of wood. How ironic. Some of the staples had padding and/or carpet stuck to them, but they came out of the floor, just like the rest.

I saw some DIYer comments saying that the best way to pull these up is with a “wonder bar”, but those people were high. Needle-nose pliers are the way to go.

See? Look at me go.

The hardwoods are in the living room, the hallway, and in all three bedrooms. I was kind of contemplating last night whether I should get a pro to come do the sanding and re-finishing, but the quote I got was $2,000+ and I was assuming there’d be a lot of plus for the stain removal.

OTOH, one of my urine stains looks like the Virgin Mary in repose:

I should probably just pull the boards and sell them on eBay.

I’m not sure why the Virgin Mary is holding her nose, but otoh I’m also not sure why some dude’s cats decided to pee in her shape. It is surely a sign and perhaps it has healing powers. I’ll let you know on that one. ‘Course I’ll have to get sick first.

So the floors are ready for sanding now. I’ll probably put some plastic sheeting up to cover the kitchen entry way and should probably do the same with the air intakes and heating vents. “Should”. Meanwhile, today I bought some of that pet stain remover spray from the Home Despot. It has enzymes in it. I like to think that it’s helping, but it’s probably just psychological. They won’t be gone till after the sanding’s done and the bleach is applied and the industrial-strength pet stain remover is applied and the hydrogen peroxide is applied.

A lot to look forward to!

bkd

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