Thursday, March 24, 2011

The Neverending Story - Our Version

Remember the movie with the title, The Neverending Story? It feels like we are living that title here at home.

I cannot imagine how people survive a major house renovation. A cousin and his wife added on to their house instead of moving and they had to rent a house for a year during construction. There would be no way to live in the chaos.

Our hardwood floor project has grown. You know, like a stone gathering moss, or a runaway snowball barreling downhill.

We are merely extending some hardwood floors that we'd had installed about 10 years ago. I anticipated the problem that arose but hoped not to face it. The problem is that the new flooring does not match the older. It's just a matter of sanding down the old floor and re-coating it with a matching finish. It's a problem that's easily solved by the flooring crew but one that I'd rather not address, moneywise or timewise.

The older floor has aged but the main problem is that the Other Mother has applied coat after coat of a cheap floor wax product from the grocery store. We tried to discourage this but she is, after all, a product of the 1950's advertising culture. She believed the ads by DuPont and others, stating the we'd have a better life through chemistry! More about that another day.

Instead of being finished we are now patching a crack in the ceiling and waiting for more floor work.

Oh....... and it snowed overnight.

So much for spring.



9 comments:

Becky K. said...

Sending you thoughts of yellow daffodils and sunny skies. Maybe a beach or two....anything but the horrors of home projects gone bad.

Hugs!

Anonymous said...

Cheap floor wax? I have old wood floors and I am interested in what she was using that I should avoid? linda

Tess said...

In January, we discovered a slow and prolonged leak in the master bath. For 2 months, we have been fighting with State Farm regarding the claim. The bathroom has now been gutted, including the floor and some walls, and is currently being rebuilt. I don't know what's worst..the construction or dealing with State Farm. Ugh.

Vee said...

Oh. I see. Sounds like a challenge all right. Then toss in snow. Wish I could toss in a few dollar bills from the sounds of things. Oh my. Will the nice flooring guys have a sweet chat with your mil? Hope so.

It's snowing here now, too. Hopefully, just flurried. But after just shelling out 800 for oil, I'm really praying that spring will win this battle with winter.

Vee said...

No, I'm "flurried." I meant flurries.

Thirkellgirl said...

Oh.... we did a bathroom remodel ourselves a few years ago and I started yanking down tiles on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and our plan was to be DONE by Tuesday. Tile, whole shebang. Not quite. Hubby hit a wire with the sawzall... the wall wasn't straight... couldn't get a replacement pipe... tile guy got sick... Did I mention this is our only full bathroom? I feel your pain. Perhaps you will forget the pain when it's done...

Mary Rex said...

Oh, Dear! I have to tell you that I have just rejuvenated my old wood floors with an Oreck Floor Machine and it worked amazingly well. Buffed all the old crap off and made them super shiny - no sanding involved, just some Armstrong Floor Cleaner. Lucky for me also that the machine was a cast-off from an elderly neighbor with all the parts, only put to the curb because he has a housekeeper now. I think they cost about $500 new, but when you think of the cost of redoing a whole house full of floors, that is a bargain. Good luck with your renovations. You will be very happy when you sit back with a cocktail and look at the results!

At Home in English Valley said...

They call it "The Money Pit" for a reason. I believe there are no "easy" home improvement projects! Hang in there Suzanne. Love, Penny

Julie H said...

Working on houses is such a mess but so rewarding when it's all done. If you can live through it!