Chaos in 3, 2, 1

Our home and our lives will be disrupted for the next few days. Monday, we have a crew coming in to refurbish our wood floors. 

We have a lot of floor.

I'm told they'll be working on our floors for at least two days. Inconvenient for us, but I anticipate lots of headaches as we try to reassure our dogs that the workers mean no harm.

Starting today, we'll be moving furniture from two-thirds of the house into the remaining one-third. I imagine we'll be watching a lot of television in the bedroom--that is if we can see past all the other furniture piled up in it.

From what I understand, the crew will then super-clean, buff and then recolor the floor to match its original tone. After that, they'll put a sealer on it then treat it with some UV light that's supposed to make a harder seal.

I'm worried that it won't look as good as the pictures they advertise. The before and after photos look convincing, but I know what Photoshop can do!

Still, the person we talked to seemed an honest sort, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Normally, we would've refinished the floors ourselves, but we don't get up and down as easily as we used to, and Greg is gone so much, so we decided to hire this job out.

Anyway, I'll probably be on the computer a lot while we're waiting. They'll be doing one half of the house at a time so at least we'll have bathrooms available.

I'll report back after they're done and let you know what kind of job they did. Maybe I'll post some before and after pictures too.

What's the longest you've ever been inconvenienced due to a remodeling job? Did it turn out all right?

Yes, I'm nervous about the outcome. Can you tell?



Comments

Unknown said…
I hope the 'kids' are okay with the workers. It's going to be really stressful for them. :(

When we renovated our livingroom it was six months of everything crammed into a room 1/3 the size. I still can't believe Husband made the furniture fit. It was just supposed to be a quick window replacement, but when he took the drywall down off one wall, it was horrible. We literally had to rebuild our livingroom one wall at a time. There was no insulation (explained why it got so damn cold in the winter) and the entire frame was cobbled together with old wood that looked like they found it at the dump. It was summer, so we had that, but the flies....
Renee Miller said…
We're getting our house ready to sell, so I'd say right now is the longest I've ever been inconvenienced. We have to replace all the flooring, furnace, central air and fix some plumbing. I had to paint the bedrooms too, but I did that myself. For about a month now I've been living with subfloors. The garage is full of garbage and old furniture. Awful. Me and the girls (and the dogs and cat) are moving to an apartment for the second half of the work. Actually, moving starts tonight. We expect to be there all summer. Moving to an apartment is tedious, but I can't imagine cramming everyone into a third of the space here until they're done. I'd lose my mind.
Angela Brown said…
You're a DIY person, Maria. I can understand this cause you a bit of anxiety. Doing it yourself, you can make things turn out exactly how you want, even if you finagle a thing here or there.

I'm going to hope the contractors do a great job because your floors have to last for a long while.

Now about Iko...hmmm... :-)
Maria Zannini said…
Darke: We had an episode like that with the bathroom. We went to fix one little thing and kept finding more and more things wrong. We finally had to gut the bathroom and start over.

The only good thing was that it turned out so lavish, the realtor said it was the key that sold the house so quickly. It was all marble and tumbled stone. I hated to leave it myself. LOL!
Stacy McKitrick said…
Sometimes I wish we had hired out for someone to lay our wood floor down. My husband and our friend did it in maybe two weekends. That was three years ago and I'm STILL waiting for the baseboards to be put back on. They apparently didn't realize the wood RAISED the floor, and the baseboard at the stairs no longer fits. Ooops!
Maria Zannini said…
Renee: That's not an inconvenience that's a logistics nightmare. I hope they finish soon. Cramming furniture is one thing. Cramming people and pets is a recipe for crazy.

Why is it we do all these things to fix and pretty things up to sell, but we don't do them for ourselves?

Maria Zannini said…
Angela: I think that's a big part of my anxiety. I'm very specific on how I want things to look.

Re: Iko
Poor Iko. We finally diagnosed him. He's OCD. If things don't follow a certain routine, it makes him nervous. We've noticed that everything he does has a pattern. He never deviates, so when he has to change, poor dog gets defensive.

I know he made you nervous, but really it wasn't you. He was actually scared of you.
Maria Zannini said…
Stacy: LOL! You'd think they would've noticed that when they laid the first board down.

I'll betcha they never fix the floorboards until the day you have to sell the house.
Summer Ross said…
We haven't done much remodeling so inconvenience level is pretty much 0. :)
Maria Zannini said…
Summer: Count yourself lucky. It's one of those trials of life. :)
Mike Keyton said…
It'll be great I bet you. Relax - unless they find the body buried beneath.
Angelina Rain said…
Hope the refinished floors look great. I can't wait to see the pictures.

When I was 12, my family bought a house that was previously foreclosed, and the prior owners had gutted most of the house. When we moved in there was no kitchen. They had gutted it so bad that it was missing cabinets, a sink, had holes in the walls, ect, ect. So while my dad repaired the kitchen, we had to do all our dishwashing in the super small bathroom sink.
Maria Zannini said…
Mike: They won't be excavating that far. LOL! But if they find anything, it's not my fault. I haven't been here long enough to cause mischief.
Maria Zannini said…
Angelina: What a pain! I had to wash dishes in the bathroom for two days when they replaced my counters and I was grumbling the whole time.
LD Masterson said…
Sadly, projects around here make it to just past the major inconvenience stage then sort of trickle off. Like the bedroom/office project last year. The closet doors are still in the garage waiting to be repainted and rehung.

The floor will be great. Stop stressing.

And Iko is a total sweetie.
Jackie said…
When we lived in our first home that we bought in 1993 we had the living room/kitchen/hallway and entryway floors replaced from carpet an linoleum to pecan wood floors and it took over a month. Living in a house that was the mother-in-law plan that meant we moved to the other end of the house to sleep and we ate in the garage and yes washed dishes in the bathroom when we dirtied utensils as the rest was stryro plates, cups and paper napkins to throw out.

You heard this one before, it was the reno where we had to climb in and out of a window to take my toy fox terrier outside to go to the bathroom. Oh thank goodness that was when we were both "lighter" and younger!

I am all about before and after photos Maria, here is crossing my fingers they meet your expectations as that is a major project for sure.
This is a project in the forecast for us. I'll be interested to hear about your experience. Before and after photos?
Maria Zannini said…
LD: I used to let things slide, but no more. Greg gets aggravated with me because he's good about getting the major things done but then his enthusiasm peters off. I bug him until the whole job is done now. I will not live in a half-finished state.
Maria Zannini said…
Jackie: Yeah, I'm hoping it won't come to me going through the doggie door.

I used to be more patient with remodeling jobs, but not anymore, and especially if I'm paying someone to do it.
Maria Zannini said…
Susan: If nothing else, I'll take pictures just to record what was done.
Unknown said…
A bathroom of marble and tumbled stone? And why did you leave???
Maria Zannini said…
Darke: LOL! Greg did a beautiful job. It was the nicest bathroom I'd ever been in. Unfortunately, it didn't come with acreage so we had to move. :)
We lived in half of the house while the other half was being rebuilt. I worked night shift at the time. Two children, and two adults sleeping on mattresses on the floor. When it was time for us to move to the newer part we moved out and lived in a caravan for the duration of the job. It was less stressful. :)
Have you a tent?? lol :)
Angela Brown said…
Re: Iko

Oddly, I must confess, Tank actually kept me from being nervous about Iko. Also Iko's control when dealing with Nana kept me from being nervous. I felt kind of bad because I wasn't sure how to make him comfortable with me. But Tank, oh my lands and stars, Tank was such the gentleman. It warmed my heart every time Iko got a bit excited and Tank came by, stood by side, basically saying, "I got your back, missy," and made sure I didn't get a chance to feel uncomfortable. You've really got some of the THE best dogs. Of course, I'm biased lol!!
James Garcia Jr said…
It's gonna be great once it's over.
It's gonna be great once it's over.
Repeat after me: It's gonna...
Yikes! Hang in there, Maria. The longest I've ever been inconvenienced would be the 7 months the four of us lived with my parents while our second house was built. *shudders* ;) Not really. It wasn't that bad... *prays he never has to do it again*

I look forward to seeing those photos.

-Jimmy
Maria Zannini said…
Suzanne: If I could pack up the dogs and move into a hotel, I'd do it, but someone has to stick around and supervise.

We should have our back porch to ourselves so I think we'll all stay out there while the workers are here. I'm stocking up on snacks for everyone.
Maria Zannini said…
Tank is such a calming influence. And he's so well-mannered. I wish Iko could've picked up on some of those traits. But he's still young, and believe it or not, he's calmer than he used to be. LOL.
Maria Zannini said…
Jimmy: I had to live with my in-laws for 9 months. Never again. ;-)
It's gonna look so great! I hope your dogs do okay with all the fuss. Ours are still clingy after our last move. They just want to make sure we don't accidentally leave them forever.
Anonymous said…
We had to replace our kitchen floor when the water dispenser on the frig decided to turn itself on while we were both at work. Since we were doing that, we decided to reface the cabinets and paint. We hired a company to do the cabinets (cost a fortune) and a friend of my daughter painted for us. He also built wood frames for the windows and lighting. We weren't sure about the frames, but he was right. He did a wonderful job and it really ties everything together. I still love my kitchen!
Anonymous said…
Forgot to mention that it took about six weeks for the kitchen. We had to dry out all the wood in two rooms, then schedule floor people, cabinet people, and the painting. It was worth it, though.
Shelley Munro said…
I'm sure you'll be pleased once the workmen are finished, and it will be worth all the angst.
Maria Zannini said…
Barbara: Oh, you reminded me of a heartbreaking story. When we were moving out of our last house, Tank was an only dog. As we were emptying out the house, we hadn't realized he was getting more and more depressed.

Finally with all the door open as we were filling up the last of our stuff, he starts walking down the street. I guess he thought he was losing his home.

We rushed up to him and both of us threw our arms around him, reassuring him that he was coming with us. You never saw a more ecstatic dog.
Maria Zannini said…
Marlene: Oh, no! The worst part is having to wait for the wood to dry in the first place. I imagine someone bleached it to make sure no mold grew afterward. That's the only thing that would worry me.

Glad you got a new kitchen out of it, but what an ordeal.

I don't remember how long I was out of my kitchen after a fire, but I want to say it was about six weeks too.
Maria Zannini said…
Shelley: I hope you're right! I'm not sure who's more concerned right now, me or the dogs. LOL.