Family Room Project
Posted by heymoe on June 23rd, 2007
I’ve actually been working on this project for awhile but did not have this site up and running to talking about it. Any ways to catch everyone up, my family room has not really been used all that much since my after college roommate, Justin, moved out to get his own place. The carpet in this room was not all that great to start with, then throw in a cat, that shall go un-named 🙂 hehe, using the carpet in this room as their litter box, pretty much finished it off. I ripped out the carpet, pad and pulled up the tack strips a few months ago which unveiled a whole lot of dirt (Geezz, would be nice if home builders sweep up before installing carpet) and of course cat urine stained sub-floor boards. Cat urine, it turns out, is hygroscopic which is why the odor stick around. Well before I install new carpet or hardwoods, still not sure, I have to take care of the cat urine. I could either 1) replace all the stained sub-floor boards or 2) apply a stain & odor sealer to the sub-floor. I decided to do options 2 since it would the the cheapest and quickest solution (Well I hope its a solution, if not, a new sub-floor it is). I also ripped out all the baseboards since there is a chance they are also contaminated with urine as well. Ripping out the baseboard left some scares in the dry wall so I patched and sanded all of that. Before the painting starts I had to prep the floor by pulling up all the staples, nails and other loose material. I then took a hand planer and shaved down any sub-floor joints that were not even with each other. This will make install hardwoods easier if I go that route. This is pretty much the state I left the room until today.
The first thing I did today was sweep and vacuum up any loose debris from the floor then I applied a thick layer of the odor & stain paint along the border of the floor, basically cutting in so I can use the roller easier later.
Letting this dry gave me time to take care of a work related issue since the on-call person decided to go see a movie with the pager. Next, out came the roller and I applied the first coat to the floor. Over all this process went quickly and I did not paint myself into a corner. I did run out of paint and did not finish all of the first coat but not a big deal.
After a quick trip to Home Depot, enough time past to allow me to start the 2nd coat and apply the 1st coat to the last part I did not finish. I still have to apply the 2nd coat to that one spot and do some spot touch ups but that will be tomorrow.
Any ways, after the paint drys I still need to install new baseboard, repaint the walls and decide if I am going to install hardwoods or carpet. I’m leaning towards carpet still since the rest of the downstairs is already hardwood and being that the family room has a fireplace, I think carpet would make it more cozy. I also never understood the whole, lets install hardwood so I can place a rug over it, concept.
