Carpets are in!

I was up and out early again to meet the carpet installers. They called me before 8am asking where I was! All of them have been early which is great. It was a three man crew again but not the same as the hardwood installers. They were surprised that the baseboards were already down because they had expected to install them (problem #1). Which means they were out money they were expecting. And because the new baseboards are thicker than the old baseboards they were closer to the carpet tack strip. The carpet guys blamed this on the wood installers, saying they didn't give them enough room and that's why carpet is supposed to be laid first and then baseboards on top. The floor consultant had purposely planned the wood guys to do it so the communication problem was on their end. As a result the carpet guys had to pull up and replace the carpet tack strip in the entire house; around the perimeter of every room and closet (problem #2).

When I was showing him what was having carpet around the house I point out the exposed linoleum we had found under the bar. I told him that we had just found it and wanted it removed with the old carpet so that the new carpet wasn't laid on top of it. He didn't seem to think it was a problem at the time. The guys went to work and I started looking for things to do in the house not in carpeted areas. I was on the phone for awhile setting up appointments for other things. The "sprinkler whisperer," as my dad says, will be coming on Friday. We wanted to try Planet Orange for a pest control estimate but they don't serve our area.

Then around 8:45am the main carpet guy came to me, very frustrated and told me that if I wanted to linoleum removed I would have to pay them extra and pay for haul away (problem #3). I said I would take it up if they started upstairs. The tiles of linoleum came up pretty easy with a wide putty or 5-way paint knife along one side of the room. I was moving pretty well and got about 2/3 of it taken up before it got difficult. The tiles are 40 years old and original to the house. One side of the room seemed to have much more glue than the other. The 1/3 I had left was being pulled up in pieces smaller than an 3" square at a time. I was chipping at it with the 5-way since it was a stiffer blade. At 9:15am mom came by to drop off the baby since she had an appointment. Since there was a possibility it was an asbestos based tile the baby had to be outside.

Family room before (circa 1974 linoleum)

What I got removed  in 30 minutes (larger tools are theirs)

Where they had to start helping

I was outside with the baby for about half an hour before Bob and Anne showed up. By then the carpet guys had decided I wouldn't be able to finish and started to help. They said that could either pay them directly or they could tell the flooring store how much to charge me. At that point I realized I had quite a few cuts and blisters so if they were going to get to that room before I could finish I didn't have much choice. I helped them though so that it would go faster and hopefully not be charged as much. It took two of them plus me probably another hour to get it all off and cleaned up. You can see in the pictures above the longer scraping tools that are usually recommended for removal. They had tried to use those but ended up using my putty knifes to do it by hand. You can also see that exposed cement foundation has two different colors to it. The white on the left is where the linoleum came up super easy, because there wasn't much glue. The black on the right had a lot more glue and resisted. The small little pieces we were chipping off were resticking to the floor in that area.

We were scooping up the big pieces with a metal dustpan and trying to sweep all the small pieces, dust and debris into it as well. The shop vac helped with the last of the little bits but it kept getting clogged up with the small pieces of linoleum. The carpet guys told me they thought it was asbestos and let me know, as if I didn't, that it could cause cancer. He asked if I wanted to dispose of it or if he should. I told him I couldn't put it into the trash can and asked if he knew where I could take it. He said he would take it and it would be ok, he must have a contact for hazardous disposal because he's a contractor. After all that though, they still got to that room last.

Mom came back and grabbed the baby and then Anne went back home. I laid out some fertilizer and water to try to save the grass that hadn't gotten water during the irrigation problems. I was also able set up an area rug appointment and finally got our plumbing appointment for the water heater. When the plumber got there he took one look at the water heater and said it needed to be replaced. Duh. But he told me our claim had already been marked as "approval necessary" since we just got into the house. He didn't sound hopeful they would pay for it. They later denied us.

The carpet guys had to make two runs to the store, once to get all new carpet tack strips and once to get special nails to hammer into the slab foundation. You could see their arms recoil back a few feet every time they tried to hammer into the cement. They worked all that way until 4pm but got all the carpet laid. They ended up rolling it out along our driveway and partially into the street.

I had called the flooring company about all the issues and they said they didn't want to nickel and dime us so they said they would be taking care of any overages. I told the main guy that afterwards and he didn't seem to believe me so he tried to call the store. He must have thought I was trying to cheat him (problem #4).

The floor ended up looking nice, it looks like a totally different house. Now all it needs is furniture.

 Mom and dad came by with Katherine in the evening and helped move our dining room and living room in. We had to put felt squares on the bottom of everything because they will be more spread out than before and not all over the area rugs. We did a pretty basic arrangement but it needs adjustment. I'm sure we'll be moving things around more and more in the coming weeks. At least one room looks like we live there.