Back from Vacation and Back to Work

I got back from my trip to Isle Royale National Park last Friday to find that my mother and sister had payed my house a visit and put a final coat of paint on my front room and had primed the back bedroom. What a wonderful suprise!!! I was so overjoyed that I finally decided to rip up the rest of the carpet downstairs and discover what the hardwood underneath looked like. I would have to say that it didn't look too bad but will definately have to be sanded down and restained and finished which I was obviously expecting. There was a good deal of condensation and moisture that was trapped in by the carpet and the flooring so there were some signs of that. There is one major spot where two boards have bowed up due to water damage so I will need to figure out how to pound them back into their rightful place and set them there. I will be spending the next few days sitting on the floor individually pulling out each of the thousands of staples that were used to tack down the old padding under the carpet. Although this work is going to be mindnumbing it sure beats sanding drywall.

One thing that I have noticed is that with the carpet now gone those rooms look so much larger and I also notice that I am hearing the sounds of my house differently now... the creaks and echos. Each time I turn on my alarm on when I leave the beeps that the system make just resonate throughout and I am briefly thrown off by it. When I get furnature in these sounds will be absorded a bit more but for the time being I am enjoying them. It the little things in life.

I also broke down and finally went out and bought a dehumidifier since my cellar is always extremely musty and probably isn't helping with the moisture issue at all. Go figure Indiana has moisture in the air during the summer! I hope to get some pictures soon to show everyone how cool my floors look. Why would anyone ever cover up hardwood floors with carpet???