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This past Sunday, Scott decided to finish up the work I’d started last week:  removing the last of the ugly brown carpet from the first floor. Beginning where I’d left off from the living room (Colby helped), Scott worked his way through the entryway and hallway. 

Between the two carpeted areas lies a patch of linoleum, which didn’t seem to be too difficult to remove. After 28 years of walking around on top of the glue that binds the “lino” to the cement subfloor, I imagine the glue is old and cracked, just like the rest of the house! 

Being able to remove this patch of linoleum was a relief, since we have yet to tackle the last of it in the kitchen and half bath (it continues into the laundry room and two upstairs bathrooms, but those are getting insalled with tile, which may not require removal). I really hope we can make short work of it and focus solely on the installation of the new laminate flooring. What a relief that will be!

Since the upstairs carpet was replaced by Empire Today, Scott’s removal of the hallway carpet marks the official end to the ugly brown mess. It’s gone forever!

Now that we need to get started on the downstairs laminate install, it is important that we take our time to correctly prep the floors. The upstairs install didn’t require a moisture barrier, but installing laminate or hardwood above a cement subfloor requires one. Knowing how important it is to properly prepare the floor for moisture protection, I decided to run a bead of cement caulk along the baseboards. Cement caulk is pretty much the same as what I’ve used in the past for windows – it’s paintable, mold and mildew resistant, flexible, and can be cleaned up easily with water. The only difference I could tell is that the cement caulk is a bit thicker, which was a great thing. I wasn’t expecting it, but there were a few gaps between the baseboards and subfloor. I don’t know if it would be a moisture issue or not, but it’s best to err on the side of caution and caulk it up.

During this next week, we’ve got a lot of other small items to take care of before beginning the rest of the laminate install. But hopefully, the month of August will contain quite a few reveals. Comin’ right up!

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One Comment

  1. I found your blog from This Fresh Fossil and have been browsing around. We are doing a lot of work on our house, and I can totally relate. I just removed the carpet from one of the bedrooms and found linoleum underneath, over hardwood floors. Good luck with all your projects! I'm excited to see the reveals. :)
    Anne @adatewithdesign