Here we go again!...the race before Christmas

Removing Linoleum - Scraping Up Linoleum - Restoring Wood Floors

The kitchen and breakfast nook shared the exact same floor...which meant both floors were hideous! I finished the breakfast nook floors back in February!...but then turned my attention to the slate patio, so I never got around to the kitchen floor.

Karen has been pining for us to get started on the kitchen for months, but it just never worked out. There were many winter preparation projects and so many fall clean ups...6 fall cleanups - every weekend for 6 weeks! So it is safe to say she was very quick to notice that the snow that hit Niskayuna in early December covered any remaining leaves. I think she said in one breath "Too bad the yard is covered in snow so you can't work in the yard. Let's start the kitchen."

So on December 6th I started ripping up the linoleum, felt, plywood and more felt and black tar. 19 days until Christmas...doable...however we were hosting our 1st Christmas with Nanny on December 13th...added little more pressure.

The process was all too familiar for me. This would be my 3rd time dealing with this back breaking task. Once at the old house, then the breakfast nook at this house and now. The only thing - this floor is twice the square footage of those previous projects! However if we wanted the original wide plank pine floors (a Paul Schaefer staple) I knew what I had to do! My only saving grace was I already knew the exact process I had to use. Back in February I wasted a day trying a large assortment of chemicals to remove the black tar - all for naught. Turned out all that was needed was hot water and a 2 inch scraper and a lot of elbow grease.

Removing Linoleum - Scraping Up Linoleum - Restoring Wood Floors - Ripping Up Linoleum

Here you can see a tiny piece of my motivation

A small portion of the re-finished breakfast nook floors

Restoring Your Wood Floors

Step 1 - Remove the Linoleum

The linoleum removed pretty easily with a heavy duty floor clean up scraper. I just repeatedly slammed that in between the linoleum and the plywood and peeled up the linoleum. I kept the kids out of the room and work with a mask.

Removing Linoleum - Scraping Up Linoleum - Restoring Wood Floors - Ripping Up Linoleum - Removing Black Tar from Wood Floors

At the end of the first evening (2 hours of work) I covered everything with some drop cloths (old curtains) for the evening - after all I had to go to Craft Night at Hillside Elementary.

The next morning I got to work nice and early. First removing the rest of the linoleum

Step 2 - Remove the Plywood

Gloves and a face mask and knee pads are a must. A mixture of hammers, screwdrivers, crowbars, floors scrapers and good ole brute force were able to remove the plywood, felt and any remaining nails. So many nails!

By the end of Saturday I had removed all the plywood and nails. I covered the floors with drop cloths again for the evening. So far it was 10 hours of total work to get this far. Not Pictured - me laying on the floor (multiple times) waiting for my back to let me get up and start working again. This is very back breaking work!

Step 3 - Removing the Tar Paper

Sunday was a new day. I woke up real early and start boiling water in our biggest pot and the tea kettle at the same time. I would repeat this at least 10 times this day.

Hot Water Method of Removing Tar Paper

Boil water in the tea kettle/pot
Pour scolding hot water in a 5 gallon pail
Dip 4 old beach towels into pail
Pick up a towel (with thick rubber gloves - they are hot!)
Let excess water drip back into pail
Lay towels over the floors in a single layer
Wait 15 minutes
Pick up the towels
Scape the floor boards with a 2 inch paint scraper
Repeat above steps 2 more times until most of the tar is gone.

Using this method is tedious, you are on your hands and knees for hours, back breaking, wet, dirty, sloppy, gooey work. Sounds fun right?!

Left - A pail full of muck!

Above - some of the tools of the trade

Left - hot wet towels doing their thing

Slowly but surely I am making progress

Of course no project would be complete if I didn't get some (or a lot) of help from My Little Helper, Lily.

Lily spraying hot water into the pantry.

By early afternoon on Sunday I had worked 18 hours in less than 48 hours. I had to stop without doing beneath the stove and the refrigerator to bring the kids to MiSci to see the holiday trains - after-all giving a satisfactory answer to "what are we doing that is fun today?" always trumps finishing a project. I worked on those remaining areas on Wednesday for another 4 hours. In total - 22 hours of being on my hands and knees ripping, scraping, sweating and aching, but it was worth it...

Here is the Semi-Finished Product...

....sanding and staining and refinishing will have to wait until after Christmas...because now it is all about making the house pretty, being merry with family and friends and enjoying time with Karen and my three little crazies.