what a day
well, we got some really bad news today. the contractor came out to refinish the floors. exciting, right!?! i got a call about 2 hours after they started that i needed to come look at the floor, it wasn't looking good. our worst fears were coming true, the hardwoods were really stained. i went out at lunch and was met by a horrid stench. nothing like a freshly sanded, dog urine soaked floor to brighten your day. and they weren't just sort of stained, they were STAINED. there wasn't more than a few square feet of unstained wood in the sunroom (and it smelled like death). the living room and dining room had some decent areas (which looked mighty nice freshly sanded i might add) but also some really bad areas. well, we found the reason the floors were painted ... to hold back the urine stench (literally, that was why they were painted, to seal in the smell). mystery solved. looking back it all makes sense. apparently, the previous owners (renters actually) just allowed their dogs/cats to go pretty much wherever they pleased and didn't bother to ever clean it up. nice. i'm not sure how anyone could live in that, i'm sure it had to have reeked before it was painted. you could even see the outline of some former piece of furniture in the dining room where a dog/cat had repeatedly gone in the same areas (it was jet black there). i'll get some pictures taken and posted soon. sigh.so, pretty much there is no chance of refinishing this hardwood. the stained areas will take the good stain much differently (as in, turn black). some areas the wood was deteriorated enough that the paint is so deep in that it's essentially impossible to sand out. not to mention it will most likely always smell ... the poly finish breathes so it won't trap the smell underneath. the hardwood guys were very nice and said we wouldn't be charged for what they did. they were nice enough to stop when they could see it was pointless, whereas some guys would have just finished and charged us. they also offered lots of advice on how to proceed. good guys.
we've been pondering and researching our options tonight. we are currently leaning towards putting new hardwood down on the first floor (over top of the existing) and in the hallway upstairs. we would then put the carpet back down in the bedrooms and potentially put hardwood there sometime in the future. i haven't done hardwood before, but from what i hear it's not extraordinarily difficult just somewhat time consuming. so, if things go really really well in the next month and half, we might push ahead and finish the bedrooms. but for now, we'll plan on carpet (for money and time's sake). before any of that happens ... we need to paint ... the floors again (aack). we need to do something to kill the urine smell and keep it from coming through. i'm going to research some other options to hopefully kill any lingering mold/bacteria that comes along with it.
as far as hardwood goes, lumber liquidators sells a 99-cent/SF 2 1/4" strip oak (mixed red/white) floor. i asked the hardwood guys about it, expecting them to sneer at it ... only to be surprised that they actually like it (but don't tell their bosses). they personally think it looks better, especially in an old house, because it has more variety and leaves you with a neater overall look than the super clean grades of wood. i was a bit shocked at this, but happy that a cheaper material does look nice. so, we're going to ponder our plan a bit more over the weekend (we're out of town). right now it seems like the best with regard to money, time, and overall finished product. neither of us would ultimately be happy reverting to carpet, so now is the time to act if we ever want hardwood. it is just really overwhelming, stressful, disheartening, etc. to think we have a bunch of hardwood to put down along with everything else in the next month or so. sigh.
we are also going to be evaluating a potential claim against the sellers. we had asked our agent to inquire about the hardwoods and why they were painted during the purchase process. we were never given an answer other than that they were all painted white. they did not disclose WHY they were painted white ... and you know that they knew why. i'm trying to gather some info via our agent about how she asked the question and some details about how long they have owned that place to see if i think we have a case. right now she thinks we should be taking it to small claims court because they did not disclose that damage when we asked about it. so, maybe we can have some of the extra costs defrayed, but it's hard to recoup time. double sigh. anyway, so we're pretty discouraged right now. but we have a possible plan, it just involves a lot of work. a lot. we welcome any thoughts or suggestions or a pencil to stick in our eye.
in other news, we ordered area rugs for the living and dining rooms (for our "refinished floors") on tuesday. amazingly, they will arrive tomorrow! wow. Kohl's had then on sale for over 50% off, plus we are getting a $10 credit for every $50 spent ... so that can pay for some other home items. let's just hope those turn out ok ... right now i expect them to come the wrong size and color and not be able to get a refund. monday and tuesday night we did final cleanup for today's aborted sanding effort. what a waste of time. in actual fun news, we ate dinner with Sarah and Jeremiah tonight (and it was Indian food, double good). they were 2 of our hiking companions on our Grand Canyon trip this summer. it was good to see them again (it had been a month or so) and catch up ... and give them the tour of our stinky house. they are a lot of fun to hang out with. and, you can just start to tell that Sarah is a few months into her pregnancy! we're really excited for them. well, i'm going to lament over some milk and cookies and go to bed. hmph.
posted by Chris and Chrissy Miller @ 11:23 PM
5 Comments:
So sorry! I am sending you a digital pencil to poke in your eye:
<=========0
:( deb
soo sorry here too...
look at the bright (?) side - it is just the 2 of you there - no little babies rolling/crawling all over the stinky floor, trying to stick everything in their mouths, and, if that can't be done, liking everything in sight.
good luck!
amm
I am so sorry, too! I am giving you both a great big hug right now. Can you feel it?
I wish I could be of help.
Love ya,
mam
just two word - "outdoor pets"
actually, i believe it's five words--"clean up after thine pets!"
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