Floor Begone

I am sure I have never addressed this before now...which is odd because it's been a thorn in my side for the last year. This post is sure to border on a rant, so please bear with me.

Our home is 2300 sq ft. 2300 sq ft of finished living space. 2300 sq ft of flooring…every square inch of which must be ripped out and replaced! Night. Mare.

We made our flooring selections early on in the construction process but, when our builder came to us with a new product,we instantly fell in love. Our flooring budget was promptly *doubled* and we decided to go with Arteca for all of the hard flooring in the house; a vinyl product that met all of our desires for environmental responsibility, durability, and looks. While we were at it, we upgraded the carpet to a soft backed wool/poly blend.

**Boring Technicalities Ahead** Just so you understand how Arteca works, I need to explain its installation. Arteca comes in planks or tiles (depending on the flooring finish you select). Our wood-look floors came in 6” x 48” planks, while our kitchen and bath flooring came in 12” x 12” tiles. Over the OSB subfloor, installers lay a 48” x 48” ¾” thick plywood subfloor that is stapled every 2” around each edge. The seams are then patched with a flexible concrete patch and sanded to a smooth finish. The Arteca is glued down on top. The stuff, I was told, was nearly indestructible.

About a month after we moved in we started to notice marks on the floor. At first we thought they were just shadows, but we quickly realized that what we seeing were the lines of the subfloor. Then we started to notice what looked like nail pops. Within a few months, we could literally trace the lines of the subfloor as they started to leave imprints on the underside of the flooring.

I wish I could take photos that actually showed the damage to the Arteca...but, darn it, it's super hard to photograph!

Right about this same time, I was upstairs and tripped while walking into my bonus room. “Man, am I a klutz”, I thought. Until I tripped again the next day, in the exact same spot. Down on all fours I went, and realized that the carpet had a small bubble in it that had risen just enough for me to trip on it. Within a few weeks, the carpet had stretched so much that it was bubbling up at all the edges of furniture and walls! Seriously, my upstairs flooring looked like it was friggin’ mountain ranges and became a total hazard! I guarantee that you have never seen anything like it.

Here it is snaking its way around a closet organizer

The door between the closet and master bedroom

Even on the stairs! That's safe...not!

 

The master bedroom closet. It's even bubbling up around the floor register.

The bonus room. It's hard to see in this photo but there are actually three large ridges that run through this space, in addition to the bubbling around the edges of the room.

We called the flooring company who sent a couple of long time installers to check it out. They were so concerned when they saw what was happening that they called the owners and waited for them to arrive to look for themselves. To the credit of the flooring company, they took immediate action. Attempting twice to re-stretch the carpet only to have it stretch again, took samples of the Arteca and the carpet to be sent away for testing, and did extensive testing of all of the flooring trusses and even took air samples!

Well, 5 long months later, I am told that results of the carpet testing was that there was a defect in the soft backing that allowed it to stretch so dramatically. The manufacturer has agreed to pay for new carpet, and all labour to remove and replace it. They start this week, and it should take 4 days. Which means that Mr. Mel and I spent the entire weekend moving furniture and removing closet organizers. Yuck! I know I could have had the flooring company do this but, in the spirit of co-operation,. I volunteered to take care of it for them. Big mistake. T.V.s in the laundry room...clothes in the dining room...*everything* else in the living room and kitchen...someone please put me outta my misery!

 

 

Now comes a decision regarding the main floor and bathrooms. The flooring company no longer sells Arteca (for a variety of reasons that I won’t bore you with here). If we want them to, they have agreed to replace the flooring with more Arteca and a new subfloor. But, being that I believe the issues with the flooring were a result of mistakes during installation of the original subfloor, I am not keen on this idea. Plus, it would mean ripping up all of the flooring and subfloor and replacing it…a two week job! In the end, this product wasn’t what it was touted to be so I am happy to see it go.

Another option is to remove all of the flooring and start new, with hardwood (we are leaning towards bamboo). The main problem with this is that, even with removal of the existing floor, it would raise the floor about ¼” which will mean that all of the casings and doors will have to be removed and cut down, and the baseboards will have to be reinstalled higher on the wall.

The third, and most attractive option, is to lay new flooring directly over the Arteca. We’re leaning towards Armstrong Luxe. It’s a vinyl product, guaranteed not to show indentations from the underside (praise jeebus), is fully recyclable, has limited off-gassing, doesn’t use any glue, and is only 1/8” thick. It doesn’t have the same temperature regulating properties as the Arteca but that’s ok because the Arteca would still be underneath and would help to insulate the floor from temperature variations (something I will give kudos to Arteca for doing quite well). This is the finish we’re leaning towards:

This whole thing has been an absolute disaster. I cannot wait til it's all over!

Drop Leaf Table

Sorry for the hiatus. I've had a bazillion things on the go, and then I got sick (like, the puky kind) and  have been playing catch up for the past few weeks. I'm back on track now and am working on the posts to let you know what I've been up to.

I picked up this faaaaabulous antique drop leaf table from a little old lady who was relocating to an assisted living facility. She was a tough old bird, but I played hardball and got a pretty good deal.

Thing is, she made me promise not to paint it. No problemo! I'll do her one better...I'll refinish it! It definitely needed some tlc. I gave it a good scrubbing with T.S.P. to get the gramma germs off, and sanded the entire table. Thank goodness it's now warm enough to work in the garage, I wouldn't want to do this in my basement.

I decided not to do too much repair work on this piece, I like the knicks and dings, it gives it character. I did, however, fill a couple of deep dents and replace some crumbing pieces of trim around the apron.

I gave the entire table a coat of Varethane Gel Stain in Special Walnut (this stuff dries in 6 hours - hella good), and 2 coats of Varethane, followed by a coat of finishing wax.

This table took me very little time to do, actually. And I am pumped at the result!

Here's the cst breakdown for this project:
$100 for the table
$13 for stain
$0 for Varethane
$0 for wax
$3 for T.S.P.
$4 for trim
Total cost = $120

Coffee Table Pickle

Yay for me, I scored a great deal on this coffee table off a local online classified ad.

Now I need some input on how to refinish it. I have some ideas, some inside and some *outside* the box! Let me know what you think on the clicky poll on the right of my blog. Here are my options:

Option 1: A distressed harlequin pattern (in grey and cream) on the top, with a cream base. Something like this:

Option 2: Stained top and black distressed base. Kinda like this:

Option 3: Cream or white base with a decoupaged top (I am leaning towards using something like old maps). Something close to this from Funky Junk Interiors:

Option 4: Colour! Maybe along the lines of this table:

Behold!

**Cue the harps, the angels singing, and the clouds parting**

Allow me to introduce my new dressing room! It took me 3 days, but it finally came together. I am still missing a few shelves and some drawers ( and my island hasn't arrived yet), but it looks amazing...I am so pleased!

Most of my clothes and shoes had been packed away since last September, so it was like Christmas opening up all those boxes. Despite my ruthless purging of clothing last year, I still ended up with 2 large boxes of clothes for charity (or anyone willing/wanting to take them off my hands) as we unpacked and organized. Huge credit to Dallas, who seemed (although he'd never admit it) to enjoy the project as much as I did!

Here are a few pics - it's hard to get it all in one shot! lol

Almost there

Tomorrow the hubs and I have a meeting with our contractor to complete a walk through of the house prior to taking possession. During the walk through, we'll make a list of all unfinished items, and anything that needs to be changed, etc. While it's frustrating to know we'll be moving in while the house is less than 100% perfect, it's also exciting to know that we are just about at the end of this journey!

While there remain some outstanding "issues" regarding our railing (basically that 16 feet of spindles have not arrived yet), part of it, at least, is installed and it looks fab!

It's also great to see that the front door has been stained. It looks awesome!

I see the light! Go towards the light!

There is, at LONG last, light at the end of this difficult and frustrating construction tunnel!

While there are still some obvious items left on the 'to do' list, it's starting to look like the house it was meant to be! I can honestly say, despite my iffy-ness on the kitchen handles, there hasn't been a single decision that I have regretted or second guessed. Finally Dallas sees what has only been, until recently, in my creative little mind!

Most of the lights are installed - still waiting on the foyer showstopper, the under cabinet lighting, and some pot lights. And one of the bathroom vanity lights came broked...but it's still all good!

All but one of the taps and drains are installed, and I am in lust with that oiled bronze finish!

My trim and casing are in - still need to finish the casing around the windows. WOW! I know it cost a bundle, and it was a pain in the contractor's ass to source...but I am seriously drooling over the 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" oak we used for the casing and baseboards. It's gorgeous!

All the flooring is done and I really love it! Again, it was an upgrade, but an environmentally friendly one, and we were a bit nervous about what it would look like (being that it's a material made of recycled plastics). But after I saw my sister have to get onto her hands and knees rubbing it and knocking on it, and STILL not knowing that it wasn't actual wood, I know we made the right choice.

Here are a series of shots I snapped today. Keep in mind the place is a total mess!

Kitchen and eating area (lights, tap, dishwasher, flooring installed):

Living Room (flooring, baseboards installed):

Dining Room (floor, light, baseboard installed) - can you tell how much I adore my twig light?:

Bonus Room (carpet, baseboards installed):

My very berry girly whirly PINK Laundry Room (cabinets, baseboards, floor installed):

Spare Room (carpet, baseboards, closet doors installed):

My Dressing Room (carpet, baseboards installed) - for some reason these pictures came out blurry:
Master Bedroom and Ensuite (carpet, flooring, baseboards, shower doors and fixtures installed) - the first picture is darker than it appears in person:

Upstairs hall and foyer from above (flooring, railing, carpet, baseboards, casing, closet doors installed):

My doors and hardware - in this photo, the hardware appears black, but in person it's a really warm aged bronze:
Exterior lights and rear deck (still waiting on the smoked glass inserts for the deck railing):

And file this in the, "Well, ain't that a thing" file: there are wild rose bushes growing all over the property! They are everywhere...and have even choked out alot of the usual wild grasses and weeds! Interesting for now, but I assume a huge pain in the buttocks region come spring!

Well, that's my update for now...if the real estate gods are looking out for us, we'll have occupancy in 2 days!

A little late

I debated whether to post about the install of our counters and sinks. I thought the subject matter was a bit yawn-tastic. But, because folks have asked, here are pics of them. These are a bit late, they were installed about a week and a half ago.

Kitchen:

Powder Room:

Main Bath:
Ensuite: