Today was Day 1 of operation: floors. And so far, I’d say it was VERY successful. Here’s a sneak peak of the upstairs living room compliments of my “flooring guy”:

It’s only just the beginning and I couldn’t be happier. Once upon a time, someone put some serious care into these floors. Hopefully, I can do the same. While I was able to save most of the house, my future bedroom is a hot mess. There was carpet

And then I found a subfloor with about a million nails in it:

After speaking with the professionals, I came to the decision it was just best to put something new on top of the subfloor. I was lucky in that the sub floor was in decent condition so that would save me some time and money. What to put on top was the biggest question. For a reasonable fee, the people that are re-doing the hardwood floors are also going to install flooring in my room.

So tonight I went an adventure to lumber liquidators to see what they had. I was able to get lucky and found some bamboo flooring on sale! Bamboo is easy to grow and referred to as “green” option for flooring. The ease and speed of its growth allows for less of an environmental impact. That being said, it’s usually quite expensive. Being able to afford it on sale did come with the fact that it’s final sale, but, I’m sure I’ll find something to do with the overage. Regardless you should always buy extra in the event a cut goes wrong during the process or if down the road, something happens to one of the boards and it needs replacement.

Now, of all the hours of my life I have spent watching home improvement shows, I never heard a very important fact when it comes to hardwood. Maybe it was that a lot of times they are re-doing the hardwood floors and not installing new ones? Maybe I just never paid close enough attention? Whatever it was, there is one thing all hardwood must do prior to installation, acclimate itself to the environment. Now what exactly does that even mean? I sure I had no idea when the sales person told me. I thought I could pick up the boxes and they could be installed the next day. This is not the case. Actually not even close. Apparently, most regular hardwood needs about 3 days. Bamboo, being that it is exotic, takes 2 weeks. What this all boils down to, is there are now boxes of bamboo flooring sitting in a room adjusting to life inside the LPH. This all has to do with humidity, moisture and I’m sure some kind of science. And if the wood isn’t essentially, cured like a fine cheese, it isn’t going to install correctly and I will have wasted money.

Now being a lover of wine, cheese, and cured meats, I am fully aware that good things come to those who wait. However, I was unaware that bamboo floors fell into this category. While this does set back the overall move -in time frame, since there won’t be any sanding done I am free to paint the walls. The moral of today’s story, is there is flexibility is key. Having already accepted the need for a “go with the flow” attitude in this process, I’m not terribly thrown off by this set back. I will just need to readjust my schedule and plan, but, I’m sure it will work out fine.

So here’s to some patience and going green, slowly…

-Little Miss Improvement