Project Two - The Stairs
Being a cat owner, I am not a fan of carpet. Especially when one of those cats has a slight hairball-digestion problem and has to a tenancy to throw up hairballs at least once a week. So when I caught eye of the pale beige berber carpet on the stairs and upstairs hallway, I knew it had to go.
As it wasn't installed very well it came up quite easily. But what it revealed is the reason that carpet is not the best idea, especially on a high traffic area like stairs.
Ew! Dirt everywhere underneath. It was gross. It also revealed the use of duct tape to seal off the joints in the floorboards. Yeah, that was fun to remove. I had to find a solution that I could live with for the time being as I wasn't sure what I wanted to replace it with.
My solution was to paint the floor and purchase some carpet runner to muffle things a bit. It didn't look too bad. However, I regret that I chose looped carpet. The cats quickly showed me in the weeks following that this was a mistake. Not that they are destructive but they are active. Especially my one cat Chumley who loves to run up and down the stairs after my other cat Layla or after nothing at all. It resulted having to make an ugly choice and buy some plastic runners to cover the stairs and upper hallway. Ugly, yes, but it will protect the carpet for when I'm ready to sell which I am hoping to do next summer. There was also some carpet on the first part of the basement stairs. It has been removed but I haven't done anything with the stairs.
The final chapter will be putting laminate flooring down just as soon as I can match what is already on the main floor of my house. This should be interesting...never installed flooring before. Then again, I haven't done a lot of the stuff that I am learning to do.
Fear is not an option when you are a homeowner.
As it wasn't installed very well it came up quite easily. But what it revealed is the reason that carpet is not the best idea, especially on a high traffic area like stairs.
Ew! Dirt everywhere underneath. It was gross. It also revealed the use of duct tape to seal off the joints in the floorboards. Yeah, that was fun to remove. I had to find a solution that I could live with for the time being as I wasn't sure what I wanted to replace it with.
My solution was to paint the floor and purchase some carpet runner to muffle things a bit. It didn't look too bad. However, I regret that I chose looped carpet. The cats quickly showed me in the weeks following that this was a mistake. Not that they are destructive but they are active. Especially my one cat Chumley who loves to run up and down the stairs after my other cat Layla or after nothing at all. It resulted having to make an ugly choice and buy some plastic runners to cover the stairs and upper hallway. Ugly, yes, but it will protect the carpet for when I'm ready to sell which I am hoping to do next summer. There was also some carpet on the first part of the basement stairs. It has been removed but I haven't done anything with the stairs.
The final chapter will be putting laminate flooring down just as soon as I can match what is already on the main floor of my house. This should be interesting...never installed flooring before. Then again, I haven't done a lot of the stuff that I am learning to do.
Fear is not an option when you are a homeowner.
Crying is also not an option when you are a homeowner :)
ReplyDeleteLove it so far!!