American Foursquare Remodel 3 - Kitchen Floor

Oh, what the heck, I was becoming a floor-removal pro, right? So I decided to take on the kitchen floor.

It was a full one-half-inch of contemporary vinyl sheet flooring - adhered like skin to cut plywood pieces, nailed about every 6 freakin' inches with long nails over very old linoleum tiles, adhered to some other layer, glued to the floor.

I spent hours with a bevy of tools to clear a 2-foot by 2-foot area... *groan* This is a view of the tan/brown linoleum tiles under the vinyl-plywood layers:

Look at that beautiful grain! This is a view of the cleared area near the entrance to the dining room:

 

These photos were taken on October 30th - a day indelibly etched in my memory. That's the next chapter. 

To conclude this one, however, this work of removing the floor took several days. Work by Barrett Floors was put on hold until this work (and other work... the next story) could be done. Finally, I accepted some help with this job. With a power saw set to the depth of the plywood, it was cut into smaller, more manageable pieces, and I was left to remove the bottom two layers (much easier than the splintering plywood layer) and remove the skadillion nails (not hard, but tedious - and sometimes hazardous, haha, working on my hands and knees).

The kitchen wood floor wasn't in such good condition, but I was still thrilled to have the original hardwood floor in the kitchen! I think the old water stains that mar the edges and a few gaps between boards give the place character, but that's just my bias.

Here is the finished floor. Again, Jay from Barrett Floors did a great job, despite the small tight space he had to work in and the limited space to move the stove and refrigerator out of the way. Photos were taken on December 2 (yes, please note the dates: started October 30 and finished December 2).

Wow, this last photo makes the floor look slanted - it's not. But it does give you a decent view of the kitchen layout.