My Country Farmhouse – The main flooring

After an 18 hour drive from Prince Edward Island to Campbellford I finally moved into my house. The previous owners were kind enough to allow me to move some of my belongings in knowing I would be in PEI on closing weekend.  We arrived at 8pm on a Saturday night. We stopped at Wal Mart for some groceries and cleaning supplies.  We ate at the kitchen table (left by the previous owner) on my great grandmothers antique dishes given to me by my Aunt Brenda during our trip out East.  We soon settle into bed for an early night.

At 6am Sunday we were up. Not planning any renovations I began to sort through boxes and wash over 65 pieces of antique dishes that had been stored for years.  A few minutes into doing the dishes I heard my mom in the background yell out “OMG”. I ran to the living room to see she had decided to rip out the brown shag carpet revealing the most spectacular finished hardwood floors.

Before  – Livingroom and dining room

Since the hardwood floors looked pretty decent we decided to continue and rip out the entire main floors carpet.  The living and dining room only took about an hour to remove. The time consuming part was yet to come.  Because the carpet had been down over a foam padding over the years, the foam had begun to break down in to dust. In some areas there would be yellow dust piles in others the foam was stuck to the hardwood from moisture.  I ended up grabbing a soft scraper tool from Canadian Tire across the street and a work broom and dustpan.  For the next three hours I  would scrape and sweep the floors.

Midway

Around the edges of the walls the carpet was taped down.  I attempted several home remedies to avoid damaging the floors. None seemed to work so I tested a small portion of the floor with a product called Goo Gone.  It worked beautifully. I was able to remove all the tape glue from the floors in only a couple hours.  It did not stain any of the hardwood and it cleaned up nicely.  After that was done I did a full wash of the floors with a mop using Murphys Oil and the floors were done.

Final close up of floor

Taking out 45 year old carpet made the house smell better and we could breath easier.  It also made the rooms look much bigger.  I would highly recommend you wear a mask and work gloves when you take on a project like this. Use the proper tools (exacto knife to tear the carpet in to strips), soft scraper and a broom and dustpan you will not mind ruining.  You will also need to check your bylaws on how and where to dispose of the carpet. Some places will allow you to put it out with garbage day as long as the size of the carpet rolls meet requirements and some townships require you take it to a landfill.  Do your homework.

Overall an easy task it was a bit time-consuming.  Starting a project on your very first weekend in a new house might not be a great idea but if you have the motivation you might as well get it done.