No Turning Back

We said goodbye to our worn, dog-stained living/dining room carpet this morning -- some of which can be seen here -- and G and his assistant D made short work of pulling it up and carefully removing the baseboard trim.

Once down to the concrete in which our under-floor heating system is embedded, G and D carefully prepared that surface for the special leveling agent that will make laying our new bamboo floor possible. They mixed the leveling agent powder -- with dust flying despite their care -- and water in the large black container seen here, using what looked like a giant electric mixer, plunged into the container.

The cooking analogies don't end there -- when they poured out the thin liquid, it spread slowly on the floor, rather like a fine chocolate glaze being poured over a cake. Phil thought it looked like chocolate pudding, and you can see an attractive image of the finished-for-now floor on his blip today.

We'll be able to walk on the leveling compound tomorrow. It has to cure for about a week, and then the new flooring will go down and the baseboard trim replaced.

Tomorrow morning G will tear out the one-piece acrylic bathtub and shower surround in the "master" bathroom, in preparation for installing a tiled shower in its place. Both Phil and I prefer showers to baths, and we're looking forward to this additional home improvement, as well as having the two floor areas of that bathroom tiled. (The twin wash basins are separate from the small room with the toilet and bathtub/shower in it.)

Once all that's done, we'll move our bedroom furniture into the garage and G will put bamboo flooring down in the master bedroom, as well. We hope that everything will be done by the end of the year.

Fair warning -- you're likely to see a number of "progress" blips!