Lest we end the year with any free time or disposable income whatsoever, we decided to throw in some renovation work before moving in. The kitchen floor had a spot near the sink and dishwasher that the home inspector thought indicated damaged subfloor. After a long search, we managed to hire a contractor to pull up the existing vinyl, repair the plywood subfloor and install new flooring. It was supposed to take a day and a half We’d even considered starting this project while the tenants were still there, but on a weekend they planned to travel.

You see where this is going.

The floor guys, who we did not end up hiring until two weeks ago, pulled up the vinyl to find some more vinyl, then another layer of vinyl tile, and at long last, more hardwood floor covering up a solid wood subfloor. OK, still good. Then, when they got to the part where they thought they would see a small section of damaged subfloor, they found a hole. A hole. As in, an opening through which one could view the crawlspace under the house, should that be a feature one would like in a kitchen. When one is responsible for the well-being of two children under three, however, that’s not an attractive option. Surrounding the hole, they found a whole lot of rotted subfloor, flooring, and half-rotted floor joists. Beyond that, there was a good section of damaged drywall along the wall behind the lower cabinets and, oh yeah, another hole—this one in a pipe leading from the sink drain. The likely cause of our problems, it’s probably been leaking for years.

I’d been bugging The Spouse all day long for updates the day the flooring guys pulled up the old vinyl. He was over there to supervise; I was home with the kids. (Because I had a c-section with Tiny, I’ve been forbidden to drive, lift heavy objects, or do major housework. So, I’ve not been much help, unless you count sitting on the couch bitching to be help. My mom has basically moved in with us for a month, caring for the Kiddo, cooking, cleaning, and generally keeping us from going under—otherwise, you’d have heard about us on the news by now.)

On the phone call at the end of the day, David started by calmly telling me how we’d need to call in a general carpenter. He methodically went through the details, and by the time he got to “and then I had to rip out the bottom cabinets,” I decided that ignorance was bliss.

“You know what, I don’t think I can hear about this,” I said, trying not to hyperventilate. “I trust your judgment. You decide what to do.” After recovering from the shock of hearing those last two sentences in sequence, he assured me that we would not be washing the kids’ dishes in the bathtub and we would have a functioning kitchen by the time we moved in.
To make a long story short (OK, fine, shorter) the Spouse has been using up vacation and family leave time by ripping out damaged flooring, repairing the lower cabinets, and borrowing the neighbors’ truck to ferry boxes of stuff to the new house.

Last night, after giving the Kiddo a bath, he packed up most of our glassware, china, and serving dishes and headed over to see our new floor and size up the sink situation. I think it’s something just short of a miracle that the carpenter and floor guys (and Spouse) have finished work in just under a week’s time, and we are still allegedly moving in this week— to a house that includes a kitchen with a sink and a floor, no less. How excited am I? But I’m not going to be able to exhale until I see it with my own two eyes.

The home inspection indicated water damage and likely rotted sub-floor around the sink and dishwasher. This wasn’t exactly a newsflash. Construction-ignorant as I am, I knew kitchen floors shouldn’t have peaks and valleys. But the inspector didn’t seem to think this was a huge deal. He recommended hiring a qualified contractor to pull up the existing floor and repair the sub-floor. Sounded OK to us. We even thought we’d have new flooring installed while we were at it. It’s 200 square feet. How big a deal could it be?

Ha. Haha. Hahaha..

Turns out, we can find plenty of contractors willing to do the new floor; none, so far, are interested in tackling the repair job. We’ve even had the home renovation equivalent of the “it’s not you, it’s me” experience with a couple of guys. We call, ask for an estimate, they ask for some details and say they’ll check the calendar for a good time and get back to us. [Insert sound of crickets chirping here.]

We’ve since learned of a possible reason for their reluctance. We need to have the floor material tested for asbestos. Vinyl flooring installed prior to 1972 (some sources say ’74) may contain asbestos fibers. This is usually a problem with old vinyl tiles, but asbestos was also a component of the mastic used to attach sheet vinyl.

I think it’s highly unlikely that the stuff we’re looking at has held up since the Ford administration, but we have no way of documenting when the flooring was installed. Before our floor can get a first date, we have to confirm there’s no asbestos there.

We’ve found a company who will take a sample and send it to a lab. We’re doing this at the end of the month after the tenants move. Once we get documentation that it’s asbestos-free our floor is ready for action.

Even so, I’m getting the feeling that replacing some rotted plywood is going to prove more trouble than it appeared at first glance. Anyone know a good carpenter/builder who fixes sub-flooring? Come on! Give it a chance! It’s really a good floor, a clean floor, a lovely floor once you get to know it.

Searching the web for information on landscaping, particularly strategies for planting an environmentally friendly garden that makes use of native flowers and shrubs. I’ve found some of the best information in an interesting place—Flickr.

Yes, it’s a great place to store and share digital photos and albums, but its tagging and geo-tagging features also make it a great source of “street-level” information. I used a Flickr search to learn more about living as an expat in South Korea (‘How small are the apartments, really?’), and, when we thought we were moving to Chicago, I used tag searches to check out different neighborhoods. You can learn a lot by what people take pictures of, not to mention what they put in the captions. When we moved to Seoul, I ended up making friends with people I “met” on there and through the blog.

And when it comes to gardening (especially for someone like me) pictures are really important. I found a lot of good ideas and info from the groups Lawn Replacement, Food not Lawns, and the imaginatively titled Kill Your Lawn.

I’m also planning some traditional research. I’ve added Andy and Sally Wasowski’s The Landscaping Revolution and Steve Daniels’ The Wild Lawn Handbook to my library save list. And, I really like Patti Moreno’s Garden Girl TV videos (I subscribe through YouTube).

We’re not actually moving until the fall, so you might say this is way advance planning, but it will probably take me that long to read all the stuff. I’d love to hear more recommendations if anyone has them.