and it's only Monday

Should I apologize first for the state of these pictures? My hands aren't very steady these days (I blame hormones, though I'm not sure that's entirely fair) and I just snapped some images without really checking their quality.

There you have it, a slightly blurry, underexposed documentation of the process of putting down hardwood flooring.

Let's recap: There was carpet, now there's not. Under the carpet was a layer of plywood to make the floors even with the 3 rooms that connect to this one--all of which have hardwood floors.

The plywood had to come up--that's the hard, back-breaking work. We finally finished that yesterday, and it involved cutting strips into the plywood, separating the row of nails from the bulk of wood, then pulling the remaining strip of nailed down plywood up. {check!}

Then you have to allow the new flooring to breathe and absorb ambient moisture so it won't do that after it's all nailed in place. This prevents big gaps and bowing boards. {check!}

Check the sub flooring, remove any panels that need replacing {check!}. After all the back-breaking plywood pulling of step 1, C decided to grind the heads off the sub flooring, pull up the wood, then use pliers to pull out the remainder of the nails.

This part was a result of boredom from monotony, for the most part, and I wouldn't recommend it unless you're, like C, Mr. Adventure Pants. But I feel like I need some legal disclaimer here, because the whole time I was waiting for a speck of sawdust to catch fire and burn the whole house down. So yeah, probably not a wise thing to do.

But it got the wood up. The new panel needs a hole cut in it for an air return, so it's not down yet (and tonight we have baby class*, so it probably won't go down tonight, either) but the old panel is covering up the gaping hole in the middle of the room.

Now, if you're familiar with little projects turning into bigger ones, this little task of putting down new flooring is one of those. Somehow between replacing the plywood with hardwood, Mr. C decided we needed to insulate under the floors. While I commend the desire to save energy, lying on one's back while playing with fiberglass doesn't seem like a good time to me. And actually, I think my belly is too big to fit under there.

So we'll add that to the list--insulate under flooring.
I don't know if that goes before or after laying the actual new floor down. But even on that end, we still have to put down leveling compound, then the floor, then sand and finish.

Woo-weee--and it's only Monday.

*Five evening sessions that meet once a week for five weeks. Couples learn what to expect during labor and birth, signs of early labor, Lamaze relaxation and breathing techniques, Cesarean birth and pain management choices. Information also given on infant care, safety, and adjusting to parenthood.