When “The Project” Isn’t Just “The Project”

Something I have learned (relative to my house and, indeed, my life) is that it is very seldom that a project is actually just one task.

My latest activity is the kitchen floor. It sounds like it should be simple, but it isn’t - this will be a project I need to tackle in stages.

The first stage is all about patching the current floor.

The current floor in the kitchen is peel and stick vinyl squares.  They are brittle and old, and because the house continues to settle (as old houses do) they have separated a little. Separating squares means that the old adhesive (which I think is a combination of rubber cement and Satan’s bile) is this nasty sticky crud that collects any sort of dust or dirt available (and let me be honest, I do NOT wash my kitchen floor weekly) and turns it into this hard, nasty black concrete that has to be scraped up with a blade.

Some of the floor tiles have cracked.  Some have nails popping out through them and some have been cut. 

Replacement of them means being on my hands and knees on the floor with a scraping tool, eye-watering, headache inducing adhesive dissolver, and sore hands when done.  I can only manage to complete a few at a time.  Then I have to clean things up, put stuff away and air out the space because a meal is not too far away.

Last weekend I picked up a baker's dozen worth of replacement tiles (12”x12” vinyl tiles just to level out the floor) and today I removed a few more (under the fridge and in front of the sink) removed the bulk of Satan’s Bile from the floor and stuck down the squares I have in order to level things out.

I will need to go and purchase another 4 or 5 tiles to replace the ones around the heat vents (which are in terrible shape) sometime over this next week.  I’m hopeful the hardware store near where I work has some singles available for purchase – but if not, I can always pick up more at my local Home Depot. 

In any case, this weekend’s work of patching is as done as it can be.

On the way into the kitchen. Creative patching

Under and behind where the fridge sits

In front of the kitchen sink - believe it or not,
the adhesive has been cleaned and the
floor space washed. 

One square in

Second square in.

Thankfully this part of the job does not have to be perfect - it just has to level things out and make it so that when I put down the Vinyl Plank flooring it won;t be on a floor that is terrifically uneven.

With love across the waters…