House of Red Doors: Clearing the Back Hall Floor

Clearing the Back Hall Floor

In our continuing quest to eradicate carpeting from the House of Red Doors, a few weeks ago, we ripped the mostly tolerable garnet carpeting off the back stairs and back hall floor. We were going to put this off, because the color and quality was mostly tolerable, but the cats didn't agree with us. Our cats, you see, apparently loathe wall-to-wall carpeting. It's a good thing we agree with them for the most part, but at least we don't do to carpet the things they do to carpet.

So, having exhausted our supply of Nature's Miracle, we decided that we really needed to remove the carpeting.

I just realized that I don't, in fact, have any before pictures of the carpet. But here we have some photos, post-carpet-removal.

Here we have yours truly removing some of the wooden tackboards from the back hall at the head of the back stairs. This is shot looking out the door of the library.

A close-up of yours truly, looking a bit flushed still from the carpet-ripping experience. The problem with ripping carpets up is the need to wear a face-mask to avoid inhaling 30 years of dust, grit, and decaying carpet-padding. Face-masks and asthma mix badly -- it feels a bit like breathing in one of those inflatable, pressurized buildings.

This is looking along the longest part of the back hall, from just in front of the bathroom door toward the upstairs kitchen and linen closet. All those little splotches of yellow on the floor? Carpet padding, held down by -- you guessed it -- a staple.

Beltane, inspecting our work. Note the lovely look of the floorboards; remarkably well-preserved finish despite several decades under carpet.

A closeup of one of the many mysterious holes we've been finding, drilled in the floorboards or moldings. I suspect electrical wiring was run using these things, but who knows, really?

A closeup of the random-width pine floorboards. Note the occasional interesting little rectangular inserts. Possibly it was scrap lumber with notches already cut into it? Possibly some of our more old-house-savvy friends, like ToolBeltBabe and StudlyManInAKilt, will be able to provide more interesting theories.

Beekman on the back stairs, post-carpet. While the back hallway floorboards clearly had some kind of varnish on them, the back stairs were painted. The original paint color was, apparently, gunmetal gray. The second layer of color was... dark brown. Big surprise! Also on the stairs, we found shreds of a previous carpet, which appeared to be some sort of very pale yellowy-greenish beige. It was no doubt brighter than the garnet, but looked to be significantly uglier.

Yours truly, feeling a little crazed and showing off the Blue Tool, the thing that, if you're going to be ripping up carpets and tackboards, YOU MUST BUY. I'd picked up a normal little crowbar for the work originally, but later bought this blue tool on the advice of a coworker. The difference was stunning. Magnificent. We fight over the Blue Tool. Someday, I will provide the make of the Blue Tool, but in the interim, if you walk into any Home Despot or Lowe's, you should be able to find them among the crowbars.

	Here we have yours truly removing some of the wooden tackboards from the back hall at the head of the back stairs. This is shot looking out the door of the library.
	A close-up of yours truly, looking a bit flushed still from the carpet-ripping experience. The problem with ripping carpets up is the need to wear a face-mask to avoid inhaling 30 years of dust, grit, and decaying carpet-padding. Face-masks and asthma mix badly -- it feels a bit like breathing in one of those inflatable, pressurized buildings.
	This is looking along the longest part of the back hall, from just in front of the bathroom door toward the upstairs kitchen and linen closet. All those little splotches of yellow on the floor? Carpet padding, held down by -- you guessed it -- a staple.
	Beltane, inspecting our work. Note the lovely look of the floorboards; remarkably well-preserved finish despite several decades under carpet.
	A closeup of one of the many mysterious holes we've been finding, drilled in the floorboards or moldings. I suspect electrical wiring was run using these things, but who knows, really?
	A closeup of the random-width pine floorboards. Note the occasional interesting little rectangular inserts. Possibly it was scrap lumber with notches already cut into it? Possibly some of our more old-house-savvy friends, like ToolBeltBabe and StudlyManInAKilt, will be able to provide more interesting theories.
	Beekman on the back stairs, post-carpet. While the back hallway floorboards clearly had some kind of varnish on them, the back stairs were painted. The original paint color was, apparently, gunmetal gray. The second layer of color was... dark brown. Big surprise! Also on the stairs, we found shreds of a previous carpet, which appeared to be some sort of very pale yellowy-greenish beige. It was no doubt brighter than the garnet, but looked to be significantly uglier.
	Yours truly, feeling a little crazed and showing off the Blue Tool, the thing that, if you're going to be ripping up carpets and tackboards, YOU MUST BUY. I'd picked up a normal little crowbar for the work originally, but later bought this blue tool on the advice of a coworker. The difference was stunning. Magnificent. We fight over the Blue Tool. Someday, I will provide the make of the Blue Tool, but in the interim, if you walk into any Home Despot or Lowe's, you should be able to find them among the crowbars.