The Post Wherein I Talk a Big Game, But Fail to Deliver

Remember last week, when I posted about my ambitious plans to remove the ceramic tile in the kitchen and take down the mirrors attached to the dining room wall? Yeah, I didn't do either of those things. Discussions with others made me realize that the ceramic tile would be difficult to remove while preserving the integrity of the underlying hardwood floor. We can live with the tile until we update the kitchen at a later date ($$$). As for the mirrors, I chickened out. I'm a little nervous about trying to remove them and the carnage the removal would inflict on our plaster walls. The mirrors are staying for now, probably until we get someone that knows what he is doing (hint: not me) to assist.

As Kendra posted below, we did get some things accomplished over the weekend. Apart from moving two carloads of clutter from the "high rise" to the "country estate," we also painted two rooms that were absolutely garish.

My big project on Saturday, however, was removing the vinyl floor from the downstairs bathroom. Our thinking was that we could remove the flooring down to the original hardwood, and then refinish if it was salvageable. If we couldn't refinish, then we'd look into options for ceramic tile. We did not want to keep the rolled vinyl that was in there. Not only is the vinyl an affront to the historical accuracy of the house, but it had a terrible faux-wood appearance.

I started by removing the toe board around the trim. Then, I cut the vinyl sheet into 2-3' strips for easy removal. It peeled up fairly easily enough, revealing a 1/4" plywood sheet underneath. The plywood was nailed to the floor, with most of the nails still covered by the bottom layer of the vinyl sheet. Since I couldn't remove the nails first, I just had to start tearing the plywood off, chunk by chunk. After I got most pieces started, I was able to pop it out in bigger chunks, so it didn't take too long. Here's what it looked like after tearing off about 60% of the plywood.

As you can see, underneath the plywood was another layer of flooring, which I assume is linoleum. My guess is that it was probably original to the home, or at least very, very old. It was in awful condition and various leaks throughout the year had taken their toll on its integrity. As you can also see from the picture, there is an active leak around the toilet, which we are hoping can be addressed by a new wax ring.

After the plywood was up, the nails were either popped out or sticking 1/4" inch above the linoleum surface. I was able to remove the remaining nails and then pry up the linoleum, which was adhered directly to the old hardwood floors.

Now, most of the bathroom floor is covered in this black adhesive that's been on the floor for decades. I need to talk to our contractor to see if this stuff can be sanded off during refinishing. If not, looks like we will be scraping/stripping this stuff ourselves.

After I removed all the linoleum I was able to check out the integrity of the hardwoods. They are sound for the most part, with the exception of a couple boards near the bathtub that have rotted. There also may be some rot near the vanity. Our hope is that these boards can be replaced and the floor refinished.