Floors, roofs, and heat

Saoirse loves our two most common workers with our main contractor; I’ll call them J1 and J2. (I am obscuring their names for their privacy). J1 is apparently in training to be a project manager for the company, and he would be great at that, despite the fact that I would miss his serious skill as a carpenter. J2, also amazing, has been here more lately doing some of the detailed exterior finishing in what has turned out to be an unusually hot early June. During the diligence of J2, we learned from our project manager, R, that we had a new problem in the kitchen floor. Oh goodie. More on that later, but previous residents take note because supplies that had been stored in the basement indicated that previous owners and pondered kitchen-floor improvements.

I learned of the floor issue yesterday at the start of a hot week for which I tried to prepare with cooling misters outside and the like. Those did help, but Monday was an amazingly long day; 12 hours from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. We finally got roofers in to take off the asbestos tiles on sections of the roof near the new addition and, of course, on the addition. (They asked if it was okay with us to work late and it was so that they could get the work done, but it was not a relaxing evening for any of us!) J2 had left for another job while the roofers did their work. Today, J2 arrived about 10 a.m. right before the heat rose to more than 80 degrees, to finish the trim after the roofers had finished their work.

J2 worked for more than six hours in the blazing sun and 90-degree heat on finishing the exterior addition until the direct sun meant standing on the new black roof shingles could damage them. I was hugely relieved when he knocked off for the day just before 4 p.m. Normally, crews arrive at about 8 a.m., but given the heat, J2 plans to come early tomorrow, which is a great idea because the addition is on the cool side of the house in the morning—and we’re normally up at 6 so it’s no problem for us!

Also today was day four of drywall mud. I don’t know how many days this will be, but I’m guessing at least four more days.

As mudding takes time to dry, the new floors will be installed—at yet more cost. The flooring expert yesterday said our kitchen floors, unlike every other floor in the house, was pine, not oak. Apparently it was common in the 1930s to cover kitchen floors in linoleum so pine was cheaper than oak as a base. (Even so, the door clearances (and nail holes) indicate the the rest of the floors were carpeted, so originally covered as well. I guess I’ll just be happy the rest of the house is in oak.

We do see old, brick-patterned linoleum under the cabinets that were installed in the 1960s. (It’s gross, hence no photo.) We had always wondered why this floor was unfinished and (stupidly) assumed it was oak just because the rest of the house was oak. To our credit, our designers weren’t sure either. And yet, not only was it pine, it was of a width that is no longer in common stock so in order to even install new floor boards of the same pine, it would require the floor specialist to hand mill new planks to fit the new space. THAT would be even more expensive that ripping up the pine and installing new oak flooring.

So tomorrow while J2 finishes the exterior and the crew continues mudding round for day five, the floor expert will rip out the pine floors to get ready to install oak. It will look great.

Now how can we save a bunch of money?