After three water leaks on our Southern yellow heart pine floor in our kitchen, with boards shrinking, turning black, and looking cruddy, I decided to say good bye.
Our last water leak was so bad because it was a slow leak that we didn't know about for perhaps years. It was a tiny hole in a drain from the dishwasher. It leaked very slowly for so long that the damage was probably worse that a leak you have in one day and you take care of it. It did the damage slowly and crept into boards 12 feet away, wreaking havoc and making really ugly gaps in between boards.
The boards shrunk leaving little debris collection spots. Gross.
The planks were glued and nailed onto chip board, much to our contractors disappointment. It ended up being a total nightmare trying to get it up. It took one full week just to take it down to the gypcrete. (sp?)
Not one speck of that beautiful wood could be saved. They had to cut it all up and chip it up piece by piece. Our contractor said, had he known it was glued onto chipboard, he wouldn't have tried to remove it.
The nightmare is only beginning.
When removing the nailed in floor, we encountered a few surprises. Our radiant heat floor had some nails in the line and when the nails were removed, water that was under pressure, started spraying out. It started leaking out of a light fixture in our basement. This water has antifreeze in it. Our whole house reeked of the scent for two days.
We had three water leaks.
This is an example of the dust we had/have in my house right now. I have been dusting and trying to stay on top of it all for over two weeks. That's my job now-duster woman. The new floor is in now and I will post pictures after I get my kitchen painted in a 9 more days.
4 comments:
I'm anxious to see the tile floors! Post a picture now and after you paint it...I'm impatient.
Ugh, I don't envy you, but I do feel your pain--we had the same layer of dust when we finished our basement. Good luck! I love the smiley face:)
What a nightmare!! We are replacing our old dishwasher for the same reason...but we have always caught the leak...because it came straight out the side gasket. We have used towels, towels on cookie sheets, anything to catch the water. I have paid for repairs 3 times and I AM DONE. Thank goodness my hardwood only has minor damage. I look forward to seeing what you are doing with your floor.
Hi - I clicked here through Rachel's blog and I make it a point to say hi when I do that. Very cute blog! ~ Ananda
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