Kitchen Floor Day 3: Finishing

Day three really took place spread out over two days. Zoe's father woke up with a migraine in the morning, so I took the opportunity to try and fix our stove. Many months ago, one of the springs in the door broke, soon to be followed by the other. So if you opened the door a tiny bit, it slammed down forcefully. It's surprising how heavy the door is when you don't have springs helping you. Anyway, took a hacksaw to some semi-compatible looking springs and fit them in. I had not done so before because I needed the sides off to get access (believe me, I tried to replace them without the sides off and I could get about 90% of the way there, but it wasn't easy and I couldn't figure out the last 10%). We had to disconnect the stove to do the floor, so it was no problem at all to get where I needed to get. Of course, now it's a bit too springy, and won't stay open all the way, but it's better than flying open if so much as an insect flew by... Anyway, I worked on that and ran to Home Depot to pick up one more box of Pergo Presto and the trim. If you decide to price Pergo against something else, make sure you take into account the underlayment (round $0.65 per square foot- although there was a cheaper version for $0.15) and trim ( $30.00 per six foot piece). We ended up needing 3 pieces of trim to finish things off. At the end of Day 2 we were left with just a bit more to do, and a bunch of finishing.

One thing I did not pick up, was a kickboard. Since we sawsalled the old one, it really wasn't in any shape to put back. Also, it was a dark brown similar to the other trim in the room and I wasn't sure if we wanted to try and match it or go with something lighter. I had thought maybe buy the same kickboard we have for the bar since it is a nice match for the floor, but I wanted a second opinion. Dave managed to beat back the migraine enough to proceed (though it would not disappear until the end of the day). After a little bit of work (laying down the last row of underlayment and Pergo in the highly-irregular, cabinet end of the room), we went and shopped for kickboards since we needed to fit them before we worked on the trim. Bought two eight foot pieces of kickboard with laminated sides. A bit of trimming in height and cutting to length and we attached them around the counters. They match the floor great, just like the bar's kickboard (which we finally attached permanently after how long?) If you remember, the dishwasher stuck out a bit more than the cabinets, and we were unable to cut back enough to be covered by a kickboard. After much discussion, we hit upon a plan to simply put a piece of molding to cover the difference. The leftover from the hall/kitchen junction was almost exactly the right size.

So, a much measuring and delicate cutting of trims and we were all set to go. The trim itself is really nice. It sits almost flat (maybe 2/16 at it's highest) and is attached by screwing in a metal track and then tapping in the trim. And it sure seems to be secure (with some scrap we test fit, taking it out require mangling of the trim and bent the metal a bit - make sure you fit it right the first time!) Another thing to keep in mind is leaving more of a gap where the trim needs to go. We left 1/4 inch where the kitchen met the hall and dining room, but the trim requires 1/2 inch for the metal strip (plus 1/4 again for expansion). Luckily, the Pergo comes up as easy as it goes down - even backwards. We pulled the pieces we needed to trim and put them back in no time at all, working from the side we started on (rather than backwards from where we finished). No problem. Only real trim issue was due to a peculiarity where the hall, kitchen and dining room all meet - at an angle. Not sure why the hall and kitchen border is an angle rather than straight, but that's what we had to deal with. So, some bizarre cuts where required where the trim actually overlaps at an odd angle. It came out great.

Ok, so the pictures are actually from a week after we finished. For some reason I didn't take a single picture on the last two half-days. I think we were just focused on finishing, and it frankly slipped my mind. Not that there were any interim steps worth filming (aside from the cuts to the last row of Pergo which we did not scribe - just cut to a rough fit which the kickboard covered up nicely). Anyway, the final product is really nice. Only problem is that it shows dirt much more than the original (but unless we went with a pattern of browns and yellows again, it was bound to happen). It's a bit slippery (like a new wood floor) so Maggie slides around a bit. It still amazes me how well the pieces interlock. You have to look carefully to find the seams, and you couldn't fit a razor blade between them.