over the weekend we started the prep work process. first, we started to move some of our smaller pieces of furniture upstairs and put away some of the misc. decor items. our plan is to just move the larger furniture (table, couch, tv stand) around the first floor as we work on the floor. then we started some demo:

we removed the mantel since it was sitting on the tile. strangly the mantel was only attached with 2 screws that both went into very loose anchors. i think we will be finding a better way to attach it when we reinstall. the tile demo was fairly easy. i actually enjoy demo work...

next up - leveling and making the floor flat(ish). we live in a 99 year old house - let's be real - it is not going to be perfectly level. but, there is s slight dip in the middle of the dining room that is noticeable when you walk through the room. there is also a pretty significant slope at the back of the living room. we are hoping that we can get the floor to be within the recommended tolerance from the floor manufacturer. something that i'm having a hard time with is the difference between "level" and "flat". but we've come up with a complicated grid of strings and are using a 4' level (more as a straight edge and less as a level), and i think we have a plan that just might work. i am hoping to get this done by saturday.

after flattening the floor, we will be installing osb underlayment on top of the original hardwood. we have debated this so many times, but if we want to install the new floor in the same direction as the existing floor (which would be the long way of the room, and is how i want to install it) we need to either remove all of the original hardwood or install an underlayment before installing the new floor. things to consider - we are going to have to work around 4 radiators, the kitchen floor is already built up higher, and we will be living in the house with our pets during this project. due to those reasons, we have decided to go with the underlayment approach. this will also help us even out some of the smaller imperfections before installing the new floor. we hope to have this done by the end of next week.

at the same time, we will also need to do the floor tile at the fireplace. before we tile, we will need to do some prep work to the area under the tile. we will also be removing the birch ply that we put down in our kitchen. (the reason why we have birch ply can be seen here, installation pictures are here and here, and the final pictures are here.) it seems kind of silly to remove something that we spent so much time on just 2 years ago, but removing the birch allows us to install a thinner underlayment throughout the rest of the house because i want the new hardwood floor to run right into the kitchen at the same level. and by the way, the birch ply has not held up at all with the dogs. it scratches so easily and most of the finish has come off at this point. it was a decent/inexpensive temporary solution though, and much better than carpet! since we will be installing the new floor in the kitchen and won't be doing any other kitchen upgrades for awhile yet, we are going to have to be creative with how we install the floor so that we can work around it in the future. lastly, we will be also installing the hardwood in the half bath off of the kitchen so we will be removing the toilet and vanity. good news is that we are just going to replace the toilet and vanity with something new, so we'll have another fun project to work on as soon as we're done with the floors! wait... is it sad that i think installing a new toilet is good news??

the hardwood floors should be here by the end of the week and the tile should be in at the beginning of next week. we will need to let the new floors acclimate to the house. if we can keep on schedule, we're hoping to start installing the new floors next weekend. my father-in-law may be coming out to help with the installation, which would be nice because with mike's work and rugby schedule, there is a good chance i will be on my own at some points during the installation process.

i'm realizing that this is a really long post and probably not at all interesting to most of you. so in conclusion, we will be installing new floors in all of these areas: