Ping Pong Work and Chip Board World

Fill the sink, clean the floor, put dishes in the water, clean the stove, start a load of clothes, empty the trash, wash the sink of dishes and put in some more.

Ping Pong.  Here.  There.  Back again.  No one's keeping score as long as the ball is in play. I'm sure there's a more relaxed way of doing but I bounce.  I seem to accomplish few things during the play but when all is said and done chores are completed.

This past couple of weeks we've tried to replace Andrew's floor.  The chip (Commingled Half-baked Interfused Paste) board had reached the end of it's life and was slowly disintegrating. This repair entailed removing carpet, padding, tack board, chip board, glue, two inch steeples and taking it all back to the two by floor joists.

This has been a comedy of errors.  Not only are our bodies not cooperating, the minds went on strike too.  I'm a firm believer of planning, measuring, and doing both again before a cut is ever made. We discussed which way to run the plywood...yes, plywood is replacing this mess of sawdust.  We decided first this way, then that and finally, because I couldn't remember which way we had decided I drew a big arrow on the floor so I would not forget again.

To see two non-agile people step/walk across two inch boards carrying power tools and big boards while praying we keep our balance would have made a great little movie.

I've laughed many times at old cartoons where a character would saw a limb off while they were standing on it.  Well, I even tried that, kinda.  I cut two slices through chip board in one section and stepped to the next to cut two more strips so they could be pried up with a crowbar. Having finished that cut I promptly stepped onto the previously cut piece and plummeted to the ground, grateful it was just under two feet. Didn't have to pry that chip board off...it went with me.

Slowly we have battled the deconstruction and the reconstruction.  To quote Hubby, "I ain't no damn carpenter!" but we've managed.  One more sheet and a tiny spot of piecing and we will be ready to lay the floor covering.

Another challenge was doing this without removing the furniture.  It has been the biggest jigsaw puzzle we've ever tried to piece together.

Planting The Carpet....

Remember when I talked about Dating The Plywood?  Well, Tractor Man has not finished that project so I decided to attempt it myself.  After removing the ancient chipboard I balanced to measure an inset and so began the much delayed job of replacing ancient chipboard with plywood. 

My main tools were a pry bar, a hammer, a flat edge screw driver and a pair of tongs.  After removing the ancient carpet from said inset most of the chipboard just dropped.  That's how old it was.  Carpet was all that kept us from falling through in some places.  Lucky this was an extra room and not used much.

You may wonder why I chose these tools.  The hammer and pry bar were used to remove the tack board and the remaining chip board.  The staples were pried up using same tools or with hammering the straight edge screw driver under and prying them out.  The tongs???  To pick up the chip board that had fallen under the floor so I wouldn't have to crawl under there and get even more dirty.

I did not ask for help but Tractor Man cannot stay away when someone is working.  He stood behind me a while (which drives me #### crazy).  After listening to advice on what better tools I should be using I left the room. 

Returning I discovered poor Tractor Man straddling a two by six within the hole I had opened.  I asked politely what happened.  He informed me he slipped and fell and his toes were not touching the ground. I tried not to laugh.  I really did then I offered to help him up.  He decided he might just rest there a minute before climbing out.

I continued to work and Tractor Man brought me loads of power tools to make my life easier.  What he didn't know was I wanted the simplicity the peacefulness of doing it by hand.

I was ready for sawing and placement. He helped then left the room.  I do only one area at a time finish that and move to another.  Inset finished and solid, move to next spot.  Bigger space, pieces tonged into old dog food bags ready to dispose.  Replacement piece measured three times and cut once.

Tractor Man is just dieing to do something.  He had not done any of this since April but now that I am doing it, he's here.

I decided to remove all the carpet and padding and see what I had to repair.  After dragging all this onto the porch, we decided to fill a bad wash with this biodegradable trash.

The bucket runneth over 

Lizzy helped me drive the Ranger

and approved my careful placement

after I had thrown dead limbs and rocks

into the gully.

The old carpet will bring new life

feeding the soil and preventing soil erosion.

Dog approved, the gully is now a nice seeded spot

for late fall and early spring grass.

Now back to that floor to be finished

another day.