Slow Reno

I'm considering hiring a professional.

Just over two years ago, when DW and I decided that we were tired of the carpeting on our second floor and wanted to install hardwood throughout that floor, we had also looked into tearing up the carpet on the stairs. I mean, the cats already had a head start.

Because we're just rank amateurs, we wanted to hire a company to install hardware on the stairs. We considered the company that laid the hardwood on our main floor, as they had done such a great job in matching the new wood with the hardwood that they had laid when our house was built, more than 16 years earlier.

While our kitchen and family room was pretty straightforward, the pros deemed that our stairs, which curve, are more labour-intensive. The price for renovating our stairs from carpet to hardwood was a small fortune, so we decided to hold off.

Meanwhile, the cats were still tearing the old carpeting to shreds.

In the fall, DW and I made the tough call to recarpet the stairs. We'd put in durable carpet that could better withstand sharp claws.

We visited a few carpet stores and finally settled on one, though we couldn't quite come to a decision of the colour. When we worked out the cost of the fabric and the installation, we said that we'd remove the old carpet, ourselves.

We've torn up the carpet everywhere else in the house so why not the stairs?

Months went by where DW and I were busy. The weather was still good, into mid-autumn, so we were out with our kayaks until late October.

And eventually, we put the carpet out of our minds.

In December, DW said to me: "Hey, Ross, you're not working full time. How about you get to work on the stairs?" The words kind of hurt but she wasn't wrong. What else was I going to do with my days?

And so, in the first week of December, I started at the top of the stairs and began yanking up the carpet.

It wasn't an easy task. In fact, it was much more difficult, much more labour-intensive, than any other carpeting in the house before. After just one step, I was sweating and breathing hard.

There are many more staples in the stairs than there were on the floors. And on the corners of the steps, several staples remained stubbornly stuck in the wood.

It took me several hours to pull up the carpet from the top three steps. I was tired and my back was sore, and I decided to call it a day. I'd resume work the next day.

Only, the next morning, my back between my shoulder blades were killing me. My body had been a bit twisted as I sat on one step and tore at one above, and it seemed that I had pulled a muscle. I decided to take that day to rest.

But on the following day, I awoke with a bad flu. It took me out for several days and I didn't feel quite like myself for about a week.

By then, I had a surprise for DW. I had arranged for Kid 2 to visit us, and some good friends from out of the country were bringing her. DW didn't know that our friends were coming, either.

That was the really big surprise. And thankfully, with our stairs partially torn up, they weren't staying with us, though they did stay nearby for a week.

We only had a few days after they left to get the house ready for Christmas, and finishing the stairs wasn't part of that plan.

So, now that the holidays are over, I'll be back at it, after nearly a month's break. The first part of the work went slowly but I'm hoping that I'll be more diligent in January. I'll post my progress as the reno continues.

Stay tuned.