New Kitchen Floor

For the last couple of years our kitchen tile floor has been breaking/broken.  Grout had come up, tiles were chipped and completely broken, and I had rugs covering the worst of it to protect feet and my sanity.  There is no good time to tear up your kitchen floor, really, and my anxiety doesn't allow for my house to be upturned for long so we'd put this off month after month.
Late in the afternoon on Sunday, Sept 16th, I got a huge bee in my bonnet to tear up that terrible tile.  I got a crow bar and crazy looks from my husband and started in.  In my head, this entire project was going to take like 6 hours, start to finish.  I didn't realize tile had cement board under it so that was a sad surprise that had to come up, but once we'd started there was no turning back.  Also, I grossly underestimated the allotted time - it took about 24 hours of labor total with 2 of us working together at a time (either Mike and I or Phil and Mike + Xavier).  It's good that I don't think through things too thoroughly before I do them or I would have put it off yet again.

As we anticipated, the original hardwood floors were under the tile and cement board and were in sturdy shape (no water damage, no soft spots, no splinters - fine for a sub floor).  However they would have needed a great deal of sanding and love to be floor to walk on and I couldn't commit to that time right now, so we chose to lay out roll out vinyl instead.  We tossed around other flooring options but in the end Mike and I needed to still be speaking by the end of this project so we went with durable, affordable, and fast (ish).

As evening neared on Sunday night, we ditched the kids with Nannie, and ran to Menard's to choose floor.  We got some of the thickest 12 foot vinyl they offered and I really like how it's got a little cushion to it.  My feet have appreciated it, too.

Mike and I called it a night at about 2 a.m. Monday morning and got back up and at it by 8 a.m.  When we went to bed at 2 a.m. everything was ripped up and we were just smoothing some old linoleum glue, etc, so the next morning we were able to start in with a final clean of the hardwoods before laying new floor.  He took a PTO day to finish the floor, since the fridge was in the dining room, I was without a stove, and he knew my stress would be rising. 

I'm so thankful that his dad came to be his companion and to help him think things through as they figured out how to lay the floor.  Roll out vinyl is probably easier to lay in larger rooms, rather than 'z' shaped kitchens, but after a consult with a local retired contractor, they made a plan and got busy!

It's truly given me a lot of joy to not loathe my kitchen floor.  I don't dread going in there as much and I can sweep and mop it like a normal person (instead of scrubbing tiles on my hands and knees because the mop couldn't glide smoothly over them). 

It also makes me chuckle that the kids come in the kitchen to hang out because new floor is exciting and cozy.

Thank you, Mike for not hating me when I get a crow bar and start tearing things up.  And thanks to Xavier for doing a great deal of grunt labor, to our friend Kelly for the consult, to Papa George for always being willing to lend expertise and a hand, and to Nannie for watching kids.