While in the house, Jeff told me that all of the flooring in the kitchen would have to be removed so that the base cabinets would be on a solid surface without and carpet or anything else hindering the placement of the cabinets.
So with that information in hand it was time for me to start working again. I had previously removed all of the flooring from each bathroom to get them prepared for the bathroom remodels.
It took me 2 long days to get the kitchen and dining area totally cleaned down to the concrete. It was a tough job because not only was there 20 year old filthy carpet on the floor but there was also the carpet padding that was falling apart and under the pad was the original vinyl flooring. So I ended up doing one layer at a time...removing the carpet, then removing the pad, then removing the tacking strips and then removing the vinyl flooring which was still glued down.
Then came the tough job of figuring out how to remove the paper backing from the vinyl flooring that would not lift off of the concrete because of the glue that was used.
So I did a quick Google search and found out that if you soak the paper and glue in boiling hot water and let the water sit for a bit, you could scrape the paper and glue up relatively easy.
Well I gave this a try but found it tough still and extremely time consuming.
It was at this time that Veronica made a suggestion that really saved me a lot of wear and tear on my body and shortened the time on getting this project done.
Veronica suggested we go to our local Home Depot and get a scraper that has a long handle and has a blade at the end of it...she has seen janitors and floor people use to scrape gum and such off of the flooring.
So we went to get this type of tool at Home Depot and let me tell you, if you ever have to scrape anything off of floor or concrete...this is the tool to get (see photos below). A company call Unger makes this scraper. Make sure you get an additional package of the blades that fit in this scraper. This tool made the job so much easier and I found out that I didn't need to soak the paper or glue...this long handled scraper cut thru it and I was able to remove it all in short order. It was still work to get it up but I wasn't on my hands and knees struggling to scrape little areas up at a time.
So now the entire kitchen, both closets and even under the fridge, which we had to move out briefly onto the concrete, was completely done. The only place I could not get done was the floor where the dishwasher is..built in.
We are tentatively scheduled to have the kitchen done around the 27th of September. Mr. Taylor is booked up until then.
Here are some photos of the stripped down kitchen.
Below is the tool to get for scraping anything off of a hard surface. Sold at Home Depot.
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