Bit by bit...
Cleaning up a farmyard and farmhouse after years of neglect is no easy task, as folks who have read my past postings have probably noticed by now. Today we finished our goals for this trip, though we took our time getting there. The main thing to do today was to tear out the carpet in the living room and hallway, two tasks that we skirted around and avoided for the first half of the day. Trickstir and my mother-in-law were working in the kitchen, cleaning the cupboards and trying to get things somewhat organized. I was downstairs assembling pantry cupboards so that we'd have places to store things once we started moving them in. Eventually though, we had to face the task before us...
Pulling up the living-room carpet was actually easy, as it was properly tacked into place along the edges, and thus easy to remove once you got the first bit of it lifted. Once it started coming up and we were able to see the underside, there was no doubt about how bad the damage was. You didn't need a blacklight to see the stains, and the camera was perfectly capable of getting those images. The stench of cat-urine got even worse once the carpet was pulled up and the underlay exposed, but it cleared up quite a bit once we removed the underlay as well. Then the task of removing the glued-down hallway carpet was at hand.
Removing a glued-down carpet is a horrible task at best. It's much worse when the carpet is beyond filthy. The ex-tenants claimed that they had cleaned the carpets, but given the amount of dirt that came rolling off it as we pulled it up, that was as much of a bold-faced lie as any other that they had told us. I had purchased a good utility knife in town this morning, so we used that to slice the carpet into sections making it easier to remove. Getting it off the stairs was a real chore, but it got done. The problem now is that most of the backing stayed behind, firmly glued to the subfloor beneath it. The question is, how do you remove it? Manual removing with a scraper is a last-resort that I'd really like to avoid. I need to know if there's a machine that can strip if off, or perhaps some kind of chemical peeler? I know "Poly-Strippa" works great on paint, but I don't know if it would be the thing to use in this case. I'm going to have to seach the 'net on this one, but if anyone has some advice it would be most welcome.
Finally, once the carpets were ripped out and the evening was cooling off, I decided to have another go at trimming the grass out around the garage and future horse-barn. It's been pretty hot and dry here lately, and the grass seemed like it would be dry and thin enough that the mower might handle it. It did, though it was still slow going. I found a few more bits of junk and crap buried in the grass, including old boards, oil-filters, the base from a car-jack, and an old rotten sleeping bag. The worst thing was a length of chain-link fence buried deep in the thatch! Most of that is still in there, because I had neither the strength nor the time (nor the ambition) to rip it out. I was able to cut around it though, so the yard still looks well-trimmed. Overall, the yard looks a lot better, and I have a good sense of accomplishment for having gotten that mowing done. The trick seems to be not to look at the whole massive project, as that would be overwhelming. Instead, look at it bit-by-bit, and do a little at a time. It takes a while, but the job gets done. :)
Pulling up the living-room carpet was actually easy, as it was properly tacked into place along the edges, and thus easy to remove once you got the first bit of it lifted. Once it started coming up and we were able to see the underside, there was no doubt about how bad the damage was. You didn't need a blacklight to see the stains, and the camera was perfectly capable of getting those images. The stench of cat-urine got even worse once the carpet was pulled up and the underlay exposed, but it cleared up quite a bit once we removed the underlay as well. Then the task of removing the glued-down hallway carpet was at hand.
Removing a glued-down carpet is a horrible task at best. It's much worse when the carpet is beyond filthy. The ex-tenants claimed that they had cleaned the carpets, but given the amount of dirt that came rolling off it as we pulled it up, that was as much of a bold-faced lie as any other that they had told us. I had purchased a good utility knife in town this morning, so we used that to slice the carpet into sections making it easier to remove. Getting it off the stairs was a real chore, but it got done. The problem now is that most of the backing stayed behind, firmly glued to the subfloor beneath it. The question is, how do you remove it? Manual removing with a scraper is a last-resort that I'd really like to avoid. I need to know if there's a machine that can strip if off, or perhaps some kind of chemical peeler? I know "Poly-Strippa" works great on paint, but I don't know if it would be the thing to use in this case. I'm going to have to seach the 'net on this one, but if anyone has some advice it would be most welcome.
Finally, once the carpets were ripped out and the evening was cooling off, I decided to have another go at trimming the grass out around the garage and future horse-barn. It's been pretty hot and dry here lately, and the grass seemed like it would be dry and thin enough that the mower might handle it. It did, though it was still slow going. I found a few more bits of junk and crap buried in the grass, including old boards, oil-filters, the base from a car-jack, and an old rotten sleeping bag. The worst thing was a length of chain-link fence buried deep in the thatch! Most of that is still in there, because I had neither the strength nor the time (nor the ambition) to rip it out. I was able to cut around it though, so the yard still looks well-trimmed. Overall, the yard looks a lot better, and I have a good sense of accomplishment for having gotten that mowing done. The trick seems to be not to look at the whole massive project, as that would be overwhelming. Instead, look at it bit-by-bit, and do a little at a time. It takes a while, but the job gets done. :)