Pushing Through

My medicine is kicking my butt today.  I’m in the little house, trying to install laminate flooring ~ laying 4 boxes of the stuff out for easy access, reading the instructions (I’ve also watched many, many videos), and generally just trying to get this done… and then I get really dizzy and have to immediately lay down, right there, on the overcrowded floor.  This happens over and over.  It’s intermittently incapacitating.  I mean, it’s not like I’m not used to my medicine causing me problems sometimes, but this is not a good time for that.

About two hours later, two rows are in. I fought hard for those two rows. It took me over an hour to get those two rows properly laid.  I’m already taking a break, trying to wait out the side effects of the meds. and trying to give myself a pep talk.  Then I start thinking about all the blogs from other Tiny Home builders. Why don’t I see in their blogs all of the trouble that seemingly small things give me?  All I see are talks about the planning, maybe some shots of the work in progress , then some pictures of things completed, and nothing, nothing about any difficulties . Is it that they had none?  Is it the fact that usually there were generally at least two people working on the project?   Maybe they have some friends who know what the heck they’re doing?  I don’t know.  It’s discouraging.

Well, it’s a few hours later now, about 5 o’clock.  I took a break shortly after struggling with the first three rows.  I don’t know what happened during that break, but when I went back to the flooring, it clicked (pun intended).  I was able to finally get as much done in five or 10 minutes as I did in the first hour . It went slick, it went smooth, it was easy.

I paid about $17.50 for each carton of the flooring and each carton covers about 20 ft.². The stuff isn’t made anymore as far as I can tell, but when I compare it to what is available now it ranks with the high-quality stuff in it’s thickness and layers and whatnot.  I don’t know if I got a good deal, but I know I got good stuff.  I bought it years ago along with a kit to install this type of flooring.  That’s what made it possible for me to have it in my home ~ buying it from a ReStore when I could afford it and holding onto it, storing it, having it be in the way;  but eventually being able to put it to use.  So much of what I’d gotten was intended for the bigger Tiny House, and doesn’t work in this space.  I’m glad I was able to use the flooring, at least.

I put in the loft flooring a couple days ago.  For that space I used linoleum ~ the real stuff, made with natural ingredients like linseed oil, pine rosin, ground cork dust and wood flour.  It’s thick and flexible and I like the way it looks.  Aside from giving myself a couple deep cuts from the carpet knife I used, it went down pretty easily.  There was a good amount of Reflectix left over from the roofing I did on the other house, and so I laid it down on the subfloor to help with air leaks and to add another layer of insulation.  The wool layer up there is much thinner than in the main floor.  Over that I put down some green stuff…I don’t have a clue what it’s for, but it’s soft and flexible, and seemed like a nice base to lay the linoleum on.  If someone reading this recognizes what it is from the pictures, would you be so kind as to fill me in?

So, pictures. 🙂

Linoleum unrolled and resting upside down. Recommended it’s left like that for at least 24 hours to acclimate to the room.

It’s quite thick, but fairly easy to work with.

Reflectix laid down on the loft floor

Covering the Reflectix with the mystery green stuff

The mystery green material has a frog (?!) printed on it

laying down the linoleum, preparing to trim it to size.  I failed to take a picture of the finished floor :p

Somewhat uneven subfloor in the main room

Underlayment glued and screwed down. Nice and level now!

Moisture barrier for under the laminate flooring. Got this huge amount for $5 from a ReStore

piecing the moisture barrier together with tape

First few rows are in

going down quickly now…

…and done

some things didn’t go so smoothly but will be held in place by the molding.  It doesn’t overlap like it seems, it’s just sort of sticking up

So all in all it took one day to install the linoleum in the loft, and one day to install the laminate in the main room.  Not too bad, really. 🙂  Certainly easier than other things have been!

Now I have to figure out what’s next.  I’ll post once I’ve gotten that sorted out.  Till then, enjoy your summer!