Beebe: kitchen floor

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Lily left the valley
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Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

Some folks may have seen my thread asking about lino repair.

This thread is to keep track of what happens with the floor in the kitchen.

When we bought the home, faux wood vinyl planks had been put down, and it seemed rather recent. We both hate it. We originally were still going to live with it for the "first year" until we found out either lino or a VCT "rug" was underneath the vinyl.

Well, when I found out the vinyl had no glue under it, up it started to go. Almost done, actually, in the kitchen specifically.

What I have discovered is also, oddly, carpet threads where there were staples in the baseboards. So apparently at some point there was what seems to be a fairly modern safe beige wall to wall carpet. Yes, in a kitchen. I'm glad we missed that stage.

We had already found some possible damage from a radiator that used to be in there, but is no longer. (We have no idea what happened to it.) Here's some photos I've taken of the progress so far. The first image is a composite of three shots. You can see that it's cracked very badly. You can also see in the second image that there are chunks missing in some center spots--not just the edging from the radiator overflow damage. In the third image, we're not sure if the "lines" are actually from the composite floor planking we've found bits of in both the kitchen and the garage. They are a bit too wide for the original wood floor below even though that floor runs the same E-W path.
Image
Image Image
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

The kitchen is small, and hard to photo in full. This is the best I could do after all the vinyl was lifted today:
Image

There are some spots where the old wax is coming up in thin sheets and reminds me of mica flakes.

It looks like the gold strips were already cannibalized for another repair in the past, because there's even some missing from the section that is in good shape. You can see near the bin to the left where the trim gold line extended right into the dining--which is why they didn't have a theshold there. The paint is latex, and comes up very easily as I've already found when I did the quick small test clean spot.

Right now, it looks like the floor will most likely be used for repairs at best. When Sean gets home, we'll talk about whether we want to try to deal with the mastic underneath (not likely) or just go with my original idea of getting cork.
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

Texas_Ranger
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Texas_Ranger »

Who'd carpet a kitchen? I keep asking myself that and can't find an answer. At a friend's place we found a piece of black carpet under the sink cabinet (we had to pull that away due to a water leak) and a few weeks later we found forest green carpet under the sink cabinet in her new apartment when we moved that to gain access to the plumbing for a dishwasher. The carpet itself was gross enough but there was a gap between the cabinet bottom and the wall so anything that should have gone into the bin but missed ended up underneath the cabinet - apple cores, cigarette butts and even a used condom. EEEEEEEEWWWWW!

The only worse thing is carpet in a bathroom.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

I know, right? I had known that there was carpet in the dining/hall, but never did I suspect the kitchen. If I hadn't found the threads clinging to the staples, I would not have believed it either.

I did live in a trailer one semester in grad school that had the really thin indoor/outdoor style in the kitchen, but this was definite pile thread I found. :snooty:

I do know someone who has carpet in her baths. She hates cold tile floors. thinks carpet underfoot feels luxurious. We agreed to disagree on bath flooring from that day forward, and we're still friends. :D
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Deb
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Deb »

In the late 70's, early 80's, kitchen carpet was the rage, at least in the south. We owned a carpet business and went through a period when everyone wanted carpet in the kitchen. I never understood why, but if they wanted to pay for it, we'd lay it!

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

Deb wrote:In the late 70's, early 80's, kitchen carpet was the rage, at least in the south. We owned a carpet business and went through a period when everyone wanted carpet in the kitchen. I never understood why, but if they wanted to pay for it, we'd lay it!
That blows my mind. The only carpet in wet rooms I remember from childhood is the occasional half bath might have one.
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JRC
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by JRC »

Maybe I missed it, and I'm also late to the party, but have you considered removing the tile from the dining room floor to repair the kitchen floor?

As for carpet in kitchens and bathrooms, my grandparents did that. They were children during the depression, so I think they viewed carpet as luxurious.

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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

JRC wrote:Maybe I missed it, and I'm also late to the party, but have you considered removing the tile from the dining room floor to repair the kitchen floor?

As for carpet in kitchens and bathrooms, my grandparents did that. They were children during the depression, so I think they viewed carpet as luxurious.
JRC, we're hoping that the dining is actually in better shape, as we'd rather have this color scheme in there.

It will take a bit still until we're ready to start clearing out the vinyl in there, because the cold I picked up from Sean kicked my butt the last few days, but I should have more of the boxes out of there soon as I'm almost done with the preliminary clean up of the kitchen. It really needs a deep clean, but I just don't have time for that now. (More on that in the Beebe general thread at some point today.)
--Proud member of the Industrious Cheapskate Club
--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

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Lily left the valley
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by Lily left the valley »

Found this gallery today from a 40s Congoleum catalog: https://www.flickr.com/photos/daily-bungalow/28676069463/in/album-72157653507095245/

At the bottom of that page I see a lot of yellow trim detail. The mouse over when you're in the gallery says "Nairn Linoleum 1942", and look at the similar marbling on the main area even if the color is different than ours:
ImageThey have black on the outer to blend with the kickplate, so it's hard to notice the edge beyond the trim.

In this image, it's a bit easier to see, but they used a third color on the outside as well, just not blending with the base. Oh, and the trim isn't really yellow in this one, but still similar overall to what we have: Image
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--Currently pondering ways to encourage thoughtful restovation and discourage mindless renovation.

phil
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Re: Beebe: kitchen floor

Post by phil »

I think you may be right that it dates about the time of the pic with the blue flooring, but with this stuff who knows? you can see my thread showing the cork flooring. I'd like that in the kitchen but I dont' know if Im up for the challenge of trying to move mine. the kitchen floor is finished in poly. It's not bad but every time someone drops a can I cringe a little as it does dent. I sure noticed the acoustics change without the carpet. it's an echo chamber in there now. furniture and rugs would help a lot though. If I did it all again I'd spring for a cork floor in the kitchen.
Im sure the paint would come off I wonder if it were scrubbed with hand cleaner? is it torn much? you might fix problems near the edge with a border? you must have a stash of cool pics, the stuff you come up with is awesome.. that yellow and blue kitchen is so neat.

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