Of course I had to go get my handy dandy tool box and get all the carpet I could in the house except the bedrooms since those will be a pain. There is carpet in one of the rooms that is probably as old as the house and it's stuck to the floor. I'm not sure how I'm going to get that out of there so at the time I was taking out the carpet I figured I'd focus on the rest of the house that way I could get most of the carpet out and hopefully the allergens too!
At first I only did the hallways and the dining/computer area and left the living room (who wants to lay on hardwood floor in front of the tv or stand in front of the pellet stove on cold floors, not me) Luckily while talking to my inlaws they had said there was a nice big area rug at their house that they weren't even using that we could have!! So I ended up taking out all the carpet in the front of the house and laying down a big rug! My only problem is, is keeping the rug clean with this houseful of feet that seem to always get the rug dirty. I do have a carpet cleaner but the bristles stopped working a couple years ago so now it just sucks up water instead of scrubbing the carpet. I may have to either fix it or just get another one.
This is the hallway before
And after. Notice the lovely paint splotches that the former owners so graciously left us. I think they painted then put carpet down not caring about the floors. The off brand or mr. clean magic erasers work great for getting the paint off without hurting the floors!
The living room floor. The floor probably needs to be refinished but with the houseful of animals and people I didn't want to re-ruin it. A good cleaning and oiling made them nice, clean, and shiny. I used black tea to clean them and a mix of grape seed oil and lemon juice after it was dry to finish cleaning up whatever was missed and made them shiny.
This is before the black tea and grape seed...ew.
And this is after. It isn't professional looking but it's definitely better then before and now it has character! I didn't want to use products that had chemicals in them since I didn't know what was used back in the late 60's on hardwood floor. I would rather use a more natural (cheaper) alternative that I know is safe for my family.
Just goes to show what a couple tools can do along with some natural products to bring life back into old hardwood that was covered up for years!
By the looks of your floor, it’s really a huge challenge in cleaning and restoring it. But you’re quite skilled, because you made it look good as new. Congratulations! What did you do to your carpet, btw? Recycling it is a good option.
ReplyDeleteMatt O
It was a huge challenge but worth it! Thank you! We don't have a carpet recycling place near us but I used what I could around the house! The local carpet place wouldn't take it either unless they were putting in new carpet for you.
DeleteI also have a wooden floor in my kitchen and i find it very difficult to clean when its greasy. I will try this method now to clean it up.
ReplyDelete