Now that I was about half done laying the floor, Efiwym and I had to move the furniture over to the finished side of the room. Efiwym applied felt pads on the furniture so we could put the couches and tables on the floor. I also needed to move the left over flooring.
The remaining carpet and pad had to be removed. Also, there was still some baseboards that had to be taken off. Before I could start screwing down the OSB. Efiwym asked me when I would finish the floor. I said I had no end date, but I thought I would have it done by Christmas. I asked why, and she stated we were having most of the family stopping over on Thanksgiving. She indicated that it was not a big deal and that we just needed to keep the grandkids out of the room.
I suddenly had a sense of panic. I do not like unfinished projects on display, especially in front of company. That should have seemed odd to me, since my children and grandkids had already been over and seen the work zone. I now set the finish date, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. I would not leave this project just for the weekends. Starting right away, this project would be worked on every day. There were even days I would come home early from work or during lunch to work on the floor.
I did not have knee pads and my knees were taking a beating. I had scrapes on my knees and my right knee was starting to swell up. It was getting so painful I could not kneel on it. I made an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon to check it out. I still made an effort to finish the flooring. Besides the baseboards, I only had the transition pieces by the patio door and fireplace to install.
The orthopedic surgeon drained fluid from my knee and gave me some antibiotics. After one week, I went back, and the news was not good. I needed to have the bursa sac removed. It was infected. I questioned him if there was another alternative. Nope, it would be surgery. The joke was I could have had the flooring installed for what it would cost to have the surgery. For a DIYer, it is the experience more than the money.
We still put all the furniture in place as I could work around it. However, Efiwym did not want me to work on it until my knee was healed. Even though I was on pain pills and could not bend my knee, I slid around the floor and installed the baseboards. Using the existing nail holes in the baseboards, I still missed the studs. I slammed my thumb and fingers trying to nail down the baseboard. I was glad I was on pain pills. On Thanksgiving morning I was still installing baseboards and the transition pieces, but it was done in time for the first guests to arrive.
I gladly showed off my work to my family while limping around and grimacing in pain. Was it worth it? For a just-okay DIYer, you bet it was!
