The Kitchen Floor
Thanks to a shut-off valve under the kitchen sink we suffered some flooding of the kitchen floor while running the dishwasher. After trying (and failing) to deal with the problem ourselves, we had a plumber in to replace the shut-off valve and he also replaced all the old, rusty pipes with new ones in the sturdier ABS plastic. As you can see from the picture, we could use some new cabinets too, but that's another story. The water from the flood got underneath the old, crappy vinyl floor tiles we had and several of them broke as I tried to get to the water underneath them. I've been wanting to replace them for years but I didn't want to do it until we could get new cabinets in case there was a size difference and I would have to fix the floor again. The flood changed that because I wasn't willing to live with semi-ripped-up floor until we can afford to replace all the kitchen cabinets.

I bought some new vinyl tiles and started prying up the remains of the broken ones. This was not an easy task as the parts that hadn't gotten wet were still firmly stuck to the floor. I spent hours with a blow dryer (to melt the adhesive) and a crowbar to try to pry them up. The remaining adhesive was insanely sticky and I had no choice but to immediately replace a tile with a new one as I went because the sticky goo was getting all over everything (Persephone seriously regretted attempting to walk across a patch of stickiness. She learned that she couldn't have all 4 paws in the air at once, no matter how badly she wanted it). Unfortunately, the goo was also getting all over the tops of the replacement tiles as I put them in and even scrubbing with rubbing alcohol wasn't doing the trick - nor did it do anything to get the goo off 'Crowie' our little crowbar who will have to be consigned to crowbar heaven after this escapade. So the combination of backbreaking labour to attempt to pry the suckers up and the stickyness of all the new tiles, plus my dislike of the new tiles once they were in made me decide that a new plan was necessary.

I felt super-crappy on Wednesday morning last week and decided I couldn't face the day at the clinic. Since I was at home and miserable anyway, I figured I may as well take care of the floor and I decided to replace all the broken or bubbled tiles with new ones, scrub the floor down as best I could with TSP, then take the remaining ones back to the store. I then went to a different home supply juggernaut and bought the much nicer tiles I'd initially decided against because they were more expensive (plus I couldn't find a shopping cart to load the heavy boxes of the suckers into the first time I went). I got the new tiles home and started sticking them overtop the old ones (I had found much older tiles under the layer I pried up before, and several home renovation forums and books suggested this method). It was still backbreaking labour, crawling around on the floor for the 6 hours it took me to get it done, as well as rolling the edges of each tile with the rolling pin to ensure they were firmly adhered and moving the fridge, dishwasher and stove around the room, but it was well worth it. The new, new tiles look amazing and were definitely worth the extra cost.

I wasn't able to fully finish the floor because of a cabinet that is attached to the wall but sits on the floor (see the top of the photo to the left). It is in dire need of replacement (it would completely fall apart if it weren't attached to the wall) so I couldn't move it to tile underneath. At some point soon, we will put in cabinets on either side of the fridge as a start, and I will be able to finish the tiling. I also need to put new baseboards but that is true through most of the house so I'm less worried about that. I have to admit that every time I walk into the kitchen now, I profess my love for the floor. And if that is wrong, I don't want to be right!

Before: Craptastic After: Fabulous!