Achy breaky hands

Have you ever worked your hands so much that the muscles were actually sore? I now have a much clearer understanding of the intrinsic muscles of the palm and phalanges than I ever received in anatomy and cadaver college courses. I believe I can actually feel them all at the moment ;-).

The reason for my increased knowledge (and pain) is the fact that I've been stripping the last of the linoleum from the concrete floor in the laundry room. Our first big project is waiting at the starting gate! The workmen are coming next week to begin the masonry, plumbing, and electrical work necessary to have a proper laundry room.

The room has, up until now, been a neglected former porch that was closed in. It is on slab, unlike the rest of the house, so changes mean a lot of work! It currently houses the exposed water heater and the dryer, but the washer is in the kitchen. It will all be consolidated into better locations with a furred out wall to hide the water supply, drain, vent, and electrical needs. Then I'll tackle the miscellaneous walls (composed of at least three types of brick and two colors of mortar) with paint and etch and stain the concrete (hopefully). If the subfloor is too subpar for that, I'll do a faux finish.

Either way, I'm really excited to have some major progress coming down the pike! This room has lots of potential (aesthetically and functionally), so I can't wait to uncover it. I just hope it doesn't require much more scraping to get at it!





You can't see the old, odd green linoleum in these photos, but it's probably better that way anyhow. We got up about half of it with a reasonable amount of effort, but the remaining islands of stuck flooring might as well be continents! They are really, really well-adhered. So I'm using a four inch razor blade to scrape up the top rubbery layer in tiny shreds in the hopes of exposing the underneath to noxious chemicals that will persuade it to surrender its grip.