Thursday, September 9, 2010

The floor that ate my husband

or "Why you shouldn't lay two floors in one month (a cautionary tale)."

Here's the guilty party.



Marmoleum Click in the mudroom. It's installed in a checkerboard pattern with Barbados and Eternity. The gray is reminiscent of soapstone, a dark gray that leans the tiniest bit green. The colors work beautifully together and give the same classic, retro feel as a white/black floor, but in more muted tones.

Installation was very easy and swift once Will figured out the trick. Note: installation does not involve lots of furious hammering. We were both feeling quite smug. Finally! We had flooring that wasn't torn and stained sheet vinyl or plywood. Fantastic!

Then yesterday, Will woke up with non-working knee. He didn't call a doctor. He said it's okay, and it will probably just get better in a few days. Meanwhile, this is what I heard when he was up and about. Limp, limp, (muffled curse), pause, limp, pause, gritted teeth. Yes. You can hear gritted teeth.

So I, the sage veteran of two knee surgeries, leaped into diagnostic mode. Torn meniscus? ACL injury? Anyway, whatever it is, this is relatively severe. The knee can't support weight unless locked straight. So won't you please call the freakin' doctor?!?!?

A warning for you DIYers out there (especially those who are 40+ like us). Take it easy. I'd worried about all sorts of things from nail gun punctures to gory saw-inflicted gashes. A knee injury never crossed my mind.

Update: Severe bursitis. My husband has housemaid's knee!

2 comments:

  1. OK, so I've always wanted to use linoleum ever since I saw an episode of This Old House years ago where they used linoleum in a kitchen. Fast forward to now, and I'm going with red-oak floors like in the rest of the house--BUT I am going to use Marmoleum Click in my mudroom/laundry, because I read so many good things about it on The Garden Web, and then I saw your pic on this blog. So, I'm sold (now I just have to decide on colors). But, anyway, whilst I was scouring the web for the best prices to purchase my Click, I found this manufacturer's coupon for 20% Marmoleum! Here's the link; it's good on purchases made from August 2010 until December 2010. http://www.asthmaandallergyfriendly.com/images/stories/pdf/coupon.pdf

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a great manufacturer's coupon! Thanks for sharing it. I think you'll be really happy with the Click. It took a little while to figure out the trick of installing it. Once that was done, installation was a breeze. I love the way it looks and feels underfoot.

    Gena

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for commenting. I love reading your thoughts and responses.