What can a girl do with a crowbar and a mallet? Well, she can remove hardwood floors plank by plank and give herself a screaming backache. At some point over the years relatively inexpensive boring old yellow hardwoords were installed over the original heart pine plank floors. While in good condition they looked out of place next to the real thing, particularly once we opened up the rooms. I am about 1/2 way through the room and should get them all out tomorrow. So far I only found one board that needs complete replacing. Michael also decided to reuse the cheap wood inside his beloved shed, so I have to be really careful yanking them out. I’ll be honest and say that not all of them are surviving. This project is warranting the most swear words from me. As I yank out the boards, it is not uncommon for the short ones to come springing out and smack me in the shin or the arm. And the really long ones threaten to burst a bicep.

My dear husband worked about 5 hours longer than me and didn’t complain at all. He spent the day in a field of 2×10 boards and seemed to enjoy every minute of it. He single-handedly removed the entire deck. Tomorrow the truck needs to be filled with all the scrap. We’ll keep the big boards to reinforce the original floors from beneath the house. Recycling at its best.

We’ll knock back some ibuprofen in the morning and be ready to re-tackle the day. As Michael said, we are systematically dismantling our House, and having more than a bit of fun in the process.