What a Nightmare/Blessing!

So last Friday, I came home to my doggies itching like crazy. I discovered my worst fear...fleas!!!! AHHHHHH!!! I call my vet right away. Fatty and Ox get Frontline Plus monthly so I was just so puzzled as to the problem. Then it came to me...my kitties! As soon as Clint came home, we ran up to the pet store and grabbed $50 worth of anti flea product. After shampooing the animals, I got on the web. What I discovered is fleas can live and produce eggs on just about anything, even floor boards. After a late night of starting laundry and scrubbing everything I could, I went to bed very frustrated. The next day, Clint did something I thought I would never see him do. He started ripping out the carpet!


My mom and Peanut came over to help. Once all the carpet was out, we could not believe how wonderful the floors looked! It was a wonder why they even covered them! As you can see in the before and after of the dining room floors, the room just glows now!





After removing all the tack strips from the carpet, cleaning the floors with a wood cleaner, and buffing with clear wax, the floors looked like new!

It also helped eliminate odors from the doggies and kitties and made the rooms feel so spacious.


Here were the steps involved:

Tools needed: box cutter or something strong enough to cut through carpet, gloves, a mask, pliers for removing staples, crow bar to remove tack strips, Duct tape or string to tie up carpet/ padding, and a shop vac to pick up loose nails, etc.

1. Check with your city's garbage rules before cutting the carpet out of the room. For example, our carpet had to be cut in 4 feet wide strips to be put out in the trash.

2. Bribe friends and family with beers and food to come over to help

3. Once carpet is out, tied up and removed from the room, make sure to run the shop vac around to pick up any loose nails, staples, or other harmful materials. Also, MAKE SURE YOU ARE WEARING SHOES. A nail in the foot does not feel good.

4. Remove tack strips and staples. Staples can be found in the middle of the room as well as around the outer edges.

5. Start cleaning floors with a wood floor cleaner. I personaly like the Oreck wood floor cleaning product that you can find at any Oreck store. It can be used with the Oreck Orbiter, which is a wonderful tool!

6. Let the floors dry...beer break!

7. Wax floors. This is if your floors are as wonderful as mine. Otherwise, you may have to refinish them. The floor wax I used works with the Oreck Orbiter and buffs the floor.

8. Enjoy!

So in a way, this was a blessing. I finally got my hardwood floors, but still have the fleas for at least another 3 months! I'll be posting soon on how to get rid of fleas.