(no subject)

[miladycarol]

It looks like our house is still going to be completely out of order for another week. The cement didn’t dry in G’s office (gee, with all the rain and humidity? Whodah thunk?) so the workmen have rescheduled with us for Wednesday pending our call Tuesday night saying it’s dry. Unfortunately, although I would love to embrace optimism in this moment, the logical side of me thinks this is impossible. The only way would be to put the heater on in the room and close it off, but, alas, the heating element was removed for the floor laying process. I’m not about to put the heat on in the whole house and hope enough drifts into that room for the next few days. So, unless we have a heat wave in the next day or two, it may be a week or two before this “one day” project is completed.

In a similar vein, I am about to embark on an expedition across the accumulated heaps of G’s furniture and files in the living room to try to reach my poor plants. They haven’t been watered on that side for almost two weeks. Poor babies. They also aren’t receiving much light. *sigh*

On a brighter note, I had another wonderful afternoon with naudiz. My apologies for being less than radiant, I’ve just been so tired. It seems that even four or five hours of actual sleep per night isn’t quite cutting it, though it’s far better than the last three weeks of insomnia. My reserves are running dry. I think my head hit the table at D&D a couple of times tonight. The boys keep bugging me to go to movies with them but I have dozed during each of them, no matter how exciting. Really, it’s kind of a waste of money. They keep having to tell me all the bits I missed on the way home. Ah well, it never usually lasts more than a month or two, so I’m at the very least, halfway there. Until then, pardon my occasional surliness, please.

Comments

[karjack.livejournal.com]

Your company was quite enjoyable, dear. I mean you took pictures of my babies! How awesome is that? Plus, you're always a joy, even when you're allegedly less than radiant.

Have you thought about a space heater? If there's something you could clip to the door, if putting it on the floor isn't feasible, you might be able to get by with a space heater just in that room without having to put the heat on throughout the house. Plus, they're fairly cheap on the lower end.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

I've thought about a space heater but that would mean I'd need to buy one just for this purpose and never use it again because I really dislike how much electricity they use and how they heat only bits of the room and not the whole room. Only half the floor has wet cement on it, so there is floor space.

[karjack.livejournal.com]

It might be worth the ten bucks or so just for the added sanity. You could donate it to Goodwill or something when you were done with it. But yeah, they are electricity hogs.

[cathaus.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be an insufferable know-it-all, but...

I'd suggest not using the heater until you've let it alone for a good week. concrete doesn't dry (well, ok, it does, but that's not the point) - it cures. As in a chemical reaction that requires water to be present to happen. If it dries too fast, you get more cracking than you really want. Sounds like you're filling an area in rather than building something structural.

So you let it cure, and then you let it dry out before you put any floor coverings on top. How thick is the concrete? A thick slab can take a long time to dry. Depending on what you're putting over it and how it's attached to the concrete, you may want to wait a while so the moisture can get out. Especially if you're putting down anything like linoleum or vinyl. They used to use waterproof glues for those things, but they're nasty toxic. The new glues are water-based and much more picky about water in the concrete. Water pustules and things like that. I'm guessing you're doing pergo to match the rest - check with the manufacturers of whatever flooring you're putting in.

I don't want to freak you out - but a little research can help, as can knowledgeable construction types.

Um.. have fun?

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

What it is is this: G's office was haphazzardly built into half of the garage which sits upon two cement slabs with a 2x2 strip down the centre for expansion and contraction. Our intention was to remove the ratty rug and replace it with something that would be less a problem for G's asthma. We did our research and opted for the laminate flooring like the rest of our house because the woman who gave us this bid said she had a really capable work crew that could handle it easily. I knew it wasn't going to be as easy as she thought, but, she seemed very confident in his abilities and gave me a good price. When he arrived, he saw that the smaller slab half of the room was actually 1.5 inches off true in the far corner. He had to lay a cement float that brought the whole floor flush. The laminate has a plactic vapor sheild on one side and I refuse to set the floor down until it is dry. We have a fan on it and I've opened the door to the rest of the house and blocked the dog access so they can't get in there. My concern is that it is taking longer to dry because the air has been so humid. I am just looking forward to having my house back in order soon. But, I'd rather wait longer now than have to have them re-do it later because it rotted beneath.

There are no glues on this floor. Yick. Glues are nasty.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

Oh, and, thanks for your insight. It is greatly appreciated. I may just give it a few more days on top of what I originally thought. *hug*

[cathaus.livejournal.com]

I try to help - sometimes a bit *too* much. I got a little worried that you were putting in a huge chunk o' concrete and expecting it to cure and dry in a day! Yeep.

Out of curiousity, how does the laminate floor get attached to the concrete? Does it just tongue-and-groove and then sit there?

Speaking of glues, I read in the paper recently about this nifty stuff someone at OSU came up with. They simulated the glues that mussels use to stick to rocks using a special blend of soy flour and amino acids. It's eco-friendly, non-toxic, cheap, waterproof, and apparently stronger than the toxic glues that have been in use. This could seriously revolutionize the wood products industry - any kind of laminated or glued stuff. Unfortunately, they have a special licensing agreement with this one producer who funded the research. Meaning that it will revolutionize things, but only for some product lines. D'oh.

[miladycarol.livejournal.com]

That glue sounds cool. See, you know all kinds of really valuable stuff. I love having your advice. I think Lethran takes great pride when she introduces two of her friends and they appreciate each other.

The flooring is a self locking one with snap together grooves along their sides. It's an incredibly snug fit. The whole floor is built with about 1/4 inch around between it and the wall. This is called a floating floor. Then I'll buy trim that is 3/8" thick and nail it to the wall to cover the gap. The reason for the cement float is because there was such a large difference in the height of the floor. If there is more than 1/4 inch difference, the boards won't lay correctly or could snap. Nothing is attached to the cement directly.

[indiecowboy.livejournal.com]

Sorry your life is upset at the moment.

*projects calming order*