The Floor

Here's an interesting (well, maybe not) side story to the house addition saga.  Part of the renovation involves replacing a good portion of the first floor with hardwood flooring.  The Mrs.' vision has the same hardwood going from the front door foyer, through the kitchen, den, hallway and new addition.  You add that up and it comes to just over 1,100 square feet.  The wood she selected back in January (something called Rosewood) was still unavailable at the beginning of May, so she had to make another selection (something called Koa or Tiger Wood).  I just know somewhere in a South American rain forest, a crew chief went running into the woods yelling "Don't cut down that forest, move across the road and cut down THAT forest!".

So here was the problem (as I perceived it) with this flooring - the cost.  The flooring with the underlayment cost about $6.50 a square foot (do the math - this is why my stomach hurts all the time).  The 7% NJ sales tax and delivery charge (if we bought it in New Jersey) would be about $800.  But wait, we live next to tax-free Delaware. 

It is common practice for people in Jersey (especially South Jersey) to make a run across the boarder to buy big ticket items like TVs and appliances.  So when I went to Budget rental to get a truck and told them where I was going, there were no questions asked. 

We went on a Sunday because the rates are 1/2 that of Saturday rentals (there's a cost savings tip for you do-it-yourself-movers out there).  I had to rent a 24 foot truck because even though the packets of wood are only 7 feet long and would easily fit into a 12 foot truck, they weigh over 3,700 pounds.  Even with the larger truck, 80 miles worth of diesel fuel (I had to return the truck full) and tolls, it only cost me a little under $200. 

The Pudge in front of the first truck we rented.  After doing all of the paperwork, we went to start it and the battery was dead.  We ended up with the truck on the right.

I've driven a pickup truck all my life, but never a truck this big. 



The Pudge ready to put the hammer down.



Fortunately, when we were at the floor place in Delaware, they were able to forklift the pallet of floor (48 boxes) into the truck using 2 forklifts and 1 guy.  It was interesting to watch how he did that.  Years of experience I'm guessing. 

The Pudge before he and I carried all 48 boxes into the house.  20 went right into the garage, but the other 28 had to go into the addition from the back door. 

We had to be careful where and how we stacked the boxes.  A stack of 5 boxes weighs 400 pounds.  We tried to keep the stacks near the foundations.

It took The Pudge and me about an hour and a half to unload.  The Pudge had bruises up and down the inside of both arms by the time we were done.  I was expecting a visit from DYFS when he went to school the next day.  Oh yeah, he had to suit up and play soccer right after we were done.  He played on defense because he was so tired he couldn't run and the coach needled me about it the whole game.

The floors are installed as of this writing and The Mrs. got to take back 6 leftover boxes of wood and 1 roll of under-layment when she went down to Delaware this week for work. 

I think she's happy with the floor - but you just never know.