But things are getting done! We spent last night in a hotel. A hotel that will be home until Friday. We won’t lie, it is nice not having to wipe the dust off of everything twice daily, or having to worry about if the rain is going to leak through the ceiling. It is nice not looking at half done wood work.

The floors upstairs are officially sanded. If you had seen them before the sanding, you would have never guessed the potential. When the old linoleum in the hallway was taken out (not by us), the floor was really badly gouged. I thought it was going to show those marks forever. I could swear they had to be at least 1/8″ deep. However, when we stopped by last night to look at the progress, I almost wondered if they laid down new floors. They were perfect. Absolutely, 100%, undeniably, perfect. And you remember the bathroom floor differences between the new and old wood? Invisible. That’s right, you cannot tell where the old meets the new. I was sure that there would be a huge difference.

Of course, I didn’t think to grab the camera from the hotel (had to bring it with to capture the big man having a blast swimming).  Just trust me on this one: the floor looks amazing. The stairs do too.

On other fronts, if you haven’t watched much news recently, our general area is under water. Thankfully it appears Grand Forks’ new flood walls will keep the Red River at bay. Sadly, Fargo is in for a massive flood fight. We ended up not getting flood insurance for two main reason: it seemed too late to make it within the 30 day window (which proved correct), and the insurance only covered the furnace and hot water heater. None of the finished bathroom would have been covered. We decided that if they predicted the water getting close to the top of the dikes, we would literally yank the water heater and furnace and haul them upstairs.

And as Casey hinted to in her last post, we do have some water downstairs. That corner that I had foam boarded is leaking like a sieve. I’m sure the idea would work great in new construction, but our walls are like Swiss cheese apparently. I’ll be ripping the foam board off and getting it all sprayed with the foam like the bathroom. Which, speaking of the bathroom foam, I have been monitoring that corner as it had leaked extremely badly before being foamed, and all was dry under the drywall except for a 1-2′ section under the washer and dryer hookup box. I have a theory I’m pretty sure is correct. I don’t believe the foam is allowing it to leak, but when the plumber installed the hookup box, he chiseled the foam out in order to fit it. The problem is that he took it all the way back to the concrete. That foam most likely pealed the sealer/paint off of the concrete leaving it bare. I have a solution that I am going to try to avoid having to tear out the drywall (but I’m open to suggestions). I plan to drill 4-6 holes in the back of the hookup box, and stick a foam can nozzle in them and force as much foam behind the box as possible. After that, I’ll caulk up the holes with white caulking to make them as unnoticeable as possible.

Hopefully I’ll post some stress-free, non-house pictures from the hotel poolside tonight.