A Home Project In the Works - Linoleum Be Gone!

Hey everyone!  I thought I'd start the week with one of the hardest things for me to show on our House Tour.  I figured I may as well get the most difficult thing out of the way first.


Anyhow, remember that I said we still have our ancient linoleum in the kitchen & dining room?  Thankfully, my husband is planning to work on that project this summer and we'll be getting new floors!  It's a bigger project because we actually have to replace the reinforcing beam in our basement (it's cracked!) and will need to reinforce the joists. (Our floors actually sag and dip in places)  This is one reason our project has been on hold so long.  


But that's not the only place we have linoleum.  Oh no.  The people who owned the place originally must have either 1) REALLY liked linoleum or 2) had extra linoleum and figured they couldn't let it go to waste.  


I'm guessing the answer is #2.  There used to be linoleum on the kitchen and dining room walls.  That was one of the first things to go!  But, we still have linoleum in and on our stairway.  May I show you?

The Landing - Notice the linoleum is on the walls too!

Sorry for the sideways shot - you get the idea

And, looking up the stairs.

So, I tried to convince my husband that since we were going to be doing the floors maybe I could start removing the linoleum from the stairs and work on re-doing those myself.  He told me that it would be more work than it was worth and he'd have to replace the entire set of stairs.


"Oh, c'mon"  I said, "People do home renovations all the time.  Are you telling me if they encounter something like this they have to replace the stairs?  Let me try."


"OK"  He reluctanctly agreed.  "But I'm telling you.  It's more work than you think."


"Can I take the linoleum off the walls too?"  I asked gleefully.


"NO!"  He answered emphatically.  "There will be holes in walls when you take the linoleum down and will need to be ripped out and dry-walled."


I figured I may as well let well enough alone and start with the stairs.  Initially, what I saw was promising.

Visions of beautifully sanded and stained hardwood stairs danced in my head.  But, alas that first step was a teaser.  The linoleum came up relatively easy.  I thought removing the rest would be a breeze.  Unfortunately the rest of the stairs are proving more resistant.  I discovered not just one, but TWO layers of linoleum and both are glued down so hard, I'm having trouble prying it back with various tools.

This project remains "In Process".  I will update when I have more to report.

Tomorrow, be sure to stop back as I share one project room in our house that is complete - the upstairs bathroom.