Saturday, February 16, 2008

Stage 2 finished

The Great Front Hall Project continues. Stage one was to remove the vinyl top layer. Stage 2 (a particularly arduous stage) was to heat and scrape up the cardboard backing layer. I have finished this process, except for the bit under the metal threshold. I'll wait until it is a little warmer for the threshold operation, since I will have to work with the front door open. That leaves the residual glue mess you see in the picture. Miscellaneous advice on the internet recommends dissolving the glue with mineral spirits. Of course this advice is from the same optimistic folks who said the glue would easily scrape right off when heated. Still, worth a try. And since I am fresh out of mineral spirits, I can use this excuse to visit Home Depot - I have been thinking of buying a reciprocal saw... And maybe collecting paint chips for after the wallpaper is removed....

3 comments:

Sharon said...

Congratulations on Stage Two!! Phew~

magnusmog said...

well done - that's real hard graft :)

Anonymous said...

You do realize that mineral spirits will probably give you a migraine? Not only will you have the front door open, but all the windows, doors and fans going!! However, "they're" probably right. GooGone would also probably work, but since it contains toluene, you'd need to do the full open house thing with it, too.

Looking good, though!!