Back in January 2008 our hot water tank decided it was time to act up. We live in Ohio. No hot water, in winter (January no less) is NOT fun. So we call the repair man and several hundreds of dollars later, our tank is fixed. However the mess that was left made me wanna throw up.
The problem with the tank was that our burner (we have a gas tank) was covered in soot. The repair man had to clean all the soot off the burner. And that's where his cleaning skills stopped. He didn't think to put a drop cloth down. Or wear booties over his soot stained boots...so he tracked thick, black soot all over the basement, up the BEIGE (well, it was beige) carpeted stairs, on the hardwood and through the garage.
For two years I have cleaned those steps. I have scrubbed, vacuumed and even steam cleaned them. Nothing lifted the darn soot.
So, Friday night, I decided to take matters into my own hands, literally, and ripped up the carpeting. It was fantastic! Everything went well, 'til I got to the last step (which, apparently the installers used a super strength staple gun) because when I pulled, it finally gave, and I flew into the cement wall behind me. Its cool...I walked away with just a scrapped elbow, but still...
I got half way through Friday night, tearing up the padding and pulling the staples...Saturday I took the day off to watch the hubs play softball, shop with the moms and go out to eat...but yesterday morning I rolled up my sleeves and completed the task! Eek!
Its amazing to me what a difference having no soot-stained-carpeting makes!
Don't worry, pictures will come soon...now I have to paint 'em! I love having projects to work on!!
