Editor’s Note: In our “Anatomy of a Lafayette CA Remodel” blog post series, Kelly and Ned Wood are sharing lessons learned as they transform a newly purchased fixer-upper into their family home. This is the second article in the series. If you are new to the series and want to know more about it, start by clicking here.
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Remodel Lessons Start Early
If you’ve lived through a remodel, you know – plans are nice, but reality sets in quickly when contractors arrive and the house begins to cough up surprises. You have to be prepared to adjust accordingly, both in terms of design ideas and budget allocation.
Touring the Woods’ Reliez Valley Road property in late June, we could see that new bathrooms had already been plumbed and framers were giving life to architectural plans for new bedrooms and a laundry room. All according to plan.
The Woods weren’t quite so lucky when it came to flooring.
Remodel Lesson #1: Flooring Assumptions versus Concrete Ghosting Realities
The original plan for the remodel called for concrete floors throughout most of the house, an attractive choice but also an economical one because much of that concrete already existed and would only need polishing. Or so Kelly and her husband thought.
“I’m learning a lot about concrete,” says Kelly now.
When they pulled up the 8” x 8” linoleum tiles in the home’s existing kitchen and great room area, they found what they now know is called concrete “ghosting.” It’s a phenomenon that happens when tiles are set on concrete. Over time, air gets in between the tiles and creates a “ghost” pattern of the tiles in the concrete that you can’t get rid of, even if you polish the concrete.
Faced with the concrete ghosting, she and Ned had three options:
Option 1 – Embrace the Ghosting Pattern as a Design Element. At the suggestion of a contactor, Kelly drove to Clayton to look at the Orchard Supply Hardware Store floor because it has the ghosting pattern.
Option 2 – Pour additional concrete to essentially bury the ghost pattern.
Option 3 – Find another flooring option.
Option 1 was an unacceptable design look to Kelly and Ned. Option 2 was cost prohibitive. That left Option 3. For inspiration, Kelly turned to a home on Black Hawk Road she was helping stage in preparation for sale by Dana Green.
Featured on the 2011 Lafayette Juniors Kitchen Tour, 3448 Black Hawk is a great example of a gorgeous home with many high-end features located in a highly coveted Lafayette neighborhood. What caught Kelly’s eye, though, was the Pergo floor in the guest cottage by the pool.
“I loved that it’s light,” says Kelly about that “Nantucket Pine” Pergo. “So I found it and I’m using it all over the house, except in the family room where we plan to keep the existing slate floor.”
A different look than originally planned, but beautiful and still within budget.
Problem solved.
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Articles in the Anatomy of a Remodel Series:
Anatomy of a Lafayette Remodel: Matching Home to Budget, Lifestyle & Business Needs (Remodel Series #1)
Flooring Design Assumptions versus Concrete Realities (Remodel Series #2)
Taking Something Out to Let Light In (Remodel Series #3)
Landscape Design: Think Ahead Even If You’re Implementing in Phases (Remodel Series #4)