Worst Nightmare Territory

Not really a question, more like a shocked discovery along with helpless jaw-dropping.

As some of you may know, I'm in the midst of helping out on a renovation of a total crapshoot of a house, a circa-1920s oddity that may have been literally rolled down a mountain from an old mining town. The place is filled with weird doors and crazy floorboards -- rooms seem to have been added willy-nilly over the years; bizarre crayon drawings line the inside of the old closets; the furnace is from the dawn of time; and nothing, nothing, is level.

Needless to say, it's been an adventure.

However, today's discovery took the cake. We pulled up the nasty old carpeting in the living room to find a decaying linoleum floor and... dirt. So much dirt. On the floor. Under the carpeting. In the house. Dirt.

Behold:

dirty

How the heck did all that dirt get in there?

Tagged:
home improvement renovations diy carpeting nasty dirt

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December 20, 2006

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frangrit's blog (4 posts)

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Member since: 11/17/06
About: I’m Frances. I’m twenty-eight and female and I recently moved from New York City, which...

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booizzy

December 26, 2006

Carpet is so gross and icky. You really can't clean it all that well. Once dirt slips below the carpet and works it's way through the pad, it stays there until you pull it up. I've pulled up old carpet a few times and everytime there's loads of dirt. Especially in high traffic areas. The crummy thing is that it can do serious damage to the floor below. My wood floors are all chewed up from being under carpet for years and years.

DIY Maven

December 20, 2006

When I first moved to Minneapolis, I lived in an efficency apartment near Lake Calhoun that had carpeting so dirty, I had to wear shoes inside to keep the bottoms of my feet clean. No lie. When I was finally able to afford to have the carpet remove--with an increase in rent, of course--my landlady was even disgusted with it, as she oversaw the removal and install. Thank god I was at work when the job was done; I would have been to grossed out to continue to live there!

beccajo

December 20, 2006

yeah. it might not all be outside dirt, if you get my meaning. ish.

i had a friend peel up old carpeting and find holes rotted into the floorboards from the various pets the previous owners hadn't housetrained.

frangrit

December 20, 2006

We live in the desert, so flood would be, well, miraculous. I thought it might be years-long seepage too, and that totally grossed me out!

beccajo

December 20, 2006

flood? or maybe just seeped down through carpet and padding after so many years.....

wow. good luck. good thing you're wearing masks!!!