We've had new carpet in our living room for all of two weeks, and our kitty decided to eat a spot of it, about the size of a quarter. [more inside]
posted by ferociouskitty on Apr 16, 2005 - 10 answers

Inspired by a number of people moving into my neighborhood and talking about the gorgeous oak floors revealed when they lifted up the carpet, we decided to jump on the bandwagon and ditch the carpet. Besides, with having two puppies this year, it was beginning to get funky. When we tried, we found that the padding was almost disintegrated, powder in some spots, in others stuck to the floor, and not with adhesive. No amount of mineral spirits and elbow grease was making that stuff budge. Also, there are black spots from when we must have missed a puppy accident. In other words, it looks like crap. Google gives me conflicting reports about the salvagability of the floor - some say a good sanding and maybe some bleach will take care of the dark spots, others say the boards will need to be replaced. Any first hand experience with this one? I know refinishing is a must, but will it be worth the effort?
posted by ferociouskitty on Nov 29, 2004 - 12 answers