BYONNP

What have I done??! This stair project is proving to be way more difficult than I imagined. First of all, this apparently isn't hard wood, it's stair tread, which can be made of nice wood but only on the top. The tread is either oak or maple, I'm guessing, and it's quite strong. The backs of the stairs are, I think, pine that's been stained to look like the tops. Fooled me.

As I may have mentioned, there are about 50+ staples per step. Last night, I worked 3 hours and got thru a step and a half. Today, I'm exhausted--just pulling these suckers out brings on a sweat to this unworked-out body. My hands are raw from the tools, none of which seems to do a great job. I have pliers of every size and have even broken a cheap pair.

All in all...not my best decision to leave the stairs uncarpeted.

So I'm making an appeal to anyone who reads this site. If you're in the Chicagoland area and would like to pitch in, I could really use the help!! It's just a matter of pulling these suckers out. 60% are easy to remove, but then there's the other 30% that take effort. The last 10% is reserved for those that are so embedded that it takes me at least 15 minutes to get each one out. So far, I have almost 4 steps done. Out of about 10.

My goal is to get these suckers out this weekend. Paul isn't home today, but will be tomorrow, only he won't really do it--it's not really his "thing." I can't really explain that so please don't ask.

If you'd like to help, give me a holla. I'm home and not going anywhere today or tomorrow. I might need to forage for food at some point, but otherwise I should be home.

Oh, and bring your own needle-nose pliers. ☺

p.s. Kate, don't even bother to volunteer....this goes for anyone else who's 9 months preggers...