Replacing my old hardwood floors was supposed to take four days. Instead, I ended up living on exposed subfloor for months while the flooring manufacturer argued that defective flooring was due to "the beauty of natural wood."

Installing hardwood floors in an occupied home sounds straightforward—until your condo turns into a dusty obstacle course full of moving blankets, leaf-bagged clothing, acclimating flooring stacks, and one deeply offended cat. In Part 2 of The Loooong Floor Install, I share the surprisingly chaotic reality of preparing for hardwood floor installation, including how I protected my belongings, survived living out of a hotel, and discovered an unexpectedly brilliant U-Haul stora