Last week, we had a bit of a snafu when epoxy pouring the termite damage on the old floors. The epoxy turned white! As such, we decided to abandon that course of action and to install new wood floors. The new floors were delivered and stacked in the living room – ready for Saturday morning. My Dad opted to cut while I did the installation. The boards were 12′ long, however, they were full of knots. Big ones. So we opted to cut out all of the real bad knots leaving the smaller, nicer looking knots.
10 year old nailgun trouble
The first few rows are face nailed – meaning the proper nailer won’t fit that close to the wall. After about the 3rd row, we could start using it. I’ve not used my hardwood nailer in nearly a decade. At first it shot fine. But then it started jamming up. I finally took it out in the shop and completely took it apart, cleaned it, and put it back together. It worked in the shop. Back in the house, it jammed up again. After a few rounds of that, I had enough. I tracked down another nailer at Lowe’s nearly an hour away and made the drive to go get it.
Finally, progress
Once I got back with the new gun – we started really making progress. It fired properly every time. We got just over half of the floor laid the on Saturday. On Sunday, we got right back into it and got the rest of it installed. It looks great! Being a little nitpicky, one thing I notice is that the new wood is faster growth lumber. You can tell that by how far apart the growth rings are spaced. Many of the old floor pieces would have 20-25 growth rings across the width while the new floor would average 5-7 growth rings. That translates to a much softer floor that’ll be more susceptible to scratching. Oh well, it’s in.
Miami visit
Monday we took a quick trip down to Miami to visit Oceana’s siblings. They were all staying with Oceana’s sister in Miami so we joined them for a few days. It was nice to see everyone again. It had been years since we’ve seen some of them. We did some touristy stuff and then hung out and enjoyed each others company. While we were there one of Oceana’s sisters wasn’t feeling well. Come to find out, after we left, she tested positive for covid. The next day Oceana began to not feel well, so she got a covid test. It came back negative. She still was feeling rough so she went for another test the following day which came back positive. Her symptoms are mild – aches and pains, cold sweats, headaches. Kind of like the flu.
Sanding the floors
While all of this is going I was able to get the first sand of the floor completed. The first sand is the hardest as you’re flattening out the floor and flushing up all of the boards. Sanding off the high boards and sanding around the low boards to smooth everything out. Oceana helped out by filling the gaps and cracks with a wood filler so that the floor looks seamless. Once the main grind was done, I got started on the second round of sanding which generally goes faster. I was getting wore out sanding though. That’s not normal. Well, that night, I started getting the same symptoms that Oceana had. I don’t see any reason to get tested as I have no question it’ll come back positive. I’m feeling a bit rough but am optimistic that I’ll get the floor sanded out today and get the first coat of finish on. We’re hoping to have furniture in the living room for the Super Bowl!
That’s all, folks
That’s all for now. Keep your distance from our place. We’ll let you know when we’re all clear. As always, thanks for following along.
Get well, young people. You are an inspiration to us all. Brings back such good memories of when I was restoring historic homes….but without your skills and expertise. Like your ‘Bounce’ and how you just go to Plan B, when all else fails. Keep posting.
Thanks Catherine! There’s such a charm with historic homes. And you never know what you’re going to find when you open up a wall. 😆
Hope everyone is feeling better hope you get the living room done so you can sit and watch the game
Thanks Grandma!