It's going to take a long time to de-old lady this house. But as a small start, switching out the fan light covers from those floral frilly monstrosities to something a little sleeker makes the room feel just a little more like home.
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Moving!
With the floor done, we turned our attention to packing. We had copious boxes in the basement, some that we never unpacked from the last move and some that we had, so with the help of Mom, Dad, and a few other people we started bringing them over. Since the floor would take a week to dry we ended up putting everything in the basement. Leroy greatly enjoyed the packing process, mostly the paper piles that were in the basement for a while:
We hired some movers for the final push and they were great. Of course, it was a pretty easy move since we had everything out of the house except the furniture they were moving and they were just putting it all in the basement at the new place. Weird to see everything you own in one place like that:
We spent the night with some friends, leaving Leroy to explore on his own and moved the bed up the next day when the floor was totally solid.
Sometimes you need an expert
The next morning I took the buffer back and the guys at the shop ribbed me a bit when I said I had chickened out, but that was ok because that turned out to be a very wise move as you'll see in this post.
Our expert, whose name was also Matthew, came by and took a look. He said it could be dirt or it could be the poly we used (he wasn't a fan of minwax products) but either way he thought it wouldn't be too bad to fix. Half an hour with a buffer and another coat of poly and we'd be ready to go. We scheduled for Saturday, after they got done at another job, but luckily for us, they ended up having a cancellation on Thrusday.
I say luckily, because instead of the initial 3 hour estimate, the poor guys were here 8 hours. That minwax poly did not want to give up the ghost and Matthew told me later that he was seriously afraid at one point that he wasn't going to be able to get the bubbles out. They also used a buffer and you can see in the pictures below, and you can see how gummed up the screens got. Matthew said he'd never seen anything like it and he was really glad we didn't attempt it on our own because he had to get pretty aggressive.
So, after a long and tortuous 4 hours, they were ready to clean up. And we learned something interesting here too, not only do they vacuum and then dry tack, but they also do a wet pass with a rag soaked in mineral spirits to do a final clean. This was a step we missed the first time around and is, apparently, crucial to keep dust off the floor. You can see the before here after they got done with the buffing, kind of a cool pattern right?
He also used a different poly that you can only get in Kentucky due to the VOC laws in ohio. You can see the rags and the poly in the photo below.
They also used a larger roller than we did, but at least we were on track with a rolling application. Basically one of them cut the edge and the other poured poly on the floor and just rolled it out. We were way more careful in our application, which is another learning point. But then again, when you don't know what you are doing you have to be a little extra cautious.
We ended up going with a satin finish, which Matthew recommended based on the floor. I think next time we'd go with a semi-gloss because it was very matte, but all in all they turned out great and I was just really relieved it was finally done and over.
Polyurethane, the saga continues
So, the next morning it was truth time. Had it gone well? Were we going to do a third coat (like Matt wanted) or just quit there (which is what I was leaning towards.) I went to the house to take a look and I didn't think it looked that bad... at first. But the more I looked at it, the more worried I became. At first I thought, oh, its just a bit of bubbling, we can knock that down and do a third coat, not really what I wanted to do, but no big deal. But the more I looked at it, the more I thought, oh boy, we're in trouble. And my sinking feeling was only confirmed by Matt when he came by after work. We were, to put it nicely, f-ked.
As you can see from the images, we had some pretty severe bubbling. The more we looked, the more we found. And if you rubbed your hands over it, it was, sadly, like sandpaper. Not at all what we were going for. At this point, we were also facing a time problem. As in, it was almost time to move out of our rental and into our new place. And since we had chosen oil based poly, there was a 7 day window before we could put any furniture on it safely. So, we figured, it was time to call an expert. Because my mom is awesome, she agreed to help out and contact a few people. Miraculously, one of them was got back to us. After looking at the pictures, he thought it was dirt, and recommended that we buff it out with 120 grit and reapply. He also said he could come by to look after he complete is next job, in two days. So, being the go getter that I am, I went to check out a buffer.
Now, if you've never seen one, a buffer is basically a spinning disk on a stick. Plus there was the whole pad vs. screen debacle. Basically, a buffer, well, buffs. But at what grit is hard to figure out. Most of them come with colored pads, which are pretty but no one seems to want to translate that color into an actual grit, that would mean something to someone trying to achieve a goal. Now, screens have a grit, but most of the time they only come in grits that are very high, like 120 or above. And if you want to get something stronger, you have to special order. This place was no exception. I told them what I was looking for,and they were very helpful, but I still wasn't sure. 120 grit was the recommendation, and 120 grit was what they had, but could I make it work?
Well, luckily the guy at the shop suggested I try it out. After some very failed attempts in their show room, they ended up taking me out into the storage area in the back where the concrete was more plentiful. Basically, I spun in circles for 30 minutes until I finally got the hand of it. Whenever I turned it on, it would just man handle me into turning in a circle, quickly. But after some time, I learned that a gentle hand and some up/down touches, would almost let me control it.
So, I took my best guess at the screens/pads we would need, with the help from the guys at the store. and loaded up the buffer and headed home. But on the way home I started to have second thoughts. The book we had said you were supposed to buff in a very specific pattern, and I was pretty sure that although I had gained some control, it wasn't nearly enough for that. So we decided we'd wait and see what the expert had to say before attempting anything ourselves.
As you can see from the images, we had some pretty severe bubbling. The more we looked, the more we found. And if you rubbed your hands over it, it was, sadly, like sandpaper. Not at all what we were going for. At this point, we were also facing a time problem. As in, it was almost time to move out of our rental and into our new place. And since we had chosen oil based poly, there was a 7 day window before we could put any furniture on it safely. So, we figured, it was time to call an expert. Because my mom is awesome, she agreed to help out and contact a few people. Miraculously, one of them was got back to us. After looking at the pictures, he thought it was dirt, and recommended that we buff it out with 120 grit and reapply. He also said he could come by to look after he complete is next job, in two days. So, being the go getter that I am, I went to check out a buffer.
Now, if you've never seen one, a buffer is basically a spinning disk on a stick. Plus there was the whole pad vs. screen debacle. Basically, a buffer, well, buffs. But at what grit is hard to figure out. Most of them come with colored pads, which are pretty but no one seems to want to translate that color into an actual grit, that would mean something to someone trying to achieve a goal. Now, screens have a grit, but most of the time they only come in grits that are very high, like 120 or above. And if you want to get something stronger, you have to special order. This place was no exception. I told them what I was looking for,and they were very helpful, but I still wasn't sure. 120 grit was the recommendation, and 120 grit was what they had, but could I make it work?
Well, luckily the guy at the shop suggested I try it out. After some very failed attempts in their show room, they ended up taking me out into the storage area in the back where the concrete was more plentiful. Basically, I spun in circles for 30 minutes until I finally got the hand of it. Whenever I turned it on, it would just man handle me into turning in a circle, quickly. But after some time, I learned that a gentle hand and some up/down touches, would almost let me control it.
So, I took my best guess at the screens/pads we would need, with the help from the guys at the store. and loaded up the buffer and headed home. But on the way home I started to have second thoughts. The book we had said you were supposed to buff in a very specific pattern, and I was pretty sure that although I had gained some control, it wasn't nearly enough for that. So we decided we'd wait and see what the expert had to say before attempting anything ourselves.
Friday, June 3, 2016
Polyurethane part 2
Now the type of poly we picked, well we picked it for a reason. And the reason was that if you re-coat after a certain amount of time, you don't have to sand in between coats. Now, this sounds pretty awesome, because not only does it save a lot of time, but you don't have to rent a buffer. And that is a pretty big draw because buffers are notoriously hard to use (with good reason, I now have experience, but more on that later). We also went with a glossy finish for the first two coats after reading that even if you want to end up with satin or semi gloss finish, you want to start with high gloss so as not to introduce any milkiness to the final look (apparently with some polys the chemicals that caused the less glossy finish can also create a milky look if applied in multiple coats).
So, after the first coat we were feeling pretty good. It had been easier than we were really thinking and we'd gotten done in a reasonable window. We'd done the first coat in the morning so we went and had lunch and came back after about 6 hours.
But here's the thing, we weren't super certain about the timeline for a number of reasons. The can said 8-10 hours at 77 degrees, but a lot of things can affect how fast poly dries, namely: time, temperature, and humidity. We had a time metric, based on the can, and a temperature range of 60-80 (with the example begin at 77), but it didn't say anything about humidity. However, our handy dandy book tells us that the higher the temperature and the lower the humidity, the faster drying occurs. Now we were doing this in Feb, so the temp outside was only 45 and we couldn't turn on the heat because we didn't want to blow dust everywhere. So we were doing our best with a bunch of space heaters but we could only get up to around 65 in the house BUT the humidity that day was low, closer to 30 than the 50 our book recommended. So we figured, low temp slows drying, but low humidity speeds it. Then there was the fact that it had taken us 3 hours to do it. So, we figured, if the max time was 10 hours, and we started in the back, then after about 6 hours after we finished it would be dry enough to walk down teh hall, but not so dry that by the time we were done we'd be over the 10 hour mark. Wheew, its exhausting just writing about it. Needless to say, we probably overthought it, but after 6 hours we came back, tapped on the floor next to the kitchen, and said, what the hell, let's do it.
So, we got all set up again and started over. But here's the thing, it was about 4pm at that point and there were a couple things we didn't bargain on. One was the fading light, not all the rooms have overhead light and overhead light isn't really the best light for this kind of work anyway. And then there was the fact that the sheen for our first coat was glossy. Which meant that I couldn't tell the difference between the new wet application. And that my friends, is a problem. Because if you can't tell where you've put the poly, there's pretty much no way to apply a second coat with any confidence. We soldiered on, but it was tense and not very much fun at all. But we hoped for the best.
So, after the first coat we were feeling pretty good. It had been easier than we were really thinking and we'd gotten done in a reasonable window. We'd done the first coat in the morning so we went and had lunch and came back after about 6 hours.
But here's the thing, we weren't super certain about the timeline for a number of reasons. The can said 8-10 hours at 77 degrees, but a lot of things can affect how fast poly dries, namely: time, temperature, and humidity. We had a time metric, based on the can, and a temperature range of 60-80 (with the example begin at 77), but it didn't say anything about humidity. However, our handy dandy book tells us that the higher the temperature and the lower the humidity, the faster drying occurs. Now we were doing this in Feb, so the temp outside was only 45 and we couldn't turn on the heat because we didn't want to blow dust everywhere. So we were doing our best with a bunch of space heaters but we could only get up to around 65 in the house BUT the humidity that day was low, closer to 30 than the 50 our book recommended. So we figured, low temp slows drying, but low humidity speeds it. Then there was the fact that it had taken us 3 hours to do it. So, we figured, if the max time was 10 hours, and we started in the back, then after about 6 hours after we finished it would be dry enough to walk down teh hall, but not so dry that by the time we were done we'd be over the 10 hour mark. Wheew, its exhausting just writing about it. Needless to say, we probably overthought it, but after 6 hours we came back, tapped on the floor next to the kitchen, and said, what the hell, let's do it.
So, we got all set up again and started over. But here's the thing, it was about 4pm at that point and there were a couple things we didn't bargain on. One was the fading light, not all the rooms have overhead light and overhead light isn't really the best light for this kind of work anyway. And then there was the fact that the sheen for our first coat was glossy. Which meant that I couldn't tell the difference between the new wet application. And that my friends, is a problem. Because if you can't tell where you've put the poly, there's pretty much no way to apply a second coat with any confidence. We soldiered on, but it was tense and not very much fun at all. But we hoped for the best.
Polyurethane coat 1
So, the stained boards have been replaced, the floor has been sanded to the appropriate grit, and we've cleaned it within an inch of its life. Now for the stressful part. Like a big game or onstage performance, we only get one shot at the poly. Well, actually, we get three shots, cause Matt wanted to do three coats. But first, we decided to do a wood sealer because we weren't staining it. The wood sealer helps close the wood grain and keep it from getting "hairy" when you put down the poly. If you've ever gotten raw wood wet, you know what I mean. So, we did that first, using a pad applicator. it wasn't shiny, but it did give it a nice richer color. After it dried, we had to sand it with the pole sander at 320 grit (per the instructions on the can)
Then came the big dance, and of course we had to prepare. We decided that the kitchen would be our exit point and also our prep space. We used the sealer as a practice run for the poly, but since this stuff soaks into the wood and dries in two hours, it wasn't a perfect dry run. It was enough for us to validate our idea of starting in the master and working our way through the other bedrooms, down the hall, through the living room and dining room and then exiting through the kitchen.
Then came the big dance, and of course we had to prepare. We decided that the kitchen would be our exit point and also our prep space. We used the sealer as a practice run for the poly, but since this stuff soaks into the wood and dries in two hours, it wasn't a perfect dry run. It was enough for us to validate our idea of starting in the master and working our way through the other bedrooms, down the hall, through the living room and dining room and then exiting through the kitchen.
So we set up the space with everything we would need and then got started. We carefully mixed the poly, trying not to introduce bubbles. Then we strained it into that large black bucket you see in the foreground. (We also tried putting it in a regular paint pan, but the bucket ended up being the way to go in the end). Then we put on our little booties to protect the floor from our feet and started in the master bedroom. We tried both a lambs applicator and a synthetic roller and decided that we liked the roller better. It was easier to apply an even layer and didn't shed as much. (writing this makes it sound like we had a clear headed rational decision, but in reality there was a lot of anxiety, shouting, and swearing involved because we were making the decision in the midst of applying poly, which was drying as we were deciding, nevertheless, our recommendation stands). Once we got going, it was actually pretty easy, Matt did the edging with a brush, and I rolled away. It took a little over 3 hours, including the switching back and forth at the beginning between the applicators. I felt pretty good when we got done, it looked really nice:
Cleaning the floor
So as you might imagine, we created a lot of dust with all that sanding. And dust + polyurathane = bumpy floors. So before putting down the poly we had to get all the dust off. And I mean all of it. We started by wiping down the ceiling. Laugh all you want, but it was dusty! Then we did the walls and then the floor. We used a swiffer to begin with and that worked well on the ceiling and walls, but when we got to the floor they started getting chewed up. So we used the microfiber clothes and that worked well.
Now, what we didn't do, and what we learned later we should have, was to use a rag soaked in mineral spirits to do the final pass, basically just t-shirt material dipped in in, not dripping, but wet. How did we learn this little gem? more on that later...
Floor refinishing, the big boy part 2
So, lets recap so far
1. Multi-head orbital didn't have enough ummph
2. Big boy drum sander with 36 grit, diagonal (sometimes twice) and then straight
3. Edger with 36 grit
But, the trick is, we have to get to 100 grit to put down poly. So, you guessed it, we've got a couple more passes to make. Each room has to have the big boy at 60, then edged at 60, then the big boy at 80, and then edged at 80. But we hate the edger and it was leaving these swirly patterns. So we decided to go with a hand held random orbiter. Now, this is not really a recommended choice anywhere that we found, but we figured it was sort of like the large multi orbital except smaller... so we went with it. Unfortunately, the 60 grit wasn't getting rid of the swirly stuff left by Heath Edger, so we had to go back to 40 grit before going up to 60 grit.
So the pattern went like this
4. Hand held orbital edging with 40 grit
5. Dust the floor - yep, this is what it sounds like. Our book recommended this because when you sand, you not only create wood particles of a certain size, but the sandpaper itself can also shed grit. And if you get a particle the size of 36 grit on your 60 grit paper, well, it'll gouge the crap out of the floor. So, dusting is necessary. We tried a swiffer but the surface was too rough, so we got a pack of microfiber clothes and attached them to the swiffer pole. Worked like a charm :)
6. Big boy with 60 grit
7. Edge with 60 grit
8. Dust the floor
Oh, and then, I almost forgot. We had tons of holes in the floor. Mostly from an old carpet install which meant nail holes around the edges where the tack strips were and staples in the middle of the room where they tacked down the padding. So we spend time after the 60 grit step putting in wood putty in all of the places that needed it so that the 80 grit step would level it down. Ok, back to the steps:
9. Fill with wood putty
10. Big boy with 80
11 Edge with 80
And here's where things get interesting, so I mentioned above that we had to get to 100 grit per the recommendation of the polyurathane, but they don't make 100 grit paper for the drum sander. So for the edges, we're fine, but for the 100 grit... well, our options were limited. A buffer would work, in theory, but after calling around, none of the places that would rent a buffer had 100 grit screens for them, only 120. And some of the literature we read said that poly might not stick properly if the wood was sanded too finely. So we put on our creative pants again and decided to pole sand. Yes, you read that right, we put 100 grit sand paper on a pole sander and went to town. Once we were done with that, the only thing left was cleaning.
1. Multi-head orbital didn't have enough ummph
2. Big boy drum sander with 36 grit, diagonal (sometimes twice) and then straight
3. Edger with 36 grit
But, the trick is, we have to get to 100 grit to put down poly. So, you guessed it, we've got a couple more passes to make. Each room has to have the big boy at 60, then edged at 60, then the big boy at 80, and then edged at 80. But we hate the edger and it was leaving these swirly patterns. So we decided to go with a hand held random orbiter. Now, this is not really a recommended choice anywhere that we found, but we figured it was sort of like the large multi orbital except smaller... so we went with it. Unfortunately, the 60 grit wasn't getting rid of the swirly stuff left by Heath Edger, so we had to go back to 40 grit before going up to 60 grit.
So the pattern went like this
4. Hand held orbital edging with 40 grit
5. Dust the floor - yep, this is what it sounds like. Our book recommended this because when you sand, you not only create wood particles of a certain size, but the sandpaper itself can also shed grit. And if you get a particle the size of 36 grit on your 60 grit paper, well, it'll gouge the crap out of the floor. So, dusting is necessary. We tried a swiffer but the surface was too rough, so we got a pack of microfiber clothes and attached them to the swiffer pole. Worked like a charm :)
6. Big boy with 60 grit
7. Edge with 60 grit
8. Dust the floor
Oh, and then, I almost forgot. We had tons of holes in the floor. Mostly from an old carpet install which meant nail holes around the edges where the tack strips were and staples in the middle of the room where they tacked down the padding. So we spend time after the 60 grit step putting in wood putty in all of the places that needed it so that the 80 grit step would level it down. Ok, back to the steps:
9. Fill with wood putty
10. Big boy with 80
11 Edge with 80
And here's where things get interesting, so I mentioned above that we had to get to 100 grit per the recommendation of the polyurathane, but they don't make 100 grit paper for the drum sander. So for the edges, we're fine, but for the 100 grit... well, our options were limited. A buffer would work, in theory, but after calling around, none of the places that would rent a buffer had 100 grit screens for them, only 120. And some of the literature we read said that poly might not stick properly if the wood was sanded too finely. So we put on our creative pants again and decided to pole sand. Yes, you read that right, we put 100 grit sand paper on a pole sander and went to town. Once we were done with that, the only thing left was cleaning.
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