AC Capehart/Floor Journal (Day 6)

Created Thu, 10 Oct 2002 02:50:49 +0000 Modified Thu, 14 Oct 2021 14:31:47 +0000
1105 Words

Again up around 9:30. Bob was still here. I managed to have perfect timing though. I went downstairs when he was in the shower, and then went to food lion for orange juice (we were out). As I was coming back to Gateway Circle, I saw Bob pulling into the McDonalds for breakfast. So, again a quick breakfast and back to the floor. This time, I did a more systematic sanding slowly back and forth across the entire section of floor. I changed sanding pads 2 or 3 times. Then once that was done, I used a much finer grit sanding pad to go over the entire floor once again (The first time for cleaning, the second time for smoothing). Then it was time to return the buffer/sander. United Rentals is out Avon St. extd. past Mill Creek — a bit of a hike for me. I got back in time to do a little more edge work with the rotary sander before I had to get my shower in so that I could go into the stables and “present” for Bill Sheenan (sp?) a potential web-work client through Bob. I’m back now and hesitating getting back into it since it’s already 6:30, To further complicate things, Al’s rotary sander is not running particularly smoothly, and I don’t want to do any futher damage to it. I called him and left a message asking if there was a way I should clean or oil it. I’ve not heard back. Maybe Joe will have one we can use. He’s going to be here tomorrow morning. Once we finish the sanding, I think the rest will go pretty smoothly. If nothing else, at least I won’t be making more dust!

It’s just:

patch the holes caused by pulling the tackboard up

clean (water and TSP) & let dry

stain (coat 1) & let dry

stain (coat 2) & let dry

clean (water only) & let dry

wax & let dry (24 Hrs! I’ll need to build a little foot-bridge over it so we can walk in and out

Then do the “clean-up”: stuff like adding shoe molding, painting it and the baseboard, adding edgers for where the carpet comes up to it, and around the parquet entryway.

Oh, and so since I was without company for the first full day on the, I turned on the tunes, and what should happen, but our west-side neighbor affectionately(?) known to Carolyn and myself as “Evil-neighbor lady” came by to complain about how loud the music was. “It’s the low throbbing,” she says. “I can even hear it in my shower. Maybe it’s because I’m half deaf, I’m sensitive to it.” Oh well. I turn the tunes down, and the subwoofer way down. Now, I can’t hear the music over the sander with my hearing protection on, but what’s to be done. I want to be neighborly, and we do share a wall. I do look forward to being in a detached home, or in some other situation where I can really crank up my music/movies/computer game without bugging anyone. She was quite curious about what I was doing though. She said she’d seen it done somewhere else and thought it was really neat and mentioned how “artistic” I was.

Hehe, and that reminds me… on the phone, Bob said “Yeah, whoever you got to do the grooves in your floor did a really good job, they look good.” I beamed, and said “Thank you!” He said with incredulity, “You did them?” I said, “Yup.” He replied that I was a “geek of many talents.” 🙂

So, I think I’ll wait to give Al a chance to get back to me about his rotary sander. It just means one more night of plastic-dodging every time we enter the house or go up or down stairs. It’ll be over soon though, and quickly enough I’ll forget the pain and remember the process of doing a good job. I’m definitely curious about how it’s going to look.

As I spend more and more time on it every day, I get kind of used to the idea of it being the floor. But it will definitely have “character.” There’s some stuff I’m just not able to get out of the slab. Places where the paint’s too deep, or some other stain is on it. I guess the color just won’t come through as well there. So, it will appear to go from gray to “Malay Tan” with spots of white and black and who-knows what else. But it’s going to be cool and unique no matter what. And if it’s seen as “artistic” all the better.

I was thinking about “artistic” while I was going through the sanding. It’s OK (to Angel) for Nat & Brian’s house to be cluttered because they are “artisitc”. I’m “artistic” for ripping up my carpet and turning the top layer of my slab to dust before staining it. I’ve decided (for today at least) that artistic is really just weird + resepect.