So the last couple of weeks have been remarkably unproductive, and the next couple of weeks are shaping up to be comparable. We did get some furniture moved in, but we have an unending list of little things to do before we can make the space functional. Unfortunately those little things will have to wait because during a trip to
Satisfactory! That meager word doesn’t quite convey the sense of accomplishment and significant weight off my shoulders, but since the choices are either that or unsatisfactory, I’ll take it! The master’s exam was much more conversational than I expected, which was a relief considering I was prepared to be blindfolded and led in front of a firing squad. So now there’s just one research paper and one final exam and I am done.
Floors update- Look great, but fumes still strong. (Side note- it is rather difficult trying to air a house out when it’s 20 degrees outside.) Got a few tips on what helps, wiping floors down with Murphy’s oil soap, placing baking soda around the room. We’ll try that tonight with one more round of airing out, and hopefully be back in the house by tomorrow night. This would be helpful especially considering the news is acting like it’s the end of the world with the weather we’re supposed to get in the next day or two. I’m pretty convinced that means it’ll maybe snow an inch or rain for 20 minutes, although I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for a snow day.
In case you’re wondering what’s been going on with the floors, well the answer is not a whole lot. Because our front room is over an unheated crawl space, and because the windows provide a brisk winter breeze, the floor was not at all eager to dry. Thus they couldn’t recoat until this morning, two days later. In the meantime we’ve relocated Chloe to Clint’s studio, as well as our old mattress. This may sound uncomfortable but you add in a feather bed, a down comforter and a heating blanket, and it’s surprisingly plush. We’re alternating between there and a friend’s house until the fumes have passed. Hopefully Sunday? We have learned valuable lessons though about doing projects that require relocation and ventilation when it’s warm.
The amount of plaster that we’ve uncovered in our woodwork can only be rivaled by the amount of caulk and duct tape that is probably literally holding our house together. Between the latter two we’ve found one or the other in our cabinets, our refrigerator, on shelves, on the trim, and running along windows to keep the breeze out. Now it’s the plaster. We’ve found plenty in the trim, filling in holes and even in some cases shaped to fit the trim profile. It’s in the door frames filling in where hinges once were (apparently every doorway in our house had a door, even the stairway), and as we came to find out yesterday, it’s in the floors. Coming home to the newly sanded floors last night was a surprise, one because for the first time we could imagine what it might look like, and two because a number of additional holes filled with plaster, and holes covered by metal plates were revealed. That should tell you something about the previous condition of our floors, that the paint was so thick we couldn’t even tell where metal plates were located. There were about five or six areas patched with plaster that we had to make the difficult decision to repair. In some cases it was easy- where there were gaping holes that exposed the crawl space, but in others it was a gouge that was filled in with plaster that may or may not be covered by an area rug or furniture. You would think it’d be easy- just replace, but as the wood ages it darkens and takes on a unique look to the house- a look that obviously can’t be replicated by the addition of a new board.
Otherwise they’re on track, sanding and repairs today with the first coat of poly, and the second coat tomorrow, if it manages to dry in that time. From the sounds of it there were a number of roadblocks yesterday- they spent most the day countersinking nails that had popped up over the years, and removing a whole round of staples we couldn’t even see that were running along the baseboards. Then there was the issue of the paint on the floors. Apparently in some areas it was so thick they had to go out and get additional sandpaper- 16 grit. I have never seen 16 grit sandpaper and I can tell you- it’s pretty much just pebbles on a piece of paper. I’ve come to believe that these guys are magic- I can’t imagine the damage I might do with that.
I struggled a bit with the guilt of not taking this on ourselves (all of the real renovating bloggers do) but I think after seeing what they’re going through I know we made the right decision. With the wood being fir and pine (softer and easier to gouge), 100 years old and irreplaceable, and in need of repairs that there’s absolutely no way we could take care of, it’s an understatement to say we’d be in way over our head. Not to mention the staples- I think about half way through I would have given up and installed carpet. Alas it is in the hands of professionals, who by the way have a charming orbital and drum sander that look about as old as the house. Two more days before they’re done, then three more days before we move into our living room for the first time.
Right now, as we speak, there are two very talkative men working magic on our floors. I cannot express the how giddy this makes me, it’s even powerful enough to offset the fact that we are both working off of approximately three and a half hours of sleep due to all the prep work we had to get done before they arrived promptly at 8am. I can honestly say that normally I am pretty tough to please, but I have the utmost faith in this father and son combo. They spent the better part of an hour and a half combing over the area they’ll be working on (while telling stories), and pointing out some weak areas and places that might need patched. And then the magic happened- they took their orbital sander and cleared out a 2x3’ square of floor in both the living and dining room. The purpose was to see if and what color we wanted to stain them, but I was so overtaken by the magic I couldn’t even think straight. It’s amazing what quick work that orbital sander makes in taking the paint off the floors. We found out in that span that the outlets used to be in the floors (it was covered over by a tin can lid) and that the living and dining rooms are actually two different kinds of wood- fir in the living, pine in the dining. If I had to guess right now I think we’ll like the color of the fir better, but staining the pine to match ran the risk of a. looking like we were trying to match color and missing, and b. making the pine look like plywood. They will be different to be sure, but unique in their own right.
