The Historic District

Gothichome wrote:Nice looking floors Phil, those dark spots, deep stains?

I think you are seeing some spots I put a little danish oil to check the putty color. more oil erases those.. but there are a lot of deep dark stains that couldn't be sanded out. maybe wood bleach would have removed some and lightened the whole floor but I'm just going for it now. at least it's smooth and Ill call the marks that remain "patina"

I finished the first coat of oil,, but here it is in progress. Ill do about three coats over a week or two then seal it in with 3 coats of poly... then Ill be putting baseboards back and such but I can use the room once the poly is down. more to do on windows etc, but miracles take time around my place lol the oil and poly will allow the floor to darken over time since they don't inhibit the UV like water based ones. It'll tie in with all the other rooms.

Ah, patina. Where would we be without it?

From the various sorts of flooring that was in the dining room over time, the threshold between the parlor and dining room has a lot of different markings when I'm guessing the parlor floor was refinished over the years. One of these years, we'll get to the floors. They say leave them for last, and we're following that sage advice.

All the little costs add up too. machine rentals, sandpaper, finishing products. I could have new laminate by now

phil wrote:All the little costs add up too. machine rentals, sandpaper, finishing products. I could have nice new laminate by now

The other factor is how long you can keep a room open without using it or having furniture in the way. bedrooms are easier but it's especially hard to make your kitchen into a long term project. a lot of bathrooms get thrown together quickly because it's like.. just finish the bloody thing. That's probably why mine is one room I haven't touched. I'm thinking of building another in the basement just so I can cope with it. Im lucky I was able to unload the living room for over a year.. I stuck a couch and TV in the kitchen and it's not bad but If I had a house full there is no way I could do all this so slowly

phil wrote:

phil wrote:All the little costs add up too. machine rentals, sandpaper, finishing products. I could have nice new laminate by now

The other factor is how long you can keep a room open without using it or having furniture in the way. bedrooms are easier but it's especially hard to make your kitchen into a long term project. a lot of bathrooms get thrown together quickly because it's like.. just finish the bloody thing. That's probably why mine is one room I haven't touched. I'm thinking of building another in the basement just so I can cope with it. Im lucky I was able to unload the living room for over a year.. I stuck a couch and TV in the kitchen and it's not bad but If I had a house full there is no way I could do all this so slowly

Hah! Bringing up the laminate just reminded me (not in a bad way) that we still haven't uncovered the lino in the dining room/hallway. (I admit, I almost ripped the hallway layer up one rainy day, but kept good on my promise to Sean.)

The room I am both most excited to do and most dreading is the library because of all the built ins we have planned. I know I can build and store the cabinetry in the cellar before hand, but we won't be able to have company stay over for many months, I'm sure, when it comes time to really finish the room because there really isn't enough room in the parlor for all the bookcases we currently have (and need). So the guest room would be the next best place. I guess we could box up all the books and just get rid of the current motley array of bookcases earlier, but I don't like stacking books on the floor, and it seems silly to get boxes for the short term. I guess I'll worry about that when the time comes. (I'm also wondering if some of the bookcases will fit up the stairs...dining room could take the bigger ones, though.)

The parlor is only a headache because of the piano. We'll probably wind up stashing the furniture in the library for the short term anyhoo.

About the bath...yeah. We have the half bath upstairs, which will take care of one issue. We were thinking to set up a hose shower outside, and doing that room in the summer. Then it'll be ok if it takes longer than a week.

sometimes people rent a container, stash their stuff in there and then do the reno. It's not a bad idea considering the stress of living in a crammed space. I keep thinking someone could do well with building and renting out a portable unit like a construction trailer with a full kitchen bath and spare room.with bg doors for extra storage. then people could just rent it a few months while doing renos. You can use a motorhome but it isn't quite the right thing and they are expensive. It would probably save some marriages

Pods are an option if you are in their service area

after about 3 coats of oil and ample dry time between those coats. I started with the polyurathane. You are supposed to lay the coats before it cures so I did my first about noon, sanded and did the second coat by 9:00 PM , set my alarm to wake me at 1AM and sanded the whole floor again and did the third coat. first 2 coats took a gallon of clear, the third coat was supposed to be the final coat with satin.
by 5Am my arms were like rubber... up all night sanding. anyway I laid the last coat.. I could hardly see by then I was so tired.
Next day I got up to ass-ess things. I had a little issue. I had put some cloth over the lambswool pad to keep the lint in. I should have washed it out and replaced this cloth but I wrapped it in plastic thinking that would do.. that was my mistake. I didnt; see it till later but some of the poly was starting to harden up in the cloth and that affected ow it spread... darnit! now I have to sand it out and do the satin coat again.
The color in the pics might look off. I stuck a big metal halide light in there so I can see better. so it's bright like sunshine..

You can see some marks and whatnot in the floor, so me were just too deep to really get out. some of the darker lines are from water stains and things, someone had really scraped up the finish on the floor at one point and that damage had penetrated the wood quite deep. I could have used wood bleach on them or darkened the whole floor but I decided to leave it a little distressed looking... still not done though , it'll need another coat so I can be happy with the surface. one of the pics shows the worst area where the poly didn't spread well and you can see some pretty bad damage from someone moving furniture a long time ago.. bit of character I sanded that area as much as I dare and what's left I'm calling patina I was disappointed my last coat kind of messed up but It's nothing I cant' fix.. Ill probably sand it really well now and do two more coats of satin since I still have a gallon left.. since it's kicked off and hardened up Ill have to sand the whole floor but that's ok.. sanding between coats is best anyway.
Phil

The floors look gorgeous! Nice work!

I think the remaining marks give the floor some character. It's clear that the floor is in good condition and the beauty of the wood comes through.