Day 162 - Coat 3 of Poly

Boy, am I tired tonight! We got up early for Colton's soap box race for Boy Scouts. Are you asking if he won? Well, of course he did, silly. With the racing genes he inherited from his mama and maybe a few from his daddy, he's a born rubber-burner.

I scuffed the floors and put the third coat of poly on the floors today. I did see alot of tiny bubbles in the floor today that bothered me, but it is what it is. They are still gorgeous and I'm probably the only one that will really notice them. I'm posting some before pictures as well as the after pictures so you can get the full effect of the change. These pictures were taken after the second coat of poly had dried. I am so pleased with the transformation from dark pine cave to shiny shiny goodness and light. Again...ignore the baseboards as that will be a project one night next week! And maybe one day in my fantasy world, the light fixture will get re-hung. Note - the furniture in the before pictures is not mine as I took those photos when I was looking at the house. The first picture reminds me of a horror film...so dark and I can picture someone tied to that chair getting tortured - that's how scary the before is.

Day 161 - PJs

Yay...costume contest at work today, so we decided to be comfy and come in our jammies. Aren't you jealous?

From left to right: Tobi, Tess, me and Amber

Day 160 - Shiny Shiny Goodness

I couldn't sleep so I stopped by the house before work and my floors are...well, they are stunning. They are absolutely everything I wanted them to be. Whew...breathe out. I did take some pictures and promptly left my camera at the house, but I did snap this one with my cell. It's pretty grainy/blurry, so I promise to get pictures posted ASAP!

Day 159 - 2nd Coat of Poly

Okay, first of all, I think I got overzealous on buying the poly. I bought seven cans and even after the second coat tonight, I had barely dipped into the third can. It didn't take near as much tonight, but man it was tough seeing where to apply it. It's already shiny and it was super hard to see where you would stop and start again. Tess stopped by to loan me her vacuum so I could clean the floors before I started. She of course, stayed and helped me poly, so by 9:30, we were done. I have to say...the floors look pretty awesome.

Being the cloud of negativity that I am, I am worried about the second coat of poly. I've read that it's the coat that may give you trouble - not wanting to adhere to the first coat. I sure hope I scuffed the floors enough...I'll find out tomorrow!

Day 158

I scuffed the floors tonight....at least I hope I did. The guy at the store gave me these big things that looked like giant ScotchBrite pads. I really expected to see alot of sanding dust and some dullness on the wood, but for the most part, it didn't seem to change anything. Which has me worried...hope he is right.

On the bright side, I was worried that I might see alot of trash in the floors. As I was apply the poly on Saturday, I kept thinking I was seeing some trash, but I think what I was seeing was the poly raising the grain of the wood. I only found three bristles from the brush I used to apply it and one of my hairs. I tried to sand them off and it took some of the stain off, so I had to dab some back on. Hope it looks okay.

Tomorrow the second coat of poly will go on...yay!

Day 157

Whew! My floors look great! I was worried after yesterday, but they really look so shiny even with just the one coat of poly on them. I picked up a sanding pole and will scuff them tomorrow evening to prepare them for the second coat.

PS - Forgot my camera...darn it!

Day 156

I couldn't sleep last night wondering how the floors were going to turn out. I went over first thing this morning and about had a heart attack. I saw what I thought was tons of "milky" spots on the floors. It was hard to tell since I couldn't walk in there on it & still don't have that light fixture hung...it was scary. I had read stories about water based poly turning milky, but oil based is not supposed to and that's what I used.

Since there was really nothing I could do about it, I left. I was going to clean in the den, but the fumes were so strong from the poly, it made my head hurt...or maybe that was from worrying about the floors.

I stopped back by tonight and I think it's going to be okay. I believe what I thought was "milky" spots, was just where the poly had dried more or less. We'll see...

Day 155

Damn, I am tired tonight! This morning, I ran to pick up the rest of my polyurethane today, then to the house. I started by opening the wood filler. There are about 3 places or quite honestly holes in the floor in the living area that needed filled. Well, can I just say? I made the biggest mess with that stuff. It was hard to manipulate and then I kept dropping it and it dries FAST!

I moved on to brushing the poly on and it seemed to go pretty good. It was easy - just tedious. It was hard to see what I had brushed onto that dark stain, so I had to keep laying down and looking at the floor at the right angle to check for dry spots. I did wear the kneepads alot, but would take them off for a while, because the straps kept chapping the back of my legs.

I finished about 9:00 PM tonight and I'm exhausted. I went outside to sit for a while...really nice tonight. It sounds like I'm being bombed everytime the wind blows because about twenty acorns fall off the trees and hit the roof. I keep waiting for one to pop me in the top of my head...LOL!

Day 154 - Cleaning out the Ditch!

My plans were to clean the floors thoroughly this evening to get them ready for the poly tomorrow. Of course, nothing went as planned. I got stuck in traffic taking Colton to his dad's and got behind schedule. On the way home, my friend Ronnie called and wanted to stop by and see my progress. I was outside and saw him come up the street and turn into my ditch. Yep...my driveway is a pain! I've had about five to six people hit the ditch, but they've all been fortunate enough to drive back out. Ronnie's Trans Am wasn't so lucky...and y'all know I'm a little partial to LT1s. I was just sick. It is a really sharp turn and needs another tile put in place. Fortunately, Ronnie has some good friend with a truck that pulled him right out and only had minor damage to the front fender.

By the time that was done and we grabbed some late dinner, my head was busting, so I just went home.

PS - I promised Ronnie I wouldn't post this picture on FaceBook, but I am posting it here...tehe!

Day 153 - Day Off

Day 152

Colton was sick last night, so I called into work. By lunchtime, he was eating chocolate ice cream and feeling much better. ;-)

We drove over to the house about 4 to check on the floors which are looking so sweet. As we were leaving, the bathroom guy stopped by to see when he could get in there to finish. He hooked up the toilet supply line (which I found) and the toilet filled up. It looked really cloudy, so I had him check it and the water is hot. Now when I say my ass is hot, I don't mean like on the toilet, so he'll be back to fix that along with the shower (hot and cold are backwards) tomorrow.

Days 150 & 151

I only stopped by the house each evening to peek at the floors...they are dry! Yay for me!

Day 149 - Staining Day 2

Tess (have I said how awesome she is lately) came over after work and we knocked out the living area in a couple of hours tonight!

And woe, pain & misery...my knees are a wreck! Bruised, but mostly just chapped as hell!

Anyway, the floors are looking good! Now just to wait on them to dry...

Day 148 - Staining

I dragged Colton over to the house this morning to try and get this party started! Staining party that is...

I made a trip to Lowe's this morning to pick up a five gallon bucket to mix the stain in. I had picked up two more gallons of stain at lunch Friday and had half a gallon left from the previous clusterstaining. I started out by using the lamb's wool applicators on the end of the poles; however, I found it easier to just stay in the floor and ended up using the smaller applicators with handles. The first swipe I made almost caused me to have a panic attack (yeah, I'm dramatic). Seeing the floor go black made me crazy! Once I took the cloths and started wiping it down, I could see the true color of the stain and I felt much MUCH better (breath, breath, breath). I started in the guest bedroom, worked my way through my room and into Colton's room. While it seemed pretty easy at first, my knees were hurting pretty nicely after all three bedrooms (I didn't wear the knee pads). By the time I got into the hallway, I was having 'charlie horses' in my legs and Colton was begging to go home, so I stopped there. Overall, it probably took about four hours. Of course, that's not counting where I managed to spill a huge amount of stain in the living area before I even started. I cleaned it up as best I could and I'll look at it tomorrow to see if I need to sand that spot again or not (arrrgghhh).

I'm still nervous about the stain turning black tonight, so I've been Googling images to remind myself of why I like the dark stain. I love the floors at this link and I hope mine turn out as pretty. http://www.greenyourdecor.com/97/duro-design-ebony-bamboo-floors/

I'm guessing I will be paying for all that crawling around on my knees in the morning. I would never have made a good White House intern...

Day 147 - Birthday!

Happy birthday to my sweet seven year old little boy. I love my little fella deeply and I am so thankful for him every day. Every time this project gets out of hand - which is alot - I remind myself of why I'm doing this. I want to give Colton a home where we can make lots of sweet memories - and forget some of the bad ones we've experienced on the "minor" remodel...LOL!

My trusty sidekick Tess showed up today with cleaning tools in hand. I took the hand sander to the parts of the hall that I didn't finish and she brought a corner sander for the corners. We swept, dusted and vacuumed until everything was nice and clean. With the hole in the bag of the sander last weekend, it was pretty messy in there. We quit about 1 PM because it's party day for Colton!

Tomorrow the staining will start....again.

Days 145 & 146 - Off

Day 144

I didn't do anything after work, but the guy had stopped by to work on my bathroom. He sealed the tile, set the toilet and finished up the overhead light/fan fixture; however, he couldn't hook up the toilet or sink. Why? Because I took a bag of stuff back to Lowe's that evidently had the supply lines in it. Sigh...thought it was extra stuff. DARN IT!!!

Days 142 & 143 - Nights Off

Day 141

Whew - completely sore and miserable! Tess called and I can't repeat what we said, but we are sore!

I stopped by the house today about 3:00 and the sander was sitting in the middle of the floor partially dismantled. Lori had told Scott of my woes and he came to the rescue. He had me pick up some washers to level out the sander and even took the bag and sewed it up. Sshhh...he doesn't want his Martha Stewart skills to get out! Three of the four pads made contact, so I finished up what I could, then loaded the sander up. Scott also started cutting in at the ceiling in Colton's room and put Lori to work with the hand sander in Colton's closet. I am very grateful for their help - again!

Tired tonight....

Day 140

It was about 10:30 before I rounded up a truck today - truthfully, Tess rounded it up. We went and got a floor sander and went to work. Unfortunately, it was the only sander left which should have been a sign. Only two of the four pads were making contact with the floor. There was no way to adjust it - it was just warped, so we "made do". Tess ran the floor sander and I went to work on the edges and corners with the hand sander. At some point, Tess found a hole in the bag on the U-Sand which explained why we had so much more dust than last time. I noticed that the bag was dirty when I rented it, but didn't think about it having a hole in it. We tried duct tape, but it kept coming off. We worked hard, but by 7:00 PM, only one pad was making contact and it didn't have enough pressure on it to sand (what a POS), so we called it quits. The rental place closes at 12:30 on Saturdays and is closed Sundays, so I am very frustrated tonight. Other help that had promised to show up also let me down, so I really thought about setting the house on fire with the stupid sander in it. Tired and cranky I am...and that's the nice way of putting it.

Days 135 through 139 - Nothingness

Sorry...I did nothing at the house this week. Just had too much stuff going on!

Day 134

BOOYAH! My floors are practically dry! I could even run my hands on the spots that are still blackish and no stain came off on them.

Of course, that's all I did today. Tess and I are both so sore today after skating around on the tarry surface while cleaning - it was some exercise! I should have been over there doing come clean up on the base boards and walls to work this soreness out, but I just didn't. I was hoping for another nice day like yesterday, but it was butt-freezing cold today!

Day 133

I got up early this morning. I didn't sleep good because I was anxious to see how today would go. Before I fell asleep last night, I remember thinking that I needed to get some more batteries for my camera so I guess it prompted a crazy dream. I dreamed that I found pictures of my floors before I sanded them and they were already perfect, so I was even more upset at them being painted black! And then I forgot to get more batteries this morning; however, I really don't care because I do not want any reminders of how terrible they looked!

I started with the lamb's wool applicators, but all they did was spread the stain around after the paint thinner did it's thing. So, back to square one - hands and knees. Tess had volunteered to help me. Oh, she is truly my BFF all the way. I've promised half of my lottery winnings to her and she to me if she wins; however, I think she just wants to pay me off to get lost because I always drag her in on all of my lovely projects...LOL! I called her and she stopped and bought more rags, sponges and paint thinner. I had picked up some deck brushes that screwed onto the end of the poles. First, we poured the paint thinner directly on the floor. Next, we took the deck brushes and scrubbed it around. Then, we took the sponges to try and soak up as much stain as possible and squeeze it out in buckets. Last, we would take the rags to wipe everything up. Steps three and four were on our hands and knees and it was messy to say the least. We had on gloves, but it still got everywhere and we were filthy by the time we finished. Speaking of filthy, so was our language. The more we did, the madder we got! It was also impossible not to get the paint thinner and stain on the baseboards and it even splashed onto the wall in a few places. With every little splatter, my heart just kinda broke at all the hard work I put into painting those over the last couple of months. It's a real shame, but I'll use this week to try and clean up the baseboards, repaint them and touch up the walls. You would go to get up out of the floor and put a hand up against the wall or lay your pole up against the wall - both of which were black from the stain. The good news is that by 4:00 PM, we got it done. There were still lots of places in the floor that looked pretty black, but they simply looked wet instead of oily with stain. I set up fans and left. I stopped back by about 9:00 PM tonight and I could actually walk on the floor - it's actually drying!

My hand and arm are on fire tonight and Tess's fingers are killing her. With her having RA, I feel really bad for her - she's always so willing to help me, but she really pays the price. I need to go buy a lottery ticket...love you BFF!

Day 132

Well, 'little childrens', I had a pro look at the floors. He said they might be dry IN A FEW MONTHS! He was in shock that the stain was rolled on instead of brushed on and I thought he would pee his pants when told that it wasn't wiped down either.

I've been through the cycle of anger, disbelief and just plain sadness that this much damage was done, but it's time to put my big girl panties on (yeah, really big)and just get the stuff up!

The pro suggested trying some lamb's wool stain applicators which screw (haha - I said screw) onto the end of a pole (hehe - I said pole) which will be easier than getting down on my hands and knees (LMAO - down on my hands and knees). I'm going to start first thing tomorrow morning. If anyone needs a 'free high', feel free to stop by and huff the paint thinner fumes with me.

Days 128, 129, 130 & 131

The only thing I've done these last four days is stop by and look at my never-going-to-dry floors. Boohoo...