The Saga Continues

Abbott & Costello Meet the Keystone Cops [VHS]More work on the house yesterday. It turned out to be a bit more than I was anticipating, work-wise. The goal was to nail the floorboards down (with some spiffy square head nails I’d gotten, since it’s all face nailed with the old nails), then sand and stain it. Naturally, things didn’t go all as anticipated. For one thing, when I nailed the floorboards down, they got lower than the surrounding boards. I’d shimmed them to the right height, but maybe my shims broke. Not sure what happened, but it was hard enough to get them in there, that I knew getting ’em out was going to be more than I wanted to deal with. So I sanded the heck out of the surrounding floorboards. ๐Ÿ™‚ Since the floor’s all bumpy and old anyway, it blends right in now.

From previous experience, dust goes everywhere known to man when I’m sanding, so I took the time to tape plastic over every opening to my entryway. That’s all fine and good, except that meant I had to tape up three doors and a spiral staircase. Taping a spiral staircase closed? Not the easiest thing to do. But a lot of tape and staples did the trick. Sanding was the easiest part, between prep and clean up. Vacuuming, sweeping and wiping ensued, and then I wiped the floor down with mineral spirits.

By then it was only 9:30, so I figured I might as well stain the thing while I was at it. How hard could it be, right? The actual stain went on really easily–it was the cleanup that was the trick. I used lambswool applicators, and getting stain out of them took a while. Meanwhile, the stain had to be wiped off after fifteen minutes. Does anyone have any pointers on how to walk on fresh stain so you can wipe up the remnants? Because I tried it in bare feet, and it wasn’t super successful. I started leaving footprints everywhere, and then I had to wipe those up, too. Next thing I know, I’m in the shower, fully clothed, trying not to get stain all over the place with hand prints while I try to get my feet clean.

All ended up okay, but I think I want to try a different approach next time. Suggestions?

The good thing is that the floor is now stained, and it looks fantastic. Better than I’d even hoped. Super happy with it–Denisa and I just have to put down the poly now this weekend, and we’ll be good to go.

With the entryway.

That leaves the bedroom, kitchen, living room, three other bedrooms, hallway and staircase to go.

๐Ÿ™‚

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