I have been working most of the month and have only had a few days to work on the house before moving in on Monday. The one thing that needed to get done before the move was the hardwood floors in all three bedrooms, the living room, hallway and entry. I started in on the floors near the beginning of the month by tearing up the old carpeting and pulling what seemed to be thousands of staples out of the wood. I then had a few trips throughout the month which gave me plenty of time to read up on how to tackle this job. I got a few great tips, but nothing quite prepared me for what I was in for. The floors looked shiny before I started which I thought was a good thing and uh, not really. The wood had many clear coats that needed to be sanded through. I rented a sander that was not overly aggressive which made for sanding a total of about 24 hours. I couldn't believe the machine could handle that much work. 5 hours the first night then 15 hours the next day followed by 4 more hours the next morning for final touch ups. Needless to say, the machine wasn't made to strip old hardwoods that had years of layers put on. I vacuumed the whole house and ran tack cloth over the floor which is a sticky damp cloth that picks up dust. It was time to lay down the finish. I initially wanted a darker floor so I was going to stain, but after all that sanding, my test spot showed some fine swirls left behind by the sander which most people wouldn't have been able to see but I would always know. I opted to go natural which is better to hide the carpeting and sanding blemishes. I coated the raw wood with a product called Varathane. It took about an hour to lay down a clear coat and then I had to wait two hours between each. I put down four coats and headed back to the apartment at about 3 a.m. All together I put about 34 hours of work and $600 into the floor in about two and a half days... Today I went back to see how the floor was setting up and snapped a couple pics with my phone. I also replaced many of the old outlets with updated ones and bought a leaf blower and cleaned up the yard. I think I'll sleep well tonight because tomorrow I need to pack up my apartment and have everything ready for the movers on Monday. Busy busy few days!
