Make It Shine

Well making it shine isn't quite accurate, all I want to do is protect it some what. This is the first of 4 coats of poly I'll be applying. The weather isn't too bad right now so it should dry overnight, as the humidity is low. Hopefully I can do one coat a day and then I'll let it sit for a few day's before walking on it. Here are a few pictures of the rooms, remember, the floors are still wet and look brighter than they appear.

The spare room.

The dressing room looking in from the master bedroom.

The master bedroom.

My office.

South end of the hallway.

Looking south down the hall.

Top of the stairs.

Who needs Tyvek booties to protect the floors from your shoes.

Exposing The Beam

This beam is in the living room and was covered by drywall. We could see the original beam and ReBecca wanted to see if we could leave it exposed. Well after pulling off the drywall the beam was beefed up with a few extra boards, it looks like this was done to provide additional support because it appears to have been a load bearing location. I try to dress it up later to give it that old look. When it's done there will be pictures.

Beam with drywall.

Exposed beam, with lots of nails.

Working On The Next Step

I haven't posted any pictures of what I did over the past few days because you wouldn't be able to tell that I added some wood fill to a few locations or that I used a floor sander. They look the same, that is until this morning, the stain went down and they look fantastic. Some pictures have a different look, that is because of the lighting and the camera flash. It is Minwax Provincial, it goes down with a lambs skin applicator. It took a few passes to get the hang of it and once I did, it didn't take long. The best part is ReBecca likes it. After a good dry time I'll be putting down a few coats of Poly for protection.

This is the spare room.



The dressing room.

Master bedroom.

My office.

South end of the hallway.

Top of the stairs.

The Floors Are In

Today was a good day and a long one, for me anyway, I finished putting down the last of the floor boards up starirs. Next step; sanding, then staining, and a few coats of poly for protection.

The hall looks great with the boards running this way.


 

The spare room.


















The dressing room.

 

The closet in the guess room.

The closet in my office.

Small Space - Lots Of Work

This section of the hall way is only 40 inches wide but it's over 22 feet long and with each row requiring more than one board, it takes a few trips up and down the stairs to make it right. And to add to this, I have to make sure the joints are spaced properly, and that they don't line up, because I didn't cut tongue or groves in them. Anyway this section is done and the rest are all one piece boards that should go down a little quicker.



A look from the top of the stairs.




Looking back down the hallway
from the south window.

A Busy Few Days

The old pine floors are going back down. I have two rooms done, two others partially done and the hall to do. It takes a bit of time because ReBecca wants the hall to have all old floor boards and as I mentioned in an earlier post, run the length of the hall, so I have to make sure I have enough old floor boards to do the job. I still have to cut in the tongue and groves in the new pine boards but that won't be a problem. Like ReBecca said, knotty pine is not our first choice of flooring, its soft, even when we apply 3 - 4 coats of poly, but they are the original floors and they are not in heavy traffic areas.

The master bedroom, there are new boards in the room but will be hidden under the bed. Besides once they are all stained you won't be able to tell.

My office, it looks great and the floors fell very solid.

The dressing room started.

The spare room.

Another Look

Here is another possible look at what our kitchen window will be. It is 36 x 55 and of course it has an arch. This will be a little challenging to install but it will give us lots of light, and it does look good.

Laying Out The Floors

We'll soon be starting to put back the old pine floor boards. I brought them into the living room and laid them out by length, some will fit better in the west side as they are a bit longer. Also ReBecca decided she wants the floors in the hall way to run the length of the hall and not across as it did originally. So I had to lay out boards that would run the length and were about the same width, bring them home, cut them to width so they'll fit, cut in new grooves and take them back. A day's work, very easy.

Floor boards laid out, ready to go.

A sneak peak at what the upstairs will look like before we stain them.

A look at what I did to find the right boards for upstairs.

Sunflowers

I always thought sunflowers were yellow, until I saw these in our garden. I know this isn't reno stuff but it has to do with our property and as this is "The Searsville Project" and ReBecca's garden is part of our project.

A red sunflower, I never saw one before.

Same as the previous one, in a different light.

This one broke off from the heavy winds and rain we had last week. It looks like it can't decide, red or yellow. Too late now.

The Last Three Sheets

Well it took as long to lay the last three sheets of plywood as it did to put down the previous seven. One thing about an older (old) home is not everything is level, I try to make it as level as possible but there are some spots it can't be done, at least without a bit of work. I had to pull up the old planks at the main entrance, and cut away ¾ inch of the original post of the floor joists. I used the skill saw to make many many cross cuts to reduce the thickness of the post. Not to worry, this is a very large post lots of wood to work with. Once that was done I put back the old floor boards and then laid the plywood sub floor. A very long day.

I also took out the first two planks by the door as they had large holes in them where the drain lines ran from the upstairs bathroom. Lots of work done here.

This is looking at the front door from the NE corner of the living room. Trust me when I say the entrance is now level compared to the bow it would have had other wise.

Looking into the hallway from the SE corner of the living room. I made a template from ¼ inch plywood for the cut around the post by the stairs, with a little jigging it fit nicely.

Starting The Floors

I've been busy trying to finish off with the plywood sub-floor in the living room and hall way. I also sanded the pine boards that are in the closet and passage way that is between the master bedroom and dressing room. These three boards couldn't be pulled out because of the wall between the spaces. So a little bit of work with a disk and belt sander and they are ready to be finished along with the original boards, once I get them laid.

This is the closet space in the dressing room.

The passage way between rooms. Luckily we want to keep a bit of the unoriginality of the floors.

Work in progress, plywood laid but not screwed down, a little bit of tweaking needed. This is looking into the hall from the SE corner of the living room.

Looking into the living room from the bottom step.

We're also looking at windows for the kitchen, over the sink. This sheet of plywood on the wall is were it will go. We have time and options, right now, we'll see.

Getting It Back Together

I finished with the wiring and put up the drywall I pulled down to make the corrections needed. Like over the front door, once the mud goes on and sanded, with a little paint you'll never know. Now this is done I can lay the ¾ inch plywood to finish off the sub-floor.

This is the east living room wall back together.

The southwest corner of the living room. This is the plug I feed the light switch from. More mud and sanding. I think I'll wait until I do the ceiling and only have one run at it.

The Last One

I think this is the last junction box behind drywall, at least with all the wining I can now see this has to be the last. It didn't take much to cut away the drywall, expose the box, then remove the drywall where the outside lights are, follow the wiring and run new stuff. And yes I took out the junction box.

When I re-ran a wire for a plug in the living room so it wasn't exposed I also feed the outside light switch from that plug. It originally went up from the junction box, to the light at the base of the stairs, across to the switch. Now I just ran a line from the switch, up the wall, through two beams, down to the left light and then across through the existing holes to the other side. Very easy.

Put back the insulation, and taped it up again.

The drywalls back up and after a little mud and sanding you'll never know I was there.

A Little More Trim

I had a slow day so I thought I would put up the trim around the tub. You may not be able to see it fully but it's there, not finished but it's up. Now back to the rest of the house.

Making It Safe

Today I started to do some work in the living room, I will be putting down the reminder of the ¾ inch plywood to finish off the first floor but can't because some of the electrical that was run comes up where I don't like it to. So I did a little work to fix a couple of problems and will finish off the rest tomorrow.

This line feed the outlet for an electric fire place they had. Not much room in the basement to feed a line up, with post construction it's hard to get a line through and the foundation wall extends inward about 18 inches. This line is now disconnected and pulled out. I'll use it in another location.

The best way to do anything is remove a little drywall, expose what you need and work is done. I ran a new line to the plug on the left, as I had to raise it because we are putting in 8 inch baseboards and this one was a bit low. And I ran a new feed line to the existing plug to the right of it. A couple of drywall screws, a bit of tuck tape, mud and sanding, and all is new again.

This line came up very close to the edge of the drywall, so I cut away a bit of the sub-floor to move it back some and protected it with a nailing plate. All is safe now.

This line feeds the plug in the living room, and as you can see it's exposed. This is in the hall way by the front door. I can't put plywood over this. Tomorrow's job.