Here we go again...
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Here we go again...
The heat is on in the mid-South and so is the RH. Here is what we have to deal with for the rest of the summer and then adjust to come fall and winter: The subfloor is 16 percent, the new plywood is 10 percent, while the flooring is at 9 percent. The wood has been on the job for 60 days. Plywood has been on the job for 8 days and that subfloor is just out of this world. Here are the readings:
The only way we can run with the numbers like this is lay felt on top of the subfloor, install the new plywood, then use a better retarder under the flooring. And the last key is center layout. If all goes well, we should not see a cupped floor down the road. We leave the plywood down for more than a week, but the highest it will climb is 11-12 percent, so about 10 is when we start the flooring install. It is a tough area of the Sunny South to install flooring. We still have contractors using 6-mil plastic as the cure to the subfloor, but like always, they say if it gets past the one year with no trouble then they own it. I just cannot do that to folks, why be that way when you know that it will make trouble down the road?
I am working on a set of stairs right now, they are new but the install is not the best. They used the flooring for the step and that is okay, but the overwood is just a bit high. Nothing we cannot handle ... just more handwork. I like the look as well as the rails they put up. I just wish that we could have sanded and done two coats before they did the rails, but the timing just did not work out.
If you can recall the 4,000 foot walnut job we got beat out on over the winter, well I was told today that the floor looks bad. The folks we are working for on the stairs this week are good friends with the family with the walnut floor, and she said the job looks sad. The contractor rented his tools to install, then rented the sanders..."Oh well" is all I can say. I was told they might call me to resand the floor, but if it is as sorry as she said, I will have to adjust my price to fix his stuff. Right now it would be hard to do, as I only have Clifford with me and he has never run a sander. I cannot train a new man on walnut after the first crew made so many mistakes. I sure would like a shot at that; I know it would be long days to get it all done, but I have never been afraid of work.
I am going to get some rest and watch the St. Louis Cardinals baseball game, please be safe.