The fingerblock job is done... the trim is up and the folks like it; it is all about the happiness of the homeowner.
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The fingerblock job is done... the trim is up and the folks like it; it is all about the happiness of the homeowner.
It was a simple job up to the point that I could not get the multidisc sander up the stairs; there was just no way to get it up alone. "Old school" is an overused phrase at times, but the hardplate was the only way to get this done and flat. You can see that this floor is as flat as a pancake on a hot griddle.
It took 80-grit to start, working up to 120 on the soft plate so the scratch would be gone. All those doors… what a ton of hand work! The corners were fast but the doors took some time to get right. We do the hand work last so that we can blend in the work and we know what we need to do to make it all look right. The hardest doors were the double door inside and the outside door with the trim and case still on.
I buffed in the stain work around the walls with a rag and those doors again all by hand, all the time making sure we did not get stain on the base or door jambs. The fast-dry stain was ready to coat in two hours, and after the first coat of poly it looked great. Now the part that seems to take forever alone is the last coat, hand-rubbing the walls and doors... Get the buffer and pad the floor with the SPP disc, then vac and vac and vac and vac, then wet-tack and wet-tack and wet-tack till it is clean. The final coat tells all, the money coat as we call it. There is one shot to get it right so that we do not have to come back and repair a drip, heavy spot or any imperfection. I do not like to coat alone, an extra set of eyes sure help so you know that nothing was left out or in the final coat.
It's all done, it looks good, and the homeowner likes the floor. It is always nice to have them give you good feedback, but she even went online and wrote on the last post! Thank you, Mrs. Vicky and Mr. Jim, for letting me work in your home. Now that the work is done she can start to put the house back together and get back to normal.
On to the next job, I started it Monday and at this point I am thinking about the RH and subfloor troubles. It is 66% RH in the house right now with the air working; the outside air is hot and thick. All that will be trapped in the crawl as soon as I get the plywood and felt down. The old pressboard had to be removed after the water damage and all that was left was the ½-inch plywood. The gaps and airflow were allowing the crawl space to relax, but as soon as all the new felt and plywood are installed it will shut down that airflow and make the RH go up fast.
I spoke with my friend Mickey Moore last night about the extreme RH we are seeing here again. We talked for over a hour about all this and how the floor man can overcome the troubles. Bottom line? Leave room for the wood to move and make sure your homeowner understands that they will have gaps in the winter months. We did the math and I need to leave a 64th gap every six rows of hardwood. I will make sure I do a center layout and allow for the wood to move. Like I said before, installing hardwood in July and August is just a task around here.
I will put the meter in the crawl space before the end of the day to start getting an idea of what it is going to do, plus tell me what I must do. Once the wood is on site it will sit for a few days because the wet work will not be done. We have over 300 feet of tile to lay and that will add a bunch of concerns as well. I have to match up to the fireplace and the new tile on this job; it is not a big deal but big enough that my concerns for movement are on full alert.
So, off to work to install the rest of the plywood. Most of the full sheets are in now and it's time for the task of cutting in and working around the doorways.