The past week and half have has been a long run of make-sure-it-all-gets-done. I am worrying less after Mickey's words of wisdom, but I came across a subfloor that just might bring a concern. We had to ask: What is it? And can we install over it?
After a bunch of tests for water and high RH, it became clear that it was a huge stain on the plywood from the tile installer during the build of the home. They mixed the mud for the tile on the subfloor; as we can see water stained the plywood over 8 years ago. The trouble is not water now, but the seams had to be sanded down to get it flat and ready for wood flooring. The carpet we pulled up did not show the high seams but as we know the wood floor will not lay flat and the end match would be way off.
This is the job with the 4 1/4 flat cut red oak. The subfloor is 12 percent and the wood is 8-9 percent. It sat on the job site for two and half weeks. If we go with the +/- two percent requirement for the install, it will never get installed. The flooring came in at 7-8 percent; after two weeks and a controlled crawl space the wood took on one point. The T & G went together great two weeks ago, but by the time of the install it was tight... too tight. I had concerns about the flooring and breaking the tongue off, so I went with a thin nail-18 ga over 16 ga, as well as using a cleat over a staple. The flooring needs to move-it needs holding power but freedom to move with no damage to the flooring at the point where the cleat goes into the flooring. The cleat is thin and only 1 3/4" long.
Why? Well I feel that if the 2" cleat will push through the subfloor, it not only blows out the back of the subfloor but it is holding nothing. A shorter cleat will not damage the back of the subfloor, and because it is not pushing through, it will hold 100% of that cleat.
The 600 feet only took 2 1/2 days, but the homeowner gave me a setback: They wanted to go to a family gathering at the last minute, so I had to pack up the tools and not work for two days. I hate that, but what can you do? I asked for a key so that the work could be done, but they said they had a contractor rob them one time, so they will not allow anyone to work in the home while they are gone.
Joey asked: Could I sand a small job for him? I said "yes," because losing a day's pay is no fun! It was a small job-500 feet of sand & finish. So, I get to the job Friday morning and opened the front door to see nothing moved. The man said, "Oh, I did not think about taking the stuff out of the house." Setback No. 1.
We moved the "stuff" from half the house, and then I did half the house, let that dry, then moved the stuff back to the other half and sanded and finished that half. Setback No. 2.
Well, it was all an old yellow/brown oil that had been left to get old and beat-up for many years. Look at the yellow pine photo:
… and you will see the oil finish that had to have 12 (4 1/2) grit on the edger and 36 grit on the big machine to get it off... setback No. 3. Here it is down to bare wood:
That was Friday, Saturday and Sunday after church. I got done about 7 p.m. Sunday with the build coat. Monday morning I went in to pad and coat for the last topcoat. I got done about 9:30 a.m., packed the trailer and headed back to the 600-foot install job.
Monday about noon I got to the job after a call from a homeowner... they wanted to know if we were coming back to finish the install. So that was the rest of the day and the install was done. No, wait… It's a factory-finish floor and they did not like some of the boards. The color does not look right… Setback No. 4. We had a sand-and-finish job that was to start on Monday, but due to the three other setbacks, I called them and asked to start one day late. They were so cool about it-no trouble with them.
Well, the few boards became many boards, and a long debate about factory-finish floors. I cannot control the color and I will not hand-pick the flooring to match the look and color of each board so it all looks the same. I did take out four boards, not because the color, but because they had small imperfections in the finish they found. How they found them I have no idea, but I did it to make them happy. What a pain, it was factory-finish flooring that is tight and not made well. Okay, one more setback... No. 5!
They had to have the trim installed so the painter could come and finish the job. I had told them that I could install the trim and that they should let me know when they were ready… Guess what, "Ready!" I was not happy but had to keep my word. The plan was to have more drywall work done, but now they did not want it done because the paint guy said he would do it for them. I came back the next day with trim and got it installed… As my kids would say: OMG. Who built this house? The walls were so bad that it was HARD to make the outside corners look good. I got it done, packed the tools and then asked for the funds... They walked the floor and looked at the trim and asked a ton of dumb questions. And yes, I now believe that there is such a thing as a dumb question.
I got my funds and headed to the next job a day and half late... setback No. 6. The next sand and finish job is 1,000 feet of heart pine with a wax finish. I will break this up into one more post and leave that to be continued... For now I can tell you it was long days into the night so that job would be done by Friday as I had told them.
