Now on to the things we have done lately, we've been doing install, sand and finish like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. Business has been great, and it looks good for a few more weeks.
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Now on to the things we have done lately, we've been doing install, sand and finish like a one-legged man in a butt-kicking contest. Business has been great, and it looks good for a few more weeks.
Now here is a thing that kills me: We fight the RH in the South, but this year it's the heat and dry air that is killing me. Our RH has been in the low 40s, and folks, we knew that would not last. We had no rain for four weeks, plus the air was hot as it could be outside. I think we were in the low 100s for record-setting weeks. Now we have rain, and the RH is 92% with temps in the mid 90s. We have one job that is 5-inch hickory with a crawl space that is opened up with vents. The folks do not understand that the RH will kick the flooring's butt if we do not address it up front. The mindset is it is just wood, and two to three days in the house is good. I still battle a few guys who tell folks that 6-mil plastic is fine and they install over it all the time. Not on the earth, but on the plywood in the house ... can you believe that?
That fight will never go away, it is just best to use the meters and test the subfloor, crawl space and flooring. I am going to say it again: "Get the house ready for the wood, then get the wood ready for the house."
We did a resand in Union City last week; I enjoyed working for the homeowners, they were super nice! The floor was a hand-nailed, all shorts, with wax and oil finish. It came off easy, but the floor was cupped and had to be cut with 36 to get it flat. Truth be told, that just is a pain because it adds so much extra work to get it smooth. The other thing I am not sure about is that around one door the finish (Monocoat) just looks flat. If you walk up to it, it looks great, but stand back and that flat look jumps out at you. I'm not sure, but the floor has a good-size area in the doorway down the hall that has been wet from a hot water heater and washer that leaked, I think that is what gave me the flat look in those areas. It took a little more than the estimate as far as sanding, but like always, if the estimate is given, my price won't change. The mistake was mine, so we do what we have got to do to make it right, and that is it.
I love the short look and the floor has family history-her parents built the home. She was telling me stories about the house and things that happened as she grew up in it. They have a saying on one of the walls: "Home is where the stories begin," and she knows the stories… It's the old saying that love makes a house a home.
I resanded an old plug floor in McKenzie, Tenn., after that. It was a paste wax floor and they walked off the finish years ago. Take a look at the path in the finish:
She wanted the look of wax but no more wax, so once more we did a Monocoat job, it looks great with the low-shine wax look for her. I did this job in two days. I could have got it done in one, but I ran out of gas. So, I went back the next day and did the hard-plating and finish sanding. I buffed in the finish, and it looks great. The walnut plugs came back to life, they look funny the way they were installed, but they were done many years ago:
So, with a tile job and a snap-together job, we are up to speed. This week we are installing 400 feet in a home, then we are going to sand that, plus resand 500 feet of factory-finish to make it all look the same. We want to sand the micro V out of the factory-finish and make it all look the same. I will get a few photos for you and get them up on the blog. You all have a great week and keep on getting it done. Our work is going faster than kudzu up a tree!
