I will try my best to get back up to speed… Last week we got the stain on the maple job and to be honest, I did not like the wall areas. We got the palm sanders and went to town on them. Then to match the stain and scratch we hand-sanded the floor with stain in the sandpaper to make it look right. It was a task but it worked; it's an off-the-wall thing I picked up at a school over the years.
Now the finish is on and I am sitting here with concern because the poly just did not look right today, we put on the final coat but it had a ton of air bubbles in it-more than I like to see. My fear is I will go in and see it look like scales of a fish, boy we sure hope not. However, if it is not right we will do whatever it takes to make it right.
We got a rush tile job to work in this week also, a "we need help" from a homeowner who did not plan things out with the drywall and cabinet man. It is a remodel but the next guy was looking for the next guy to do the floors and no one bid them. So the "please we need help" went out and, like it always does, it went downhill fast.
The old floor has sheet goods, underlayment, sheet goods, underlayment, sheet goods and, yes, 5/8 plywood all glued and overnailed to the ¾-inch shiplap. So the best thing we could do is remove it all at one shot; but as you can see below the last guy did a patch job on the floor, so we had to get some quickset mud to fill in the top of the brick wall under the old flooring.
At one time the back door was there and the mason work was just beat out then covered up ... not good. Plus, the floor was up 1/8 inch in that spot. Well, it is fixed now and we have to now lay new plywood and wonderboard to install the tile. That part will go okay, but (and yes, why must we always have the "but"?) ... they want to do the kitchen area so the drywall and cabinet man can finish, then we can go back install the mud room. Oh yeah, they want to keep living in the house and we will have to remove the hot water heater then use quickset mud so we can install and grout the same day, why? They do not have any way of taking showers and they did not plan on not living in the house. Just one more fun job, but the good news is we can handle it and they will be happy with the work.
They also want wood installed in the front room, so we bid that and got the job, it is nice to have the extra work. It is a 400-foot install, sand and finish, so it will go easy...right! More subfloor to remove-pressboard-but that is not a big thing. I just hate the carpet tearouts, they are nasty!
I have been asked to look a three more jobs and that is always good. On one we did the job two years ago and they have water damage. Another one is an install of 3-inch factory finish and the last is a call we just got today to resand a job in town. Oh, I did forget that Mrs. Ard wants me to come install some tile for her as well plus do something to her stairs. That job is in McKenzie, Tenn., just up the road from me; she is a sweet lady and we did a job for her last year-3 1/4 American cherry install, sand and finish. That floor looked great, the wood was sweet to look at with no finish; when we hit it with poly it came alive!
Well I need to get my mind around a pad and recoat or hope the finish laid down from all the air bubbles, man I hope it did. I will not like it if it did not, we cannot charge them for the fix...one more coat. Just might keep me up tonight...Oh well, keep your fingers crossed.
