November 11, 2020 - Wednesday - Veterans Day

27 degrees/cloudy/windy

Pentoga Road

Uh huh, today is all about floors, ours in particular.

First, we didn't receive any snow to speak of, a dusting is all. What fell were inches and inches of rain. Since our gauge cracked after the last freeze, I have no idea how much, but there's water, now frozen, everywhere. 

It appears that all my pictures from yesterday's nonstop activities of sanding, sanding some more, muttering, and yet more sanding have been lost. I inserted the card into my computer and there was nothing, nada, zilch. All of today's photos, except for the last one, were taken just a few minutes ago.

Anyway, imagine Sargie and I working harmoniously, laughing, singing, and thanking our lucky stars that we own such a wonderful, near perfect, hundred year old house in the woods.

Now get your head on straight and I'll tell you the real story.

Sargie and I do work well together and nary a cross word was said to each other yesterday. She's my ying, I'm her yang, and together, we make a great team.

That being said, I may have called our floor a few inappropriate names. As much as Sargie has scrubbed the very worn maple over the past decade, it was always dirty. Years and years of north woods dirt had been tracked through and literally, ground into the grain.

We knew it was bad. We didn't know how bad.

Several boards had obviously been replaced over the past hundred years by someone who should have been smart enough to let a professional do the job.

Many were warped and almost up on their side while a few sagged just a bit, not enough to be noticeable when walking, but the large floor sander could tell the difference. No amount of sanding with the lower grit paper would remove the sway.

Thank God for Sargie. Not afraid to tackle any job, when my back threatened to break after running the large floor sander, she took over and navigated the kitchen floor like a pro. While she was busy with that, I'd be on my hands and knees using the edge sander. We switched back and forth throughout the entire day.

By early evening, I had used every sander and almost every tool in the shop to make it all come together. 

We finally began applying the finish early last night. The instructions said to wait two hours before applying a second coat. While letting the first layer dry, we drove to town for a late supper.

Sargie began dusting the downstairs while I scooted along on my knees and/or backside and finished the sealing process. We were officially done with the floor at 9:30 last night. 

Needless to say, Sargie Pants and Tommy P took quick showers and fell into bed as quickly as possible. It had been a long, often arduous, but very satisfying, day.

We've since mentioned that if we knew how difficult the job turned out to be, we might have just been satisfied painting the floor. On the other hand, we've preserved the original wood that won't absorb dirt and looks better than it has for the past few decades.

I'm leaving in a few minutes to take the sanders back to the rental place. On today's agenda: I promised Sargie I'd help clean the house. Though MOST of the dust has been swiped and swept from the first floor, there's plenty of house yet to clean. Otherwise, I'll go for my walk at some point and no doubt, end up in the shop.

Oh yeah, we have to move all the kitchen appliances and furniture from the hallway and dining room back to where they belong.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road... "Home of the near-perfect hundred year old house!" said Tommy P, tongue in cheek.