I briefly thought about taking a shower, but since I had one last night, I just threw my hair into a ponytail and went with it. We were on a roll, so we thought we'd spend this Fourth of July working on the house, and next Fourth of July we will plan to have friends over to our gorgeously refinished home!
We have our shopping trips down to a science now. Since it get so hot in the middle of the day (94 today!) we try to do our running around early in the day, or after the sun goes down. We needed a giant trash can for the inside of the house, fly strips, and about 10 other things, including ice cream. While there, I spotted a darling 70-ish year old lady with red, white, and blue flowers on her white bun. So adorable, so Utah!
Our floor work today began with finishing the sanding of the filler.
We used a 60 grit on the edges and then we were going to go to 100. We took turns with the orbital palm sander.
When we were almost done with the dining room, I asked Joe if I could fill some of the cracks in the middle of the floor that had been missed. He said that his father wouldn't have done it, because we didn't have the drum sander any more, but he guessed I could do it and then we would sand them down with the finer 100 grit.
Unfortunately, when I filled the cracks, I put the filler on too thick and wide, and the 100 grit couldn't handle it. The paper kept slipping off the sander, and it got used up really quickly. Soon we ran out of 100 grit. I felt bad about the mistake, but it is my first floor, and I am learning many things! It was getting later in the day, so we just finished with the rougher 60 grit. At last, it was ready for the sealing.
Joe explained that before we put the sealer on, the floor had to be completely dust-free. He thought a vacuum cleaner might help, but ours was still on the moving truck, which won't be arriving for several more days. The previous renters had left an old vacuum cleaner in the basement. Joe took it apart and cleaned it, piece by piece--with Febreze and a toothbrush! It still worked, so we vacuumed up and got ready to wipe down the floor with a clean, damp cloth.
But wait! Joe decided he simply couldn't live with the 3 nail heads that were still showing in the living room. He ran to Lowe's to buy a drummel tool to grind down the nail heads so he could push them down into the floor. Since it was the Fourth, he returned home with a rotisserie chicken, crab salad, potato salad, and root beer!
Our little picnic tasted AMAZING. (Do you love the retro green flowered chairs that were left in the house by the previous tenant? We will use them in the kitchen until our furniture gets here, but their rusty old legs are NEVER going back on those wood floors!)
After dinner it was back to work with the drummel tool, more filler, more sanding, more cleaning.... and finally...
The sealer is going on! Isn't this gorgeous??
At 8 pm I thought we were done working, but we still had a teeny bit of energy left to go outside and spread some weed & feed in the front yard, do some edging of the lawn, and sweep up piles of detritus around the house.
As I write this post, I'm listening to fireworks go off in the neighborhood. What a successful Fourth of July! I'll never forget this particular one.
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