Totally Floored & Disappointed

Well... The last 24 hours have been HELL!!!  We wrecked our floors!!

Our kitchen is scheduled to begin install on Monday at 8am, so it was crunch time to get these floors done. We didn't have a second to waste. I don't even think I can write all the issues we've run into in the last couple days, but I'll try! 

We loved the natural age and patina of the old barn boards so we decided to initially do a light sand (120 grit sand paper with orbital sander) over the entire floor before vacuuming and applying the polyurethane.

It was a lot of work. We sanded, vacuumed, vacuumed again and mopped, mopped again. The floors looked great!! 

Kitten approved!

Then we applied the polyurethane and HATED them!! They turned out so dark, and the light pieces were so stark. We went to bed hoping for the best... But they still looked awful in the morning. 

 

Just awful. 

So we sanded them again. But first we had to pick up some coarser sand paper. We also picked up 10 gallons of a different polyurethane because we used way more than we thought we would and the stuff we started with could only be purchased in Kitchener or Toronto and we didn't have time for that!  

We started resanding with 80 grit until the paper kept gumming up. We made it 1 full length of the "big room" using 2 pieces of sand paper. And each piece of sand paper for this machine is $10, as Jake would remind us often ;)

So Jake just did 1 quick pass using 120 grit again and it seemed to be ok. 

We made an executive decision to stain the light pieces in hopes of having them blend in a bit more. I ran up to the local hardware store, where they actually know us by name now, and grabbed a light stain. I knew that I didn't want them to match exactly, just something to age them a bit more. But this put us back by a full day. 

They looked good! We were so thankful that Jake's dad and friend came to help because it turned out to be a big job. We went to bed exhausted but happy that things were back on track and we'd still be able to get 3 coats of polyurethane on before Monday morning. 

At 3am I got up to pee and to my surprise, the stain was still wet. What the hell?! It had been 6 hours! We were planning on getting up early and putting the 2nd coat of polyurethane on so I felt kind of panicked. I grabbed some paper towel and started scrubbing the floors hoping they'd dry some but it was like a waxy finish and the paper towel kept sticking. Nightmare!!! Jake also came up to pee to find me on my hands and knees scrubbing. 

After an hour and a half of dealing with this mess, we gave up.  

Before going back to bed at 5am Jake had the brilliant idea of reading the can... Here's a lesson for EVERYONE, read the F$*#%! directions!! In giant font, it said not to let the stain sit for more than 5 minutes and to wipe dry. We did not do this. We slopped it on thick and left it to sit for a good 6 hours. Oops. Big oops. 

After reading countless forums and blogs for possible solutions, we decided to try using paint thinner. I set my alarm for when the hardware store opened and we went back to bed. 

With our fingers crossed we brushed on some newly acquired paint thinner and started wiping away. To our surprised, IT WORKED!!! 

It took us the majority of the day, but we got the sticky waxy texture off hundreds of square feet of stained floor. 

Things were finally starting to look up. 

Being that we were now 1 and 3/4 days behind schedule we didn't want to take any more chances of messing things up so we decided to give the floors one more quick sand. 

Then I carefully vacuumed every last speck of dust and we FINALLY put our second coat of polyurethane on. 

We have redeemed ourselves!! The floors look AMAZING!!! We are once again thrilled with our floors! 

The floors are still wet here. I rolled myself out the door and snapped a pic before closing the door. The polyurethane we went with is actually a matte finish so it will be interesting to see how it looks in the morning. I'm kind of nervous... 

Here's a comparison of 1st vs 2nd coat. Huge improvement!

Wish us luck for the morning!!! 

Where have we been?!

Other than hiding out in the basement, there hadn't been a ton of progress on the house. We were (im)patiently waiting for our flooring to come out of the kiln and then be planed (all to the same 3/4" thickness) and tongue and grooved. 

I am happy to report that most of our flooring is done! Jake and I picked it up in 4 trips... There's no fancy boxes or packaging with this floor! Just random widths and lengths all piled into a trailer and carried into the house 3-4 pieces at a time.

Our installer was here bright and early Saturday morning and this morning (even with the time change!) and the "big room" consisting of the kitchen, dining and great room is all installed!

We LOVE it!!!

We are so happy with the random width look. There are a total of 6 widths ranging from 3"-10" and lengths from 4' to 14'. 

We've left the knot holes, worm holes, nail holes and some minor cracks to keep the character that we love so much. Before we sand the floors we'll fill the bigger knot holes with a coloured epoxy so there are no tripping hazards! 

That's about it in terms of progress on the house! We've been painting trim and doors for what seems like forever... But we're almost done! And once the floors are in, all of our trim work can be finished. It would be kind of nice to have a door on the bathroom! 

We have quite a bit of touch up paint to do before we move everything in too. Tatum has already managed to write on 3 of her bedroom walls with an Allen key! I really thought she would have grown out of this by now... I guess not!

Wooden want anything else!

Our hardwood floors are in the kiln! Well half of them! They'll be there for at least a week, maybe even 2 depending on the moisture content. 

I went to see them while they are drying. I already love them!

The flooring manufacturer is going to make us up a few samples out of these pieces here

Once they're dry, they'll be tongue and grooved and ready for install!  We plan to do a very light sanding. We want to keep as much of the age spots and patina as possible, and then finish with a clear coating to protect them. 

The other half of our floors are here:

Still on the barn! They'll be coming down next week and going into the kiln too. I love the idea of using reclaimed wood. I am by no means a treehugger, I throw the occasional pop can into the garbage, oops! But I do have a fascination and love for old things. I am amazed at the construction and level of detail given the lack of modern technology. 

We had a few big beams milled into flooring too... Here are some of the pieces. There's a few pieces of cedar mixed in there that aren't ours. 

Anyway... That's the update on our floors. I plan to go watch/help and take pictures of the actual milling and tongue and grooving process. More on that later!

  

Reclaimed wood, claimed kitten.

We've known what we wanted for hardwood flooring forever, we just didn't know how we were going to get it in our budget! 

What we wanted:

- wide planks

- reclaimed

- lots of colour variation/patina

- affordable

What we're getting:

- wide planks but varying widths

- 100+ year old hemlock reclaimed from Southern Ontario barns

- lots of colour/variation

- affordable!

- 1 free kitten

Meet Samantha, our newest family member. Named by the girls, in case it wasn't obvious!

We are quite pleased with ourselves for finding the exact flooring we wanted, and within budget. Even if it means now having a cat! 

There are a ton of reclaimed hardwood flooring options out there. But you're paying at least $10-15/square foot, plus install, plus finishing. When you're putting hardwood throughout almost your ENTIRE house, that's steep!

Once I realized the cost of reclaimed floors, I started looking for barns being demolish or barns that are on the verge of falling over to source the wood myself. I was willing to do whatever I had to do to get them. Thankfully we came across a man who demolishes barns and sells the lumber at a reasonable cost. Waaaay easier than tearing down someone's barn and carting it home in the Jetta! 

Once he gathers enough barn boards in decent condition, he'll take them to a mill to be denailed and planed flat and to equal thickness. After that they get sent to another man to be kiln dried and tongue and grooved, turning it into flooring. 

Kiln drying removes excess moisture, and BUGS!!

We will have our own installer install the floor at this point. Because the planks will be wide, they'll need to be glued and nailed down. Some planks will be over 10" wide and they could have a tendency to cup with humidity, which is the reason for using both nails and glue. 

When it first goes down it will still be fairly rough looking. We want a rustic look, but we also want the age and patina to be visible. We'll be hiring someone to do a very light sanding and finishing. We don't want to stain the floor because we like the natural look of aged lumber so we're going to go for an oil finish. 

It is kind of risky picking flooring without actually being able to see what the finish product will be... But it's worth the risk if you ask me!

I'll be sure to keep you posted on the many steps it's going take to get the perfect floor!  I'm hoping to be able to see our cabinets in production sometime in the next couple of weeks too.

I love seeing how everything is made!