The floor is finished! Trim is painted, cut and installed.

This is what I ended up doing: Stain, 1 coat waterlox, 2 coats satin polyurethane. I thinned the urethane.

Then I hand buffed the final product to cut the sheen a bit.

It looks amazing! Not the "hand rubbed oil look" I wanted, but close to it.

I decided on polyurethane after the first coat of waterlox, which took forever rubbing on by hand, and smelled horribly. My lungs hurt painfully after, and the drying time was unbearable. I could not wait 1 week to dry and 24 hours between coats..I've a 4 month old baby who was at my mother-in-laws, and I needed to care for her.

But it looks amazing! I've had people come in and ask how I managed to re-finish the old floors to look so good (tight and new looking). he he he.

I'll post a picture tomorrow.

Fixitgirl

Congratulations:
Was this your first floor? I had the impression that you're a professional floor girl.
Beware!! If it IS your first floor, you may get hooked and decide to do this professionally! It's kinda' addicting to see the beauty of wood develop before your very eyes . . . and then get paid for it!! he,he
Look forward to seeing those pics.
I just finishes 900 square feet of 50 year old, white/red #2 oak with 2 coats of Waterlox sealer, 2 top-coats of Park's Pro Finish oil-based poly. Took me 5 full days (6-8 hour days). Got paid $3,322.00 It's hard work, but it's a good living.

Charlie

I bet your lungs did hurt if you didn't use a respirator, mask!!!

I hope you didn't do some real damage to your lungs!

Yeah, this was my first solid hardwood job. I'm not a professional, but I could get hooked big time. Considering all the serious projects I've completed, and my love of the work, you'd think I would be doing this for a living.

No..I didn't use a respirator...Yes, I hope I didn't permenantly injure my lungs too...luckily I feel okay now, and if I ever have to do this again...I'll use a respirator.

Here is the link again, with pictures.


http://photos.yahoo.com/jnasato@rogers.com

I can't thank you guys enough for all your help in this project. I turns out that a professional saw the work in person, and thought it was better than many professional installations he'd seen. The boards are very tight.

thanks again!

Fixitgirl

That's sweet!!!

Do you need a job?


You have a calling, and it is not your day job!!!



There are so called professionals, that wouldn't even think of tackling that!

How you guys flatter a girl!

You're right about the calling thing...my day job is a criminal and family law lawyer...I'd shift careers in a heartbeat if someone local wanted me on staff.

Too bad you don't live in the SF bay area. I'd hire you! Very nice work , fixitgal. Did you use the stain technique to get the feature strips or did you end up using walnut feature strips? Looks good!

Fixitgirl:
Jealousy is a strong emotion!

I would say that you are probably a pretty good lawyer. Do floors on the side as "therapy".

Your creativity came through.
Charlie

The medallion and feature strips are walnut. I thought it would look nicer, and I knew I would regret not trying it once I was done.

The hardest part was the underlayment. I ended up laying 4x4 sheets of plywood on a 45 degree angle and had to glue them down. It was time consuming and I didn't have much help lifting. I almost stained and finished the plywood, I was so fed up!

If I ever move to the coast, I'll call for a job :)

fixitgirl

A first timer? you would never know, looks pretty snazzy!!!