The first two coats of urethane—stinky, stinky stuff that it is—are down, and I hope to put one more on the floor before we leave for Chicago tomorrow. I have to say, it was a real pleasure to finish the floor, for two reasons:
1) I bought a respirator, as my brother instructed me. They are cheap, extremely comfortable, and I happily brushed me chemicals on the floor, thinking all the while: "This is great! This stuff has no smell at all! Why by the water-based if this guy is so easy and odorless?" Then I took of my mask and nearly retched with the smell.
2) You put down the urethane. That takes maybe 10 minutes tops in a kitchen our size. And then you can't do any more work of any kind for at least four hours. Or seven hours if your humidity and temperature are like they are here today. You can't go near the kitchen, and in fact, because of the vapors, you kind of have to leave the house. I went outside today for the first time in weeks. And mowed the lawn, because it really, really needed doing.
By the way, it won't be that shiny—we're using a satin finish, which has some gloss, but is not ultra-glassy. That's just wet, which makes it look extra-shiny.
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3 comments:
Look at that!
Damn, that is a nice job. Looks good and is going to look even better once it dries and the gloss is cut a bit.
It doesn't look stained. Can't tell what, if any, color you used on it.
We started with "Natural," which is basically the same as the the "pre-stain conditioning treatment, but then went one shade darker: "Ipswich Pine." Except for the dozens of black spots where dozens of nails were driven in, and the paces where I dropped the drum sander down with extra force, it does look pretty good. One board near the back has been thoroughly impregnated with moisture over the years (probably from the basement, and now that we're aware of it, we'll be addressing that, too), and is kind of a greenish grey—no amount of sanding to the contrary.
That's "places," not "paces," btw. I have an annoying infection in my thumb, which is making it hard to type.
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