The Nest's Kitchen Flooring Refresh 2018

Our 2018 Kitchen Rennovation To The Nest

(Sunday - 15 April 2018)
Need to remember to look for the ¾" wood plugs for the holes where the old supplies used to come up through the floor. Can't remember what else we did this weekend but I'm thinking that hanging the wall cabinets yesterday was good enough... I know Nick and I are still feeling the effort today. Thankfully I filed my tax extension Friday, because I don't feel like doing much of anything today.

(Friday - 20 April 2018)
Working from home. Updating this account. Futzing with the fool from the project that would not die. Once again shaking my head at the stupidity of some folks. Finally convinced the moron to use source control for our interactions. Told him a few days ago that exchanging zip files and making multiple copies of files is not a good way to cooperate. Doesn't matter anyway, we're pretty much done with that customer, and he's just pissing away what money he has left on his PO on stupid shit he could just as easily do himself. I tell him I'll have a look at what he's posted. I didn't say when...

Beyond that, I manage to get the 1x3s cut for over the dishwasher to hold the beauty panel in place. The idea is to secure it to the sink base, mainly for the temporary countertop to have a place to rest. I carefully measure the distance between the face frames to ensure it's at 24¼" and go cut the 1x3s to length. Now to attach... Oops. looks like it's 25¼" between the outside of the sink base and the inside of the beauty panel, which seems odd at first, then I realize the face frame on the beauty panel is 1½" wide, which would add another inch to the distance.

How's that go? Measure twice... Anyway, at least I have another set I can cut to fit, substituting these short ones for the longer ones still holding up the old sink. So 25¼" it is. Now I'm trying to decide whether to put a hole in the beauty panel for the trim screw to hold it to the 1x3 or use a cleat approach from behind or figure out what and how to do it best exactly... I'm opting for temporary and cover the hole with trim if need be just so I can be done for now. Unfortunately it looks like the 1x3 idea isn't going to work long term anyway. Even at just ¾" thick, the 1x3 in the front won't allow for easy removal / installation of the dishwasher.

Quick and dirty it is. I just toenail the screws into the sink base to hold everything together temporarily. Now let's go cut that last piece of furniture grade plywood for the countertop. I have roughly a 2' by 4' piece left that Nick gave me when he disassembled his old coffee table. It has the corners notched out, to fit the legs at the time, but should allow me to cut off the ends and still have plenty. Wrong. Well, I thought it was 2' wide. Nope. Only 18" wide. That leaves me with two choices: piece it using a 1x6; or cut it from the other piece left from the table that's stained all black... Piece it using a 1x6 it is. There. Now we have a place to set the dirty dishes waiting to be loaded into the once again operational dishwasher.

Good. That's done. Unfortunately, I won't be able to leave it that way and will need to come up with another idea of how to make that work. It may be that the top front corner of that beauty panel is held in place by the permanent countertop. Guess we'll have to wait and see what the installers say about it. The nice thing is that dishwasher sure is quiet when it's closed in on all but the front side, even without the toekick panel in place! It's a good thing that red light shines down to let you know it's running, because the only time you can hear anything is when it's draining or filling.

So as we sit here, enjoying not hearing the dishwasher run, we're making plans for what to do tomorrow since it won't be sanding the floor. Nick has another autocross outing at "The Compound", with a meet-up first, then everyone driving there together. So counting on his expertise and help tomorrow is out of the question. He mentions there's some kind of car and air show over in Tavares, with $5 train rides. Hmmm... That could work. We've been wanting to ride the new train ever since it replaced the old steam train.

(Saturday - 21 April 2018)
We finally get to ride the new train today. We talked about it last night, but didn't really make any solid plans other than to plan on riding the train out to Tavares and having lunch at O'Keefe's Pub. We're discussing it over our morning coffee and Ann brings up their website on her tablet, but it creates so much confusion I bring it up on my laptop and realize what Ann has already come to understand - their website sucks, has mistakes, and is not clear on what's included in the ticket. Even the page to buy the tickets is contradictory and wrong. We both agree, more than once, we're probably going to have to call them.

It doesn't even say whether we can get tickets in Mount Dora. We both whip out our phones at the same time... Ann thinking I'm not going to call as usual, but she looks over as I'm laughing at the fact we both whipped out our phones at the same time. I let her call anyway. She was correct when she said one ticket rides all day, so to speak. I was thinking it was reservations for each leg of the trip. And it turns out we can buy our tickets in Mount Dora at the Chanber of Commerce of all places. A little history goes with that comment, so if you don't like it when I get long winded, skip ahead some...

Back when we had the old steam engine here in Mount Dora, the Orange Blossom Cannonball, the Mount Dora station was an old heavyweight passenger car set up alongside the track as a ticket office and little store that sold souveniers. We always wanted to know why they didn't just use the original FEC station, owned by the Chamber of Commerce. More like we always wondered why the Chamber of Commerce wouldn't allow them to use the original as the train station, since that's where you had to board the train anyway. We never did get an answer to that question.

All we knew was the more we rode the old heavyweight cars, open to the air, we were seeing they always needed more maintenance and repair. More maintenance and repair than they were getting anyway. During the summer, it was really too hot to ride. although we still did from time to time. Even after all the track upgrades and other investment in restoring the line, they eventually departed, never to return. We always wondered about that too. Why did the city not try to help them more? Or was it more like the steam engine was starring in yet another movie and needed to take an extended leave of absence? See also "3:10 to Yuma"...

All we knew was we were without a train again, for the first time since moving here, and now the second time since we started visiting Mount Dora and riding the train. We were sad. It was a let down for sure. I had purchased a garden scale steam engine I was going to convert to be the Orange Blossom Cannonball to run on our backyard pike. Guess I still can, but it won't have the same impact it would if the original engine were still running. As time went by, I guess more and more people spoke up and asked why was there no train and is there nothing we can do? Maybe someone heard those voices and decided there was a niche, an opening for their train to fill.

We heard rumors, at first unsubstantiated, then finally confirmed - The Royal Palm Experience was coming to Mount Dora, Tavares, and Eustis - The Golden Triangle Route. And so it came to pass. We heard the diesel horns. And so did a lot of people that thought they were too loud. Not us though. It was music to our ears. We kept saying we needed to go ride the new train. More time passed. This kitchen remodel then became the latest thing to devour all of our time, so when we finally had a weekend off, we decided it was time to ride the train...

So the one thing we thought we could count on online with some reliability was the departure schedule. The first departure from Mount Dora was really too early, so we decided on the afternoon departure, giving us about an hour and a half in Tavares while the train went to Eustis and back. We walked downtown early enough to get to the Chamber of Commerce to buy our tickets then sat on the benches in the park in the shade to wait for the arrival of the train. After a short wait, we hear the horn and start toward the boarding area. A few folks disembark, then we board and head for the dome car.

Thankfully it's much warmer up in the sun than down below in the coach cars. I thought we'd appreciate the A/C on this new train more than this, but when you're shivering from the cold... I'm not going to complain about it, I can always put on more clothes. We almost have the entire dome car to ourselves, just one other couple, and they were already there when we boarded. It's a pleasant ride over to Tavares, as the car gently rocks back and forth. We discuss what we're doing when we get off the train and where we go from there. The first thing we're greeted with is a '66 Fairlane, beautifully restored.

Then we spy a lime gold '67 Mustang with a black vinyl top, just like Nick's! And it's sitting right next to his favorite locomotive, an "F" unit. I had to get a picture of it for him. Ann and I check out the interior and it is in wonderful condition. The really interesting thing is it has all the same "flaws" as Nick's did, right down to the rust on the rear quarter panels at the trim on the vinyl top and the metal reworked around the driver's door where it caught on the fender at some point in the past. Ann makes the comment that Nick amde it there before us, and she thought he was going to the autocross...

We take in a few more classics before arriving at our destination, O'Keefe's Pub, and decide to sit outside on the patio for the airshow that's about to start. We should have sat outside outside though, not under the covered area where we can only see the planes when they're near the horizon, but no matter. We enjoy just being there and doing something together, other than working on the house that is, and a few draft Guinness to boot. Waiting on our lunch tp arrive, I hear the distinctive sound of a T6 Texan, working the propeller hard (and loud)! I go stand outside and watch for awhile. When I come back, I see our food is here.

When we're finished eating lunch, we have about 15 minutes before our train departs for Mount Dora. Ann's ready to head straight back to the train, but I tell her let's go around the block and look at some more classic cars, ending up at the station. We're glad we did because Ann spots an AmphiCar (amphibious car) that she and Nick have seen around town. Back in the dome car, we now have it all to ourselves. As we're rocking back and forth on the way home, we both say it's too bad the train doesn't move any faster. It's different when you're one step removed from outside, sealed in by glass and comforted by A/C. The streamline cars say speed, not slow.

Arriving at the station, we disembark and head back through town on our way home, we walk through the renaissance building to see what's left. There are a number of articles detailing yet another acquisition by Main Street Leasing (MSL) of yet another downtown landmark building and how many of these landmarks that used to house thriving businesses are now vacant. And it isn't getting better. Everytime we walk downtown we are saddened that yet another business we once frequented is no longer there. The walk home isn't long, but it is all uphill, and we're happy to be home.

Later Nick's home from autocross and stops by to tell us about his experiences earlier in the day. He came in second place overall, which really surprised him, and won a gift certificate. There was much more to consider and we had a wonderful time sharing our day, including the pictures I had for him with his car and his train. So we all agreed it was nice to have some time off from redoing the kitchen to do some of the other things that make us happy. Ann says she doesn't really care to ride the train again. It's not the same as it used to be when the cars were open. I would ride it again to see what the leg of the wye out to Eustis from Tavares is like, but will probably feel the same way as she does after that.

(Sunday - 22 April 2018)
My day off is over. Time to get some things done around here! I joke, but Ann wants to know how hard it would be to put an outlet on the front porch for her new fountain. She also wants the fence slat mounted on post by the backyard gate. We talked about it briefly last night and Nick and I told her we should put in two outlets and that way it would be done. They picked up what I needed to do the job last night at Lowe's. So here I sit on the front porch, using the painted over nail heads in the shiplap to gauge where the studs are and where the living room outlets are in relation to them. Next I mark out where I want the holes I'm about to cut in the shiplap for the new outlet boxes.

First one goes without a hitch, box fits just fine. Next one all of a sudden I need a shim under the bottom lip to keep it from sinking into the wall? Dunno. I use the chisel to fashion one out of the chunk of shiplap I just cut out. Next I wire the new ground fault outlets into two old work boxes with a long enough "pigtail" of 12/2 sticking out. Time to kill the breaker for the living room outlets, but first I'll need to turn off the TV and the FireTV stick so I can turn off the battery backup feeding them and the cable equipment. I'm reluctant to after the overheating incident not too long ago, but I'd rather have to replace the battery than listen to it beep until power is back on.

I struggle to feed the pigtail of the first one from the porch into the existing living room outlet box and manage to at least get it through the hole, but the harder part is getting more of it through the hole. A few trips back and forth to both sides of the wall and I have enough to wire it in. Nick found these push in connectors that take the place of wire nuts and make it so much easier to connect all those wires. He got me packs of the three and four position styles. Since the original outlets in the living room are already pre-wired with their own pigtails, or at least will be once I snip them loose from the rest of the 12/2 feed, all I have to do is skin both the 12/2 cables then strip all the wire ends so they can be pushed into the connectors. There. Done.

I flip the breaker back on briefly, enough to be able to reset and test the new ground fault outlet, and it works no problem. For the next one I put a nice "U" shaped bend in the pigtail before trying to land it in the existing outlet box. It takes a couple tries to hit the hole, but at least this time once I hit the opening, it's in there and I'm done. Repeat of the first one, except this time I don't have much 12/2 to spare, but rather just enough. Another trip to the breaker panel, and another successful reset and test. All that's left is to put the covers on. There. Done.

While I was busy doing that, Ann decided it was time to start pulling up the self-stick linoleum squares she and Nick put down over the bare wood floor shortly after we removed the tile in the kitchen. They need to come off, but the adhesive is now left stuck to the wood floor, and that's the problem... It needs to come off too. She asks if I have anything that will take it off. I tell her I have acetone in the garage that will probably melt it right off, but the smell may be overwhelming. Hopefully mineral spirits will do the trick. On my way out to the garage, I decide to mark the fence slat where it needs notched for the latch, and take it to the garage with me. A couple of quick adjustments to the table saw and it's done.

I grab the acetone and it's much lighter than I thought it would be, maybe somewhere between a pint and a quart left in the gallon can. I grab the mineral spirits and it feels pretty much brand new, so I'm really hoping it will work. With those cans and the slat in hand, I head back toward the house, leaving the slat with the paver block leaning against it to hold it in place. I set the the gallon cans down and ask Ann if we have any rags. She says back in the white cupboard. I go look and there's maybe a couple of old washcloths that would better stay old washclothes. I know I have a box of rags in the garage, so I grab my drill and driver and some outdoor screws to go secure the slat on the way back out to the garage. There. Done.

Turns out all I have in that box of rags is more of the same... Old washcloths that would better stay old washclothes. I do have a couple of microfiber cloths that aren't really good for "microfibering" anymore since they're so full of debris but would be perfect for soaking and soppng up that adhesive. So back to the house I go, hoping these will be enough to get the job done. I grab the drill and the driver on my way back and put them away once inside. I don my nitrile gloves and try pouring a bit (more like splashing a lot) on the floor and wiping it with one of the microfiber cloths. I can't tell for sure with the gloves on, but it doesn't seem like I'm sticking to the floor anymore. I get as much of the floor as I can reach with something to kneel on and it seems to keep working.

I grab my razor knife and cut a chunk of cardboard from one of the few remaining boxes on the front porch the cabinets arrived in as my kneeler and "destickification" continues. Ann is still peeling up the rest of the squares while I'm wiping up the rest of the floor, but I can tell the rag is getting saturated and leaving some of the adhesive behind. I grab the other one and clean the entire floor again, all but where Ann left those last four squares in front of the stove. The nice thing is where the mineral spirits has worked its way under the remaining pieces it just pulls right off. With those last four gone the rest of the goo is gone shortly thereafter.

I wasn't pleased that Ann decided to do that without discussing it first, but I wasn't really upset about it either. My main concern was how strongly my feet were sticking to the floor, to the point it felt like it was about to remove skin, and how would the animals pads react to it? No matter, the sticky is pretty much gone, now we just need to make sure to keep them out of the kitchen while the floor "dries". Thankfully the "odorless" mineral spirits isn't lingering, but it certainly isn't odorless. It is good enough for now and it didn't turn into the nightmare I envisioned. I take out the wastebasket, now full of peel-and-stick flooring, and empty it for the curbside pickup. I hang the rags over whatever is convenient for the mineral spirits to evaporate, and toss my now contaminated cardboard out the side porch screen door.

We start discussing the what's next part of the program and Ann convinces Nick we should do the sanding and staining experiment tonight too. Which means we'll have to move the pennisula cabinet out of the way. I move the temporary top out of the way and Nick helps me move it over into the dining room. Then the top goes back on. His turn now as he loads up a cylinder on the mini drum sander and prepares for battle with the floor boards. We figure starting where it won't show under the cabinet is the best plan, but then Ann is curuious what it will look like on some of the boards that will show. Next they're opening the little cans of stain and applying test patches to compare coverage and color match with the existing finish...

Too bad they don't make "odorless" stain. It's been cool enough lately to open the windows and let the breeze ventilate the house, but the smell is still fairly strong. The house is still open at midnight, and it's still 80° in here. Thankfully it doesn't feel like it's 80° in here. Maybe it's not humid enough to make it feel as hot as I would expect it to feel. All I know is it's nice and cool by morning but I can still smell the stain.

(Monday - 23 April 2018)
Working remotely today. Updating this account. Ann and Nick off to EpCot to use his passes he got from where he used to work. The house still open when the A/C finally kicks on around 1:45 PM with the thermostat still set to 80°. Time to close up the house and be comfortable. I set the thermostat down to 78° and get back to pushing the our code changes to the repo around 3:45 PM. He says he'll look at them tonight. Sure will be glad when we're done dealing with these ... Hopefully this is our last go 'round . Other than moving the pennisula cabinet back in place, nothing more gets done with kitchen until Thursday.

(Thursday - 26 April 2018)
Flurry of activity getting things ready for floor sanding tomorrow. Marked location of and moved pennisula cabinet around corner of dining room facing the living room. Planning where everything will go and how to stage tools in and out of the area. I cleaned up the rest of the tools on the front porch to give us more working room there too. We figure that the refrigerator will sit against the wall in front of the windows in the dining room. Next to that on the right, we'll stack the two base cabinets from either side of the stove. Next to that on the right, the tall pantry cabinet. The sink cabinet will go end to end with the pennisula cabinet, leaving enough of an opening into the dining room to get in and out and be able to put up a gate to keep the animals out. That leaves the stove and dishwasher to move onto the front porch.

Scraping the rest of the linoleum, more rags, more coverage, still being pernsickety. Finally give up on remainder that need further soaking until tomorrow.

(Friday - 27 April 2018)
Took the day off. Updating this account. Finally done with the customer. Waiting to hear when the technician will be here to replace the windshields in my car, the truck, and the jeep. Nick just dropped off the jeep. Now he's taking the boy outside to play since the boy won't leave him alone. Me? I'll be busy getting the kitchen ready to have the floor sanded, going to pick up the drum sander and edge sander at Home Depot (once the truck windshield is replaced), fixing (swapping) the light switch box, moving the base cabinets and appliances out, maybe even putting the trim up around the window, etc., etc. As I said, I'll be busy!

Need to start by taking the dishwasher offline, killing the power first of course, then disconnecting the wiring beneath the sink. I'll probably leave the sink for later so I can rinse the rest of the coffee grounds down and be able to wash up without having to use the bathroom sink to do so. Then I'll starting taking things out of the pantry and stacking them on the pennisula cabinet top for now, and maybe with Nick's help when the guy for the windshields gets here around 9:30 - 10:00 AM, move it into the dining room. Scratch that, would probably be better to move the cabinet off the refrigerator then move the refrigerator itself into the dining room first, then the stove cabinets, then the pantry. There I go sweating the small stuff again... Time to get started!

Regardless, the dishwasher is coming offline first. Starting with the temporary countertop pieces, then the 1x3 members, then the beauty panel, then finally the dishwasher is free to move out enough to disconnect the power "plug" from the back. Somehow the cable guide strap has come loose and will need reattached when putting it back in. Beneath the sink I'm disconnecting the hot water feed and the drain line to the disposal. I disconnect the compression adapter and then reconnect the hot water feed to the sink by itself. Now for the cold water feed. I disconnect the feed line to the filter first, with its expected dripping water all over the place. Next the cold water feed to the faucet, reconnecting it by itself, then disconnecting the refrigerator feed line. More water leaking everywhere.

Mopping up the water, I unscrew the filter cartridge and dump some water out to eliminate the source of the water going everywhere, then disconnect the push-in pex lines from it and drain what water's left in them. Still manage to leak water everywhere. Third time I'm moppinng up water. With that out of the way, the refrigerator is closer to being moved as well. About the time I'm ready to move stuff out of the pantry, I see the windshield guy's "van" go past, then stop and back up to pull in the driveway. I hurriedly herd the dogs into the back, put up the gate, and close the door to the hall. We greet and he asks me to turn the jeep around so he can get to it better, I ask if parking it in the yard will work and he says as long as he can get to the back of the van.

Nick's working from home today, so when I come back in I text him to let him know the guy is here. He was supposed to get notification when the guy was on his way, but didn't. No matter, I get back to it and he arrives a short time later. I ask him to help me move the dishwasher onto the front porch so I can more easily get at the reminants of the linoleum backing I'm slowly scraping from the rest of the floor, where they're covered by the cabinets and appliances. Of course, I still need to move the rest of the cabinets and appliances out of the way to do that, but all in good time. I've found the trick is to wet the areas where the old underlayment is sticking to the wood by laying a sopping wet rag over the area and leaving it to sit and soak in. For most of the areas, this works well, and I'm able to slip a putty knife under it and have it just "pop" off.

In other places, apparently where the floor had low spots, was cupped, or needed repaired, it's not so easy and takes a lot more effort. Sometimes a resoak or two is needed. But for now, I let the places where the dishwasher used to sit soak a bit longer. I move the beauty panel for the refrigerator surround out of the way then we move the cabinet to the right of the stove out of the way next. This allows me access to disconnect the water line to the refrigerator, once we have the door off of and move the big 33" wide cabinet off the top of it and into the living room that is. Now we're ready to move the refrigerator out and into the dining room. Nick is helping by moving the jeep out of the way, now with new windshield, and swapping my car in its place. Once done, the refrigerator is out of the kitchen and out of the way. That gives me access to the old chunk of original linoleum still stuck to the original wood floor.

The underlayment for the original linoleum seems different than that of the second installment. I'm assuming the original linoleum was worn out and taken up over the main area of the floor since the only place I've found the original was around the perimeter, but only is two places - one area on each wall - and I'm thinking they didn't really cover over the original, but rather around whatever was sitting on top of the original. On one wall, a pantry perhaps. On the other, the sink and perhaps another pennisula cabinet or base cabinet along what used to be a stub wall between the kitchen and dining room. I can still see where the studs on the other side of an original doorway were nailed into the floor boards. But maybe not "original" since every other original wall in this house sits on the subfloor, not the floor boards.

In any case, the underlayment is different, almost paperlike, and very thin. It is also very musty smelling, like any moisture whatsoever that has ever been in or on the floor was trapped in it, forever musty smelling. And to this dark gray fuzzy looking mess we're going to add water, making it look absolutely black, like mold or mildew black anyway. But it dissolves whatever the binder is that they used back in the day. I can pretty much just wring out a rag to saturate it, leave it sit for a bit, then scoop up the whole nasty mess with a putty knife. The strange part is it looks like there must be some type of oil in its makeup, that or it absorbed it from the linoleum itself, because it looks like whatever it is floats to the top of this now brown ooze. Whatever the putty knife doesn't get, wiping with a rag does.

Wiping with that rag pretty much renders the rag useless for anything else, other than occasionally wiping off the putty knife perhaps. I follow up with a fairly wet rag and wipe up any remaining, ummm, I guess we'll call it mastik. All of this is going in the little wastebasket, rags and all. While I'm doing this, I have other saturated rags sitting on the remaining underlayment just waiting on me to scrape them off too. Each new area of floor we open up by moving another piece out needs more work. So next out and onto the front porch is the stove. In between conference calls for work and answering the knocks at the door for the windshield technician, Nick helps me move whatever is next, once I'm done with scraping the floor from the last one that is.

So in this case, we stack the cabinet from the other side of the stove on top of the other one in the dining room. The pantry is next, but it is an awful monster. We take the doors off and remove the contents, or the drawers themselves, complete with contents if easier. Most of this ends up on the pennisula cabinet sitting around the corner in the dining room. Thankfully I had already removed the ceiling fan blades so we could move the cabinet over the refrigerator, but it's still a bear trying to maneuver it around the fan and the lamp globes beneath, then tilt it down to make it under the opening in the wall into the dining room. We struggle with it until we're able to stand it back up in the dining room. Then we slide it into place next to the cabinet next to the refrigerator. Even that takes alot, and for as flimsy as this thing is, it sure is heavy!

We put the upper door back on, but as we try to put the bottom one on, we realize that not sitting the pantry back on that stupid box base thing won't allow us to since it will interfere with the floor without the added height. That leaves the sink as the last thing to take out. Sounds simple enough, but the electrical makes it more of a pain than I wanted, and I had no choice thanks to the new dishwasher. You probably know the drill by now, turn off the supplies, bleed the pressure, bucket under the trap, loosen and drain and remove the trap, remove the disposal, disconnect the supplies and remove the sink. With the sink out of the way it's much easier to get to the electrical boxes for the disposal outlet and the dishwasher plug. A few choice curse words later and the cabinet if off the wall and sitting next to the pennisula cabinet in the dining room. Cool. Looks like we have a new bar now...

Unfortunately, it's not beer thirty yet though. Let's have a look at the rest of that original underlayment I had forgotten about under the sink. I had already wet this before, when I first took out the old sink base, but never really finished cleaning it up completely. Now's my chance, but it looks like whatever that stuff is, wetting it and letting it dry again has somewhat reactivated it. It seems more difficult to remove than compared to what I just did by the stove and even when I first did this area. No matter, I thoroughly saturate it and let if soak for a bit while I get some of the other stubborn spots that have been soaking for awhile. It still amazes me how some of these spots I could hardly budge with the putty knife when dry just "pop" right off now that they're wet!

Eventually I make it back to the sink area, and yes, it's still fighting me. It takes a couple of saturated rags and more work with the putty knife, but I eventually get it cleaned up. At least now we can start to plug the holes, and there are a LOT of them... About seventeen thousand by my count. But seriously, there are more than a dozen holes that need plugged. Some small, like ½". Some huge, like 1 3⁄8". Ann has a large 1 1⁄8" dowel that will fit two of them. Some of them I didn't even see until today because they were covered by circles of tin tacked into place over them and the dark rusted color blended in with the dark, water stained wood. Most are larger than 7⁄8" but just small enough the 1" precut plugs we have won't fit without drilling the holes larger.

I start at one corner of the room and work my way around, using a plug cutter to make one of the correct size or the 15⁄16" spade bit to widen the holes for the precut 1" plugs. For the 1 3⁄8" hole, I start with a hole saw about the right size, drill enough to get it started to where it won't skip, then finish with a mandrel without the drill bit so I won't have to fill the hole in the plug from the drill bit penetrating it. The first one I cut about falls through the hole. Oops. Next size bigger hole saw does the trick, but I almost forget to not drill all the way through. Something tells me to just start another one, but this one's still solid, so I figure what the hell? The next two are the ones the dowel will fit, so I'm off to the garage to cut off a couple chunks.

I should mention each of these plugs gets a coating of wood glue, tapped into the hole with the hammer to flush it up, then a quick wipe with a damp paper towel to remove any excess glue. The sander will do the rest. A couple more ½" plugs and the rest are the ones that need widened for the precut 1" plugs where the supplies used to come up through the floor. That should do it. Time to go rent the floor sander! It's going on 4:30 PM, so we hop in the truck, which is kind of sluggish on the starter. Nick says it was slow to start when he moved it, and the guy having the doors open while he installed the windshield probably didn't help. Then I notice the low fuel warning. I switch the display - 21 miles to empty. Looks like we're stopping for gas on the way there.

I figure we'll just stop at the Chevron at the top of the hill after getting on 441 from old 441, then just head down to Apopka from there. Ann calls as we're heading out old 441 and says not to come down 441, there's an accident that has traffic all backed up. Right. Change of plans. We'll head down 441 to Sadler, then over to Round Lake Road until it dead ends into Ponkan and take that down to Vick and over to 441, then backtrack a strech to Home Depot. We get there about 5:00 PM, get the sander and edger and some sanding rolls for the drum sander. $300 in deposits and around $35 in sandpaper later, we're on our way home. Nick checks the traffic from his phone and it shows we should be good to go back up 441. He calls Ann and has her order pizza so it can get there about the time we get home.

We're home by 5:30 PM, but the pizza takes another 45 minutes to get here. That's okay, it's pretty good pizza and this way we don't have to get cleaned up to go over to Nick's to cook and eat, then clean up supper dishes and come back here to get back to it. Nick get's the 24 grit all set up on the drum sander and gets to it. When he runs into a sharp, like a nail or the thousands of annoying staples they used everywhere to hold down the underlayment for the long gone tile, he calls for me to come remove them. Problem is most times when we find them, they've already been pretty much sanded clean to where the only thing to be done is use a nail set to drive them further down into the board, out of the reach of the sander. In areas where we find a population of them we missed, I'm sometimes able to get the entire staple out using the catspaw and needlenose pliers, but there are some that just snap off right at the floor.

The problem is once you hit one of these with the sander, the sandpaper is changed by the encounter, usually leaving deep grooves in the floor. I think it's from molten metal transferred to the paper itself, creating new, heavier grit cutting edges. It's usually best to change out the roll on the drum, but since we're still working on our first pass, Nick isn't so worried about it just yet. Better to find them all first, remedy the situation, then switch to a new roll for subsequent passes. Sounds good, but usually what happens is you just find the next one that was hiding until now, now that you've made it a bit deeper and found where it's hiding. You can definitely tell from the sparks flying out and the sound it makes. Again, since this is the rough levelling pass and he'll be making multiple cross cuts before final levelling, we should be good. It does keep me busy though.

Nick just keeps going. 9:00. 10:00. Come 10:30 he's finally done with the 24 grit on the drum sander. Next is the edger using 24 grit disks to blend the edges, where the drum sander can't get, to match the rest of the floor. But that is going to wait until tomorrow. It's bad enough I won't be able to even think about getting to bed until 11:30 at the earliest, even if I get in the tub now. Let's call it a night please? I'm not sure how Ann has slept through this, but she's sleeping when I head into the bathroom to shower and get ready for bed.

(Saturday - 28 April 2018)
Early start this morning. After some McD's breakfast sammiches, Nick's already starting the final 24 grit pass. I'll be needed to do the 24 grit edging soon enough. While I wait, I update this account. It's not long and I'm strapping on the new knee pads and attaching a 24 grit sanding disk to the edge sander. We don't have a vacuum attachment for it like we do for the drum sander, so I'll be cleaning out the dust collection bag after each grit is finished. For now, I'm just trying to figure out the best place to start and a strategy for when to change out disks. Of course I choose the worst possible place to start, right where you walk into the kitchen and the damned thing catches and cuts a deep swirl right where you'll see it! Great...

When we were picking these up at Home Depot I asked the guy if there was some "trick" to adjust the wheeled "feet" on this thing. His answer is there's a video I can watch. I'm assuming he means online because that's all he says. He does mention he's attached some FAQs as we're checking out. Thanks. Appreciate all your help. It was all we could do to get the guy to help us lift the sander into the bed of the truck. They have a lift meant for that, but the guy says if he has to lift it this high (on the lift I'm assuming, gesturing above his ankle), he might as well just lift it this high (gesturing the height of the truck bed) and right on up. Whatever... Again, Thanks. Appreciate it. Mean it.

So now that I still have no idea what the f...ing trick to adjusting this thing is... I loosen the knurled jam nut with the water pump pliers, adjust the left foot a half turn higher (hoping that balances its predisposition to want to dig in and travel left), then snug down the jam nut again. That seems to have helped quite a bit. The problem I ran into when we did Nick's floor was the damned jam nuts kept coming loose. Things would be great one minute, the next, zoom! Off in the wrong direction, leaving behind a nice gouge to be removed once properly adjusted again. This time it seems to have stayed tight and in adjustment, but I'm having a real issue with these new knee pad straps digging into the backs of my knees, bordering on painful by the time I'm done with the 24 grit all the way around the walls.

I'm running into a lot more sharps though. I move to a new area, see sparks, stop the edger and go address the latest concentration of staples or the next HUGE nailhead someone thought would be okay to use since it's near the wall, like they've never heard of finish nails or were out of them or something. Whatever. I keep going with the same disk until I find them all. Switching out the disk I start where it will show along the '70s wall first, figuring using the freshest disk where it will be seen makes more sense than wasting it on places that will be covered by cabinets or appliances. For whatever reason, I keep running into issues with leaving swirls when turning the corner in front of the door to the side porch. I wish I knew more about the operation of this thing. I guess if I did it for a living... I'd have no knees left. I manage to finish the edging and the sanding with 24 grit is complete!

Onward we go. Moving through the progressive grits of sandpaper. 36 grit, sand and edge. 60 grit, sand and edge. 80 grit, sand and edge, plug a another hole I guess I missed? Maybe there was already a loose plug in there from a previous repair that fell out because of all the vibration. 100 grit, sand and edge, find another hole to plug. But this time I'm pretty sure it's my fault since it's the hole from the drill bit when I custom cut the 1 3⁄8" plug that we sanded through. I knew I should have listened to my better judgement and just cut another one! This time it will wait since we're sort of in a time crunch to get this equipment back within the 24 hour rental period. I know I have some smaller dowelling in the garage (somewhere) that may just fit. I'll look when we get back from Home Depot.

I finish the edging with 100 grit but I'm not happy with the swirls it left as I tried to level some previous deeper "features" I missed. Looks like there were a couple of cut nails I didn't see until now. Great. Get the nail sets and the hammer and catspaw and needlenose and pliers and all that out to fix yet another nail head or staple once it's too late to do anything about the swirl marks it left! Unfortunately, that was the last 100 grit disk and it's getting close to missing the 24 hour deadline. I figure I'll just hand sand it later if it even needs that much clean up. I'm really starting to hate this damned edger! Good thing we're about to return it! After smashing it back in the damned case that is. I cannot for the life of me figure out how it's supposed to fit and I'm just getting sawdust everywhere! It's as if this isn't even the right case for this thing!

I ask Nick if we're loading the drum sander or what's next. I thought I heard him say to hand him the bags with the extra sanding belts we didn't use, so I did and he took them out to the truck in somewhat of a huff. Not sure what that was about but he comes back and we manhandle the heavy beast into the truck. I grab the edger case and load it in the truck as well. I thought Nick and I were taking it back, but Ann and Nick are taking it back and picking up dinner. After they leave, it dawns on me I didn't see the extra extension cord in the bed of the truck that should have gone back too. I take a quick look of the porch for it, but don't see it. Too bad I didn't see the dust bag for the drum sander they forgot. Turns out that's what Nick was talking about, not the bags of belts. My fault for interrupting Nick's train of thought. They bring back Panera for dinner.

After dinner, Nick and I are looking in the garage for the multi-tool to sand into the corners where not even the edger can get. Turns out I don't have it, must be at his house. I did spy those dowels I was looking for but decide to wait until later to extricate them. He needs a new sanding adapter since he melted the old one last time he used it. So he and Ann are off to return the dust bag for the drum sander they forgot to take with them the first time. Turns out there was a reason why they forgot it, other than my distraction that is. Our Harbor Freight here in Mount Dora has not a single attachment for the multi-tool, but the one in Apopka - pretty much right down the street from Home Depot - has everythng he needs!

While they're out and about, I head back out to the garage to move a few things out of the way, to get to those dowels to plug the last hole. Just my luck, the 3⁄16" is too small, and the 3⁄8" too big! I could have sworn I had a ¼" dowel somewhere, but no matter, I find we have a brand new ¼" plug cutter still in the unopened pack. After removing the staple keeping the back from sliding off, I grab the new ¼" plug cutter and chuck it in the drill, grab the 2x4 I used for all the other plugs, and cut the last plug. Well, almost... For whatever reason, it's kind of mangled and almost falls through the hole. I cut one more and this time it's a snug fit. A little wood glue, some gentle persuasion from the hammer sets it in place. A quick slice off the top with the chisel, a quick wipe of any excess glue, and I'm done and back to updating this account.

When they get back, Nick sets up to do the corners and jumps right in. I ask him if he can get around the door where the threshold fits so it doesn't rock back and forth on the high spot I wasn't able to get to very well with the edger with the door in the way. He goes at it and I can tell he's struggling with it. Rather than ask if there's anything I can do to help and upset him further, I leave him to it, but he's having no luck and getting more and more upset. The first time he goes to change the velcro backed sandpaper, the part that should stay stuck to the pad comes right off with the sandpaper! Great. Good thing we have the super-duper double sided 3M stuff. He manages to make it work for a while, but finally gives up on it.

I offer to use a chisel to get most of the heavy duty stuff out of the way then let him use the multi-tool to finish smoothing the corners. It works out well. Next he tries the mini drum sander to try to remove the scuffs I made trying to level the swirled spots I left. It only has 80 or 120 grit and he's concerned that we don't have any 100 to match the last pass we made. I tell him the 120 should be fine, and even if it doesn't do anything, what will it hurt? So before he gets done sanding one board it starts hopping and by now he is thoroughly upset and disgusted and I can't blame him. Nothing is going right and I can tell he's really feeling the pressure to get it done. He does what he can by hand but you can tell he feels like it's just wasting time that would be better spent staining.

He finally gets the floor all vacuumed and tacked and ready for stain. As I'm sitting here recovering from all the hard work today I'm hearing him "spritz" the swiffer with the water bottle I used for burnishing the plaster, wondering if that's really just water in there or maybe he's replaced it with alcohol or... Nevermind, not asking. He's already more than pissed off enough without me saying anything. I'm not sure what he's using to put the stain in, but he heads out front again to open the stain, then comes back in needing a stirring stick. I find two scrap pieces that will do the trick. Out and back again he dons his "booties", shoe covers to minimize contamination of the now pristinely clean floor. He starts staining and immediately asks me what time it is, then says nevermind, concerned there won't be enough stain and it's too late to go get more.

Ann comes out of the bedroom and asks him did he just say he doesn't have enough stain? She reminds him there is still the little can they tested with if he needs a little more. He says he'll keep an eye on it, but the way it's soaking it in and with what there is left out front, it will be close. I can tell he's really stressing with wanting to get this stain on tonight. I'm not sure what the schedule is or what he and Ann have discussed . I think they're finally to the point of just wanting the kitchen done too.

The floor is finally stained, all except for a little patch that Nick needs just a bit more stain to complete, so it's pretty much done with stain to spare. I help clean up a bit, then he's out and I'm left to update this account and get cleaned up myself, again going on 10:30 PM. Before he left we put a sash fan from the garage in the kitchen window to push the fumes from the stain outside. It seems to help, but it doesn't totally get rid of them. It seems like when the A/C runs, it just pulls air from the outside through the window, along with the fumes. It's good enough for now and we can open the house up in the morning when it's much cooler. Right now it's still 77° outside. By morning it will be down to 65°.

(Sunday - 29 April 2018)
Pretty much a day off while we wait for the stain to dry. At least for me anyway. Ann already has the house opened up by the time I'm up at 7:30 AM. She doesn't really feel the humidity the way I do, or should I say "sense" it? It matters not, I still smell the stain, and I'm happy to have the house open as nice and cool as it still is for this time of year. We're already back on the Keurig for coffee as of yesterday. We still have a HUGE box of Donut Shop coffee k-cups and I place one in the maker and push the button. I cannot remember the last time my butt muscles were so sore from working so hard... I'm guessing it was all the work with the edger and having to maintain a steady stance on just knee pads. I have blisters on my toes from where they rubbed the floor boards as they helped complete and maintain that stance.

Yesterday, while using the edger, I had to remember to keep pulling my toes up, and use the "pads" on the bottom of them that were meant for these sorts of forces. I'm barely moving yet this morning and Ann says she's going to get in the bathroom to get her shower and then she and Nick are going to the diner for breakfast. She says she knows it's too early for me to want to go with them, and I know if you don't get there early you have to wait just to be seated, but I'm still kind of disappointed. I don't know if it showed, but she says if I want to get in the bathroom to get ready to come with them, that will be fine. I do my best to make it quick, but by the time we get to the diner, it's already packed. We decide to go to the Billy's Pancake House in Tavares instead. We found it coming home from Nick autocross a few months back. Good choice! Not really busy and great food and service too!

When we get home, Ann and Nick are out and about as usual, this time taking the truck to gets lots of plants and such for the front of the house, the ones Ann was talking about as we sat outside on the patio yesterday morning. Next there's a big 10% off sale at the feed store... Need I continue? They keep themselves occupied until the middle of the afternoon, then Nick heads home and Ann heads outside with the dogs to relax on the patio with her music. I've kept myself occupied with updating this account, processing the flooring pictures this morning, then adding them this afternoon. I've been drifting on and off this afternoon, but get back to it once I'm awake again. Ann comes in and says it's her turn to take a nap and lays down on the couch.

I tell her it's already up to 80° in the house, but it doesn't feel like it, so I'll probably just bump the thermostat up if the A/C kicks on. She says we should probably just leave it run and close the house up to get the humidity back under control for the stain to dry better. A while later, it does finally kick on, so I go around and close all the windows and set the thermostat back down to 78°. Other than grilling gourmet burgers for dinner, not really much else going on here. Ann and Nick are getting things moved over to his place for tomorrow, when he'll put the three coats of finish on the floor. Hopefully the stain will be ready for the finish coating by tomorrow.

We won't even be able to open the refrigerator door in the evening, for fear of stirring up dust or debris, which might land on and end up in the finish. That's fine, I'll make other arrangements for refrigerator access for tomorrow evening. I still see the damn paw print left in the floor finish on the side porch by our cat, Zeus. Whatever it takes to make it right. We didn't do all this work and go to all this trouble just to hurry up and half @$$ it now. My main concern is how to keep Zeus out of there and well away from it this time. I didn't know how finicky and how susceptable the finish is to dust and other influences. Now I know why Nick was giving me such a hard time about just using a piece of plywood across the opening. Fingers crossed...

(Monday - 30 April 2018)
Nick took the day off to put the finish on the floor. I offer to stay home and help, but he says he doesn't need me to, so off to work I go. I know I have to stay away from the kitchen to avoid contamination when I get home, but even the living room ceiling fan is off when I do get home. Nick is not happy. I'm guessing it was a bad awful day. He says it's definitely Monday, because every single thing that could have gone wrong did. It started before he even started to apply the finish. The special applicator pad he got started "shedding" as soon as he wet it down, spending ten minutes "combing" it until only a few fibers were coming loose at a time. Then with the first application of the water based finish, the wood fibers raised and swelled. Bona is the brand name. Because it raised the wood fibers, he now has to wait until he can sand the finish before applying another coat, setting him back and way off schedule. He won't be able to put on the third coat until after 9:00 PM.

I could tell he was agonizing over it like I normally do, so I offered the only advice I could give. The floor wasn't perfect to start with, and it already looks better than I've ever seen it look, if it takes longer or takes another coat or two or needs sanded between coats, so be it. I knew he was already concerned that the before and after pictures he took show the water staining that didn't come out completely, so I added that we already knew we would have the water staining, and yes, we probably could have tried some sort of bleaching, but then how would that alter the stain color and... He said that they do have a sort of bleaching treatment we could have tried, but it usually leaves splotching and uneven coverage anyway. Well there you go. It doesn't have to be perfect and we never expected it to be. I can tell he's feeling a little better about it and not as worried that we won't be pleased with the result.

So Nick says we're meeting Ann at Chili's for dinner. I change into more suitable clothing and we're off. Sitting in the bar seemed to be the way to get better service last time, but I guess I just have a way of pissing people off or something... I don't know what it is. We have to ask everyone but our waitress for drink refills and for whatever reason their stupid computer touch screen things that sit at the table never work, or "lock up" when we try to use them to order drinks. Ann finally arrives and is not at all pleased with the taste of her strawberry lemonade. Just the regular lemonade is sucking bad too, but she is happy to just be done with work for the day. It's been storming outside and because of a power hit their computer system goes down, to where we would have to go back to the stone age to check out. Ann decides to leave Nick and I to take care of it and leaves for home.

At first I'm ready to just have them run the old style machanical transfer to carbon paper approach, but the waitress says they're restarting the system, so I think twice about it. If I have another margarita and we order some dessert, maybe it will be back up by the time we're done. It works out well. We share the dessert and are both surprised at how good it is. Guess our expectations were for it to be different? Not sure what we expected, but it was a pleasant surprise and we're able to check out in the usual fashion. Nick is driving once again, thankfully, because it's many margaritas later for me. He doesn't mind and seldom drinks alcohol anyway. We're soon home and he's checking on the floor.

Ann heads off to bed before 9:00, and Nick begins preparation for the next coat. I see him actually walking on the new finish, and I'm surprised by that, but he's the expert at this stuff. He did all the homework for his floor, and he knows what he ran into with that at least. More than I know about it. He was saying what a pain the water based stuff is to work with and the extra care it takes. I told him after putting up with that smell from the stain, we could have handled the organic based stuff, maybe we should have gone with it. He says no way we could have, when he walked out front of his house after applying it, he took off his chemical mask and immediately put it back on because it was still that strong outside. Well then water based it is, and hopefully the final coat. He tells me that because he had to sand, he really thinks it needs another coat, but he can just swing by in the morning, put it on, and then head to work.

(Tuesday - 1 May 2018)
Nick came over before work this morning to put down the final coat of finish. When I get home today, I can actually go near the kitchen and open the refrigerator without worry. And the floor looks fantastic! We head to Jeremiah's for dinner. We've been having a run of bad luck there recently though. I don't know who we pissed off, but I know I don't like having to go to the bar every time our drinks are empty, especially when they're two for one and the waitress had plenty of opportunity to check in on us. If I wanted to have to walk to the bar to get a drink, I'd stay home and walk to the bar to get a drink... Anyway, we have the rest of the week to stay out of the kitchen and not much else I can do until I can get back in there. But it will be time to finish installing the cabinets before we know it, so click next to read all about it.