When we first moved into our house in 2005, in addition to this lovely tile (please insert sarcastic tone), we had the dirtiest, ugliest carpet you had ever seen. And even cleaning it was not going to help, since the former owners had dogs that had brought in mud and other things. At one point, I asked Paul to rip up the carpet in the living room, because I couldn't stand to walk on it anymore, I would rather walk on slab. But I digress.
The plan for the house was to replace everything with either hardwood floors or tiles. Again, being the bargain hunters we are, back in 2005, Lumber Liquidators (affectionately known to us as Lumber Louie's), had 5 inch white oak plank engineered hardwood at 99 cents per square foot. So we bought enough to cover the entire house. Now it rests comfortably on my sunporch. When it is ready to become part of the house family, it it brought in and acclimates for a couple of days so it won't warp or cup after you put it down.
First, however, the tile had to come up. When we (and again I use the royal we) did the breakfast nook the tiles came up pretty easily, so of course Paul thought, piece of cake to get the tiles up in the kitchen right? Oh so wrong. Those tiles knew their days were numbered and they weren't coming up. So a jackhammer had to be hired to lure them to their eventual grave. And where did they go you may ask? The nearest roll off of course.
And do you think then we could just put the mastic down and lay the floors? Nope, they have a fancy beveled edge put on them so they look like they are hand planked. Here's a photo:
As well as a plywood sub floor to make sure they are level:
Floors before staining:
The floors are also distressed with chains, bottle caps, etc., to make them look old, prior to staining.
Floors after staining
Now it was in Mansfield, that we had a special color mix for the stain. And it took forever to get it right. And I thought we were still mixing that stain until Paul enlightened me. However, here is a red mahogany, which I like just as well. Once the stain is down, then the polyurethane goes on, one painstaking layer at a time, then after it dries, a light sanding is done in between each layer . Six coats of these - 4 clear and then 2 satin were put on this floor. And you can get headaches from the smell or get very cranky (as Paul sometimes does - however, I don't know if that is from the fumes or the project), so be sure you are working a well ventilated room. The bad thing is you can't walk on it for about 72 hours, still bad, we had no way to get to the laundry room or the sink, the good thing - laundry was postponed, washing dishes were postponed and all adult beverages were moved to the front refrigerator.
The floors are now covered with a brown craft paper to protect them, until the final reveal.
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