Oh my goodness..

Have I really not posted ANYTHING but craigslist couch updates?  Shame on me.

Here's a quick little update before I make another long "what should I do" post.

I finished the floors and they look great.  I ended up using 4 coats of polyurethane instead of the 3 I planned (and the 5 that maybe I should have done) and I used two different kinds of polyurethane.  On the first two coats, I used Minwax Fast-Drying Polyurethane with a gloss finish.  I didn't sand between these coats and I started to feel bad about it so I sanded after the second coat and switched to Minwax Super-Fast Drying Polyurethane for Floors, because supposedly, you don't have to sand between coats if you don't let it dry for too long.  Well, I came back after the 3rd coat and hated it.  there were thin spots everywhere.  I did the last coat with the original Polyurethane and was happy again.

Some pictures from the process..

Down to the wood!

Choosing the stain..

stain, no gloss

A moth landed in the wet polyurethane!

I felt the need to add a reminder of what the floors USED to look like..

picture post. too tired to word.

Floors floors floors

The floors are stained!  Tomorrow I poly. For now, some before/during pictures, since it's not after yet :)

This is what they look like today: 

This is what they looked like the day I closed:

There were gray/black "paths" from the kitchen to the hall/bathroom area 

All the radiators int he house had pipes that exploded where they connected to the wall.  A mixture of oil and water blew out of them and sat on the floors over the winter.  Or at least that's what my realtor told me.

This blog would probably be more effective if I took pictures with something other than my blackberry, but  since I can't remember to bring my camera before I go to the house, this is what you get for now.

Since there's no difference in the colors in the picture, I've added color samples from the website and adjusted them with photoshop to what I think they look like in person.  Got it?  So my floors are going to be... gunstock!  I didn't think I wanted a "red" stain, but the english chestnut just looked ashy.  

The stain spreads really easily, I was able to do half the closet test area with a little dab of a rag.  I'm feeling really confident about staining the floors.  I'll tell you how I feel about polyurethane when I'm done.

I also bought a dishwasher today!  A portable Maytag model popped up on Craigslist today for $150 and I got it.

I/we (he) finally sanded today!

I finally started sanding my floors today.  I was anxious to do this because it's the LAST thing I'm making myself do before I move in.  That and the roof, but I can get the roof fixed while I'm in the house.  I'm not sanding around furniture.

ANYWAY.  I rented the sander, I got it to the house, my boyfriend helped me get it started and it took more than a few passes with the 40 grit sandpaper to get past the polyurethane in the back bedroom.  After that, he pretty much took over.

I tried to be helpful by sweeping behind him so the sandpaper didn't get clogged, then I wiped down the floors with paint thinner while he moved on to the next room, and I ran out for more water and dinner.

Anyway, it's 10 hours after I rented the thing and I still haven't finished the first step on all of the floors.  After getting a room and a half done, we were through two of the three packages of 40 grit paper and we had three more rooms to go.  I went for more sandpaper and got the girl to give me 36 grit this time, and it worked SO MUCH BETTER.  I also got duct tape so that the bag on the machine would be functional, but I'll be removing that before I return it.

So, tomorrow, I have 3 or 4 hours to finish sanding the dining room with the 36 grit, but I know I won't have time to make a pass with the 80 and 100 before it's time to return the sander (and go to work.)  So this will be a two-rental job after all.