My Living Room #1: Demo time!

I know how it feels to finally get started. Looks like your plan will work. What makes it even better is that you’ve already spent most of the money, and don’t have to put much more into the project. It’s those nickel and dime problems that drive people up the wall.

Can’t wait to see more pics. Keep up the good work.

-- No matter how many times I measure, I always forget the dimensions before I cut.

Thank you Billy, it’s 7 am and I’ve been up for an hour. I can hear a chain saw somewhere in the neighborhood. I guess I can get started. The urethane manufacturer recommends a 3/16 v notch. I have a quarter inch. By the time I apply the adhesive at a 45 degree, it will be 1/32 too thick? I don’t think it makes a difference.

I’m reving up the saw and laying wood floor.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

10 rows of teak installed. Beautiful grain and patterns. Taking a break to clean tools and eat.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Decent progress. Went though 5 gallons of urethane. Here’s what I have so far. I’m tired though. I worked 14 hours because I am SLOW. It gives me an easy day tomorrow.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

That looks fantastic! Bummer that you have to shuffle the furniture around to get it layed. That would sure slow things down.
Keep up the great work. I enjoy the updates on your progress.

-- The difference between a pro and an amateur, an amateur points out his mistakes

Howdy Gary,

Shuffling firniture is definately a beat down. It slowed things down to be sure. As a bonus, it wore me out. ;) I’m going to turn into superman by the time I’m done with this house. I’ll post an image of me flexing the guns later. Lol.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

And now I find that I made a major mistake! I didn’t clean the glue from underneath the tongue. You experts already know what I did to myself. I started trying to scape and after 20 minutes. I calculate an entire day of scraping and potential damage to the floor. I undercut the groove on the next board and it fit nice and flush.

Second problem coming right up. Under cut boards don’t rest level. I used a very heavy table, an entire weight set, the 5 gallon glue bucket, and 6 – 1 gallon paint containers stacked on one another. That’s a little over half the length of the row.

Yes, it’s flush and level. That’s a relief. However, I think I should leave it that way for at least 8 hours. I don’t want to risk it popping back up.

I’m going to try to proceed. I’ll find other ways to add compact weight. My sand bags are too spread out to do much good. Besides, they have another job to do.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

I finished up at 5:00. I’m disappointed. I went crooked by 5/8 inches. It is super obvious in front of the fireplace. The fireplace was already off by 1/2 inch. I shifted by 1/4 along the width of the fireplace. That’s 3/4 of an inch from front corner to front corner. When I install the stone veneer, It should look fine but I’ll always see the shift.

I think my error was that I didn’t snap lines. Such a simple thing. Now I live with it.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Are you pushing yourself too hard? Take it easy and slow. It’s always better to be slow and accurate then try and get it done too fast. Fortunately, mistakes can be minimized with irregular stonework. Be sure to follow Gary’s advise – “The difference between a pro and an amateur, an amateur points out his mistakes.” I know I won’t tell anyone, so you shouldn’t either!!! Furthermore – I can’t see any problem from where I’m sitting, so it must be okay.

Kidding aside, you’re doing a great job, Mark. I like the flooring and installation. You’ve done well, buddy. Beautiful patterns. You need to invite all of us over when you’re finished with your renovations. Make sure the Shiner is cold.

-- No matter how many times I measure, I always forget the dimensions before I cut.

Shiner? You got it!

I actually was pushing too hard. I set a deadline and was determined to make it. I started to get sloppy. Then I stopped. I pulled the last 2 boards out and threw them away. I scraped up the the glue then cleaned up the floor. I cleaned up my tools. Cleaned the glue from the floor THEN I went back to finish up the last 50 feet.

That was my best decision. I finished well.

Billy- thank you brother! You made me smile. I suppose I was so busy kicking my own tail, I forgot my perspective. I’m sitting my kitchen table and the living floor looks really good from here.

Just checking – we are talking shiner bock, right? I don’t allow pilsners in the house. Heh heh.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Last night – another error dawned on me. It doesn’t affect the strength of the floor or the appearance but it sure caused me a lot of consternation on Sunday. I layed the floor tongue out instead of groove out.

THAT is why I thought I should have started and finished on the same day. When I scraped the glue off the floor at the end of day 1. There was still glue under the tongue. The next day, I attempted to attach the groove end. It was impossible to close the gap. Yeah I figured out a way to make it work. That was just a lot of pain I didn’t need.

Here is my list of errors.

1) Layed floor when family was home. Living Room is major pass through. I should have done stages then stopped for the glue to dry. I could have marked traffic direction with painters tape. Instead – of that – there are 2 gaps I have to disguise.
2) I did not snap chaulk lines. Man oh man. That’s a lesson I will NEVER forget.
3) I layed the floor tongue out instead of groove out.
4) On day 1 I didn’t clean as I went. It turned a simple 15 minute job into a 3 hour job.
5) I got sloppy on day 2 and let 2 obvious errors go. NOW I want them fixed.

Despite my best attempts to totally screw up my living room, It still looks good. I’m sure the final product will look great.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Hey buddy, stay clam!!! (I know, it’s supposed to be calm). How many times have you done this? Will you repeat the list next time? Working in an area where people (and/or animals) are constantly moving through is a job unto itself. Ask anyone who remodels when customers are constantly in the way.

If you’re covering ground, you’re moving in the right direction. Yes, the final product WILL look great. The satisfaction of knowing you did your remodel is priceless.

Regarding Shiner. What about the Black Lager? I enjoy both of them. And don’t worry, anything lite, light, or close to being clear, is NEVER allowed in my house. Life is too short to drink crappy beer.

-- No matter how many times I measure, I always forget the dimensions before I cut.

I’m clam, I’m very clam. Heh heh. Sorry Billy – it was just my post mortem in case someone decided to read this post who actually needed a pointer. Just wanted to make sure I didn’t lead anyone the wrong way.

Black Lager you say? I like your taste in beer my friend. I always enjoy my stouts and ales. Lagers come in there pretty durn high.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

I finally got back around to the living room. I believe I sealed all the gaps that were over 1/32 inch. It looks good and I’m not worried about any moisture. I’ll make a final inspection tomorrow and get some pics up.

I only spent about 4 hours on it today. I had a bazillion honey do’s. She was getting tired of waiting for me to put those things on my radar so I just got after them. She’s happy, I’m good, life is good. ;)

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Hi Mark, I am quietly following your project. I looks really nice from here, where I am sitting (So California).

Now when we put our White Oak flooring down, we used credit cards to space the boards, so they could be able to expand and will not buckle on a rainy day. Did you have to do the same?

Keep it up! It is a mayor improvement!

Howdy Grandpa PaBull!

Now that the floor is down, I got really inspired to do some woodwork. I’m making a small cocktail table and 2 end tables for my wifes TV room. It’s not really home refurbishing so I have been posting my nonesense on LumberJocks.

I didn’t do the same thing with the credit cards. I believe I was supposed to secure them as tightly as possible. I hope that wasn’t a mistake. As I said in an earlier post – I did leave a little room for expansion. Ahem. Sorry, I had to clear my throat.

I’ll probably hit it again this weekend. I have some trim to make and install. I think that is going to make a huge difference. Thanks for waking me up.

Do you have ay pics of that flooring job? Love to see them.

-- A year into redoing my home - a year to go.

Two years after refurbishing my whole house, I still remember what a great sense of satisfaction I received at the end of it all. However, all the hard work and five years of being invested in it has certainly made me not want to do it again. It was not an easy job doing it by myself with two teenage sons and no heavy machinery. I changed the flooring for the whole house, the kitchen cabinets, the closets in all bedrooms, and painted the whole house. I wanted to change the whole design of the fireplace, but decided in just changing the colour palette to match the room.

-- Christopher Creek - http://www.deepcreekconstructionschool.com