I Found God Under The Carpet.

...and one more thing about yesterday's legal procedure.  The judge noticed that the divorce decree did not say who was responsible for making the mortgage payments (me,) so he put that in for us.  What I should have made sure of is whether the credit cards that the ex agreed to pay for got put into her name and out of mine.  Sure, she'll pay them but if they stay in my name, it's my credit score that suffers.  Ok, done.

A magic thing happened the other day.  Ok, a few weeks ago, maybe two or three.  I had been painting one of the upstairs bedrooms.  I finished and put the lid back on the can of paint but did not pound it on just in case I found a spot I missed.  I left it on the drop cloth.  When I came back to it, it had spilled, the lid coming off and paint was pooled between the bedroom and the hallway.  One carpet white, the other a reddish brown.  Now both were blue.  Damn.  What a deal.  Now, instead of just painting, I was going to have to do something with the carpets.  Of course, why not?  It's always something.

I got curious, though, and wondered what was under the carpet.  I pulled a little of it up in the closet and saw sub-flooring.  In between the floor and the wall was a little gap where I could see what was under the sub-floor.  There were oak slats!  Could I have oak floors?  Would that be a goldmine?

I pulled up the sub-flooring in the closet and, lo and behold, there were oak slats that continued on into the rest of the bedroom.  I went to the hallway and looked under the sub-flooring.  Yup!  Oak floors!  You can see in the photo on the left the sub-floor and the oak floor.  There are staple holes in the oak but I like them.  They add character and age to the floor.

So, I got to work pulling up the sub-floor.  I have a staple puller that I bought when alpacas were kept here.  I don't want to talk about the alpacas but if I never see another one, that's ok.  I took the hammer and knocked the staple puller under the staple and yanked.  It made that creaky sound you hear when pulling nails or...staples.  Thing is, somebody must have thought that sub-flooring was going to get up and walk away because there were about 500 staples in the bedroom alone along with 2 full 4' x 8' sheets of sub-flooring.  The rest of the room had cut chunks of sub-flooring measured to fit but still stapled.  I spent a lot of time pulling staples.  I got a rhythm going and it was almost fun.

Hall Floor With Two Coats of Polyurethane

After the staple pulling was done, I got my grandfather's belt sander and started sanding the floor. Oh man, this was going to take forever.  I thought of an orbital sander but the time I used one, it took me for a ride.  I didn't think I could handle one again but I went to Home Depot to look anyway.  The rental guy showed the "latest and greatest" in floor sanders.  It had four rotary sanders that spun opposite of one another.  That way, he told me, the sander wouldn't get away from you.  And as far as sawdust went, you just hooked up a shop vac to the outlet on the sander, turn on the shop vac and sand away.  I took it home and got to work.  I got it done inside of three hours and took the sander back.

After the sanding, I vacuumed with the shop vac.  Even though I had hooked up the sander to the shop vac, there was still sawdust everywhere.  After vacuuming, I got out the tack cloth and started wiping the floor down.  FYI, the tack cloth is a resin coated cheesecloth that picks up the sawdust that the vacuum missed.  If you rub your hand on the floor after vacuuming but before using the tack cloth, you will see very fine sawdust on your hand.  Rub the tack cloth across the same area and the sawdust is gone.  This is a very good idea before putting any down kind of finish.  Otherwise, you put the finish on the sawdust.  Not cool because then the finish comes up when the sawdust works itself loose.  How did I learn this?  Next paragraph, please.

Bedroom Floor Looking In From Hallway

Another View From Hallway

About three years ago I had the brilliant idea of putting electric guitars together.  I bought all the parts from eBay; the body, the neck, and the electronics.  I bought the bodies already drilled for the bridge and pickups but unfinished as far as the guitar body went.  I would sand them with 220g sandpaper then stain them.  I used a dark stain usually.  Then I would start putting coats of polyurethane over the stain and gloss the body up.  I used polyurethane for the first three coats and then spar urethane for the final coat.  I did about three guitars then gave up.  That's how I figured out how to do the floors.  At least it didn't keep me from doing the floors.  It never occurred to me I couldn't or shouldn't do the floors.  I always think, in the beginning of any project, that it won't be as much work as it turns out to be.  I'm an idiot in that respect.  Some people would just say I'm an idiot.  I don't hang out with those people anymore.

View From Inside Bedroom

I got down to it and finished sanding and brushing on polyurethane.  Yes, I wore a mask but still had a bell ringing headache the next day.  And I wasn't finished.  Usually you only have to wait three to four hours before putting down a second coat but, for some reason, possibly lack of proper ventilation, the finish did not dry that quick.  I had to wait a day to get the second coat on.  It has to be somewhat wet still for the second coat to adhere.  I got the second coat on both the hallway and the bedroom.

I posted photos on Facebook.  Somebody commented they couldn't believe I did all that in a week.  Whatever.  Once you start something like that, you don't stop until you reach a stopping point.  I'm still not finished.  There is a second bedroom right next to the bedroom I just did and it has the same oak under the carpet formerly known as white.  I have to get the first bedroom finished before I can start the second bedroom.  The second bedroom has all the shit from the first bedroom in it.  And more.  Which means I have to find a place for all the extra shit.  Probably time for a yard sale.

I probably won't get around to the second bedroom until March.  Someone I love very much inspired me to take this on.  I want her to see the work I've done first hand.  I'm glad to have done it and, while not necessarily looking forward to it, am anxious to get the second bedroom done also.  It takes time, just like everything else.  I've got to finish one before I dig into the other.  Then maybe have a yard sale.  Or a celebration.  Both?  Sure!