09.24.04

Almost there...

The room is nearly complete now that the floor is done, the base molding is installed and the HVAC unit was dropped off less than an hour ago.

Here's a bit of advice for those that ever need to install a hardwood floor. After you nail the thing in and sand it down, you'll probably put some sort of stain on it before you seal it. This is all good and well and there's abundant information about how to do this right out there in the world.

One you put the stain down and then put the sealer down (we used an oil-based polyurethane), you'll want to smooth things out. This will ensure a smoother finish on the floor after the second coat of sealer. Heretofore reliable information sources will instruct you to do something like this (from the NOFMA website):

Buff the completely dry finish with #2 steel wool pad or a used 120 grit screen, or hand sand with 120 to 150 grit sandpaper.

AUUUGHH! DO NOT FOLLOW THAT ADVICE!

That is really bad advice. We did what they said and ended up sorry. The stupid sander that we wasted money on at the tool rental place chewed the hell out of the sealer and the stain, even when we used 150 grit. Then, after trying to clean up the mess and waiting 8 days for the re-applied stain to set in the floor, we put a coat of polyurethane down and it looks AWFUL. Terrible light brown bubbles throughout - it looks like Camacho threw up in the corner. If we weren't so sick of the whole thing at that point, we might have tried to go back and fix it. Instead, we'll be looking at a nice rug for that section of the floor. Grrr.

Anyway, we'll need to put up the shelves and the shelf doors next. The room is all finished on the inside, and between the hardwood floors, painted walls and abosolutely nothing else in there, we can tell you now that the room is painfully loud. Reverb does not die. Sounds just bounce from wall to wall to wall to floor to wall and it give you a headache. It'll be nice to get some stuff in there.

Musical accompaniment:

Shitmat - Killababylongcutz (dumb name, but what a great record)
Converge - You Fail Me
Switchblade - EP
Panasonic - Kesto