quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
I would love to get together to shoot with you, and anyone else you remember--the Hee Brothers?
Nelson Ong (45R) has expressed interest also.

I haven't heard from the Hee brothers in over 20 years.

I was seeing Nelson about year ago for back and hip issues, but I found acupuncture more effective so it's been a while

But Lets definately get together after it cools down a bit

I have Red Oak in all the rooms that are not wet rooms. 4" in the newer part of the house and 2 1/2" in the older part.

Tile that looks like wood in two of the bathrooms and the pantry.

The 2 1/2" may be 100 years old, and we sanded and refinished it twice in 35 years.

My wife liked the look of wide boards better.

Well, friends and neighbors, here we go.

A literal ton of oak was delivered Friday.

The helpful fellas from Lowe’s placed the load onto those 4x4s, and I backed the trailer up into the garage. Surely the heaviest load that trailer has seen! (Yes, it was overloaded. No, I would not have towed like that.)

After work yesterday, a great friend came over. We got the loaded trailer to the base of the front steps and hauled those 29 70-pound boxes up two flights of stairs. He came with his climbing gear and some ideas — the thought was to use rope, harnesses, and pulleys to hike the boxes up one of the flights. It didn’t really work out, so we went back to old-school lift-and-carry. Leg day!

I’ve got some heavy multitasking going on right now, having the one room ready for paint, one room needing to get that way, and one room yet unstarted.





Paint in this room and the hall starts tomorrow. I’ll work to finish emptying "room 1” today (after coffee!), and use evenings to clean out “room 2.” My “other brother” is going to help out with the painting.

I’ve got ten days before my favorite contractor (Dad!) comes to help with (read: direct) the oak installation. Meanwhile, it’s a scheduling circus, combined with 10- to 11-hour days at work.

The first mishap has taken place already. While removing the carpet in this room, I yanked “that last piece” and it caught on the underside of the closet door (bifold). Sure enough, the yank pulled the door out of its track. Everything went into slow motion as I watched that door fall over, knocking two chunks out of the adjacent wall. So I’ve got some patching to do today as well.

One week into a three-week project, and I’m feeling whooped already. Gotta keep plugging along.

Little by little, Dan. Look forward to seeing the progress.

Twelve cases, unpacked and restacked, following a 12-hour workday.

It’s progress, even if it’s slow.

Some inspiration for you. We are 99.99% finished with a huge floor job. They tore out, nailed down and sanded finished in place. Wide plank white oak, rift and quarter sawn. Just some trim left to do. And then, well, I need a whole kitchen yet. I probably should get going on that. :/

In process:



Mostly finished:

Dang, that looks nice!

I figure last night's unpack/restack was about 800 pounds of material, moved twice in that small room. I have another stack like it to unwrap tonight, along with pulling carpet from the second room.

I pulled the hallway carpet before work this morning. Maybe not my best timing choice, but it needed to get done.

A box on each shoulder balances the load. I used to do a bag of rock salt on each shoulder, but they were only 40lbs each, I was way younger, and going down a flight to the basement.

The floors are going to look super when you’re done.

A box on each shoulder would add up to about 3/4 of ME! And would probably just drive me into the ground like a Wile E Coyote event.


I am SO looking forward to the "after" pics of this project.

r0gue those floors look great...

vthoky, have you decided on where you are putting the saw to cut pieces up as needed, presuming outside so you can get a lot of leg work in going up and down the stairs

Honestly… yes! The saw is going on the front porch. (Crossing fingers for a rainless week.)

I’d rather get the leg workout than have all that stray dust in the house to clean up.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
r0gue those floors look great...

Thanks! The weight of the material was mentioned above. That actually jogged my memory to the day of the material delivery. The guy went to the basement to look at the joists and did calculations on how to distribute the 3,000+ pounds of wood. He concluded it could fit in one room -- on top of the existing pre-finished 3/4" hardwood floor that had yet to be removed. I was concerned, but my house didn't collapse. The ultimately moved it to the carpeted side of the house once that tear out was done there, then they removed the old hardwood floors.

If it was Pen-Dot doing the job, they'd have nailed it right over the old hardwood and I'd have 1.5" thick hardwood floors!

Last night I unpacked and restacked 11 of the remaining 16 boxes of flooring. This morning before work, I did the rest.



Obviously, the third room hasn't been emptied yet. Looks like we're on for a bit of a schedule change -- paint BR3, then BR1, and by then I should have BR2 emptied... except for that second stack of planks. This is becoming a bit of a "golf tee game at the Cracker Barrel" event.

By my math, I've moved that ton of wood (30 boxes, at 70 pounds each) twice now. To be fair, I had help with the first move (getting it into the house and upstairs). The first unpack/restack was about 840 pounds, the second was 1260. Now that I think about it, I moved the second stack twice last night -- once from BR1 to the hall, then again outta the boxes and onto "the pile."

"I'm tired, boss."

Next: get rid of a bunch of boxes. Here's last night's stack:


That mess may just go on the trailer tonight, for a trip to the cardboard bin at work tomorrow. Who knows, the carpet that's been pulled up already may get a ride tomorrow morning, too!

I love hardwood floors but the chance of warping is a big negative for me. The LVP is WAY easier to install. If you go that route, keep an extra box or two for potential repairs. The varying widths wouldn’t be worth the effort to me. Not sure how much I’d look at it and admire it.

quote:

Originally posted by Leemur:
varying widths wouldn’t be worth the effort to me.

I’m with ya. I decided against the mixed-width plan, and went with 5” planks. Bonus: less time in front of the saw.

Be sure to adhere felts to the legs or bottoms of all furniture (remove the hard plastic buttons first if there).

Thank you, ridewv. That's been one of my concerns over the past couple of days. I've got a lot of felt pads to gather.

^^^ Regarding felt pads, I have them on my chairs and table feet, but keep in mind, you can buy them in two varieties. The stick on type and the stretch rubber feet with felt bottoms. I have both, but leaning toward the stretch rubbers as they don't come off. The adhesive on the sticky ones does wear out over time.

I'm afraid the adhesive will get funky over time, and end up ruining the floor.

Kinda like the rubbery drawer liners in the tool box, y'know? In time, the rubberry stuff sticks to both the drawer and the hammer (or other tool).

Does hardwood require "luan" underlayment? I know vinyl does.