More Sweat Than Equity

As the summer winds down, I have been going after projects that were put on the back burner. I started by working on finishing our master bedroom floor. I embarked on the grueling task of hand scrapping the entirety of the floor last year. 

The plan was to spend a couple hours every few nights and slowly chip away at it. After a couple nights at it, I took a couple months off....it was not a fun task. In the spring I started back up, getting the floor near 50%. The remainder was spread over a few months in the summer.

After the floor was scrapped, I rented a 3 head orbital sander from the big box, I choose it over a drum sander due to the fact that the floor was not exactly level and even. This sander would take longer, but I would have better control of the process. After a 4.5 hour session, I had the floor sanded. I was not able to remove all the paint remnants from the cracks and dents. Had I chosen to go that route using extractors and knifes, and at the rate of the hand scrapping, it would have been another few months before I finished. Instead we are left with little bits or character, color, and history, I think it fits right in to our home. 

Little sander, big room

The next decision was what finish to apply to the floor. I wanted to use an oil to really bring out the character of the wood, but I did not want a heavy stain or glossy sealer. After a little research and some stumbling around on Instagram, I found an oil/wax finish. The best part was that it is food safe, solvent free, no voc, and seemed to be an all around great product. It also smells fantastic!

The first coat was applied the hard way, a couple rags, on my hands and knees, and buffed in. A couple hours later, the floor was coated. I waited 24 hours and buffed it out. I had underestimated how much I needed as the wood absorbed more than I expected, so I had to stretch it pretty thin near the end, but did so in a way any unevenness would be hidden where our bed would go. 

I ordered a few more jars, decided to up my buffing power and once again visited the big box and rented a floor polisher. One jar and an hour of buffing and the 2nd coat was on. I waited an hour and buffed the remaining oil off. The floor looked great. After a couple days, the finish will harden and we can put the finishing paint on the walls. We will have a room in no time!