I'm floored

European Floors has been here all afternoon. Apparently our oak hardwoods are far harder than they're used to, and while it's taken then all afternoon to complete the first pass and fill, I'm kind of happy to know that we've got some tough wood up in here.

Here is your before. This is actually in the living room but trust me when I say it's a sea of tattered in every room.


And here we are after the first pass. I'm not sure if it's obvious or not, but the different is stunning. We've had a bit of a glitch in that Dan forgot to tell his guys that they needed a grey stain, so when they painted two brown patches and had us come look we had an awkward moment. But they've called Dan and are going to finish their sanding and treat the wood (a sealer most likely) and will come back for samples tomorrow. One day is no big deal if it means we get exactly what we've been dreaming of.

This is the most amazing part to me, the closet. There were asbestos tiles glued down in here before. I'd tried to pry some off and came up with some jagged bits, leaving horrible blobs of dried adhesive. We thought at first that they'd simply replaced the wood like they did where we removed a closet and there were voids, but no, this is what was underneath the tile.

We're going with an oil-based stain because while you have drying time to contend with, Dan said that the end result is a deeper, richer looking finish. And we're all about the deeper and richer you know. More to come this week.

6 comments:

Martha said...

It takes a while but it is worth it -- we had our floors done 10 years ago and the whole process was long as I remember -- but I love the floors and they have held up well.

We didn't stain ours -- just sanded and then polyed -- and the color is the same as the stairs which we didn't refinish!

And I love to care for wood floors!

Can't wait to see the finished product. Grey should be interesting.

Karena said...

David you will both be so thrilled with the hardwoods. it is next on my list of projects!!

Karena
Art by Karena

Living the life in The Little City said...

Love it. It's great to see the progress. Amazing about that closet floor.

Decorina said...

David I think your floors are white oak (very high quality - much, much better than red oak). You will have the best looking floors ever when this guy is finished.

Good thing you are going with the petroleum product - white oak is waterproof. You found a great guy who seems to know what he is doing.

David said...

They were there for a couple hours after I took these shots, and were buffing the raw wood. I took a look this morning and it's amazing how smooth they look.

Back tonight for stain samples, so cross your fingers they bring what we asked for.

ChrisToronto said...

Deeper, richer . . . exactly what I'm looking for in my next boyfriend.