September 8th 2006...
Finished the kitchen floors.
Yeah I know; kitchen floors...big deal.
To wit:
· 10 inch maple planks, 10-14 feet long, from a 220 year old church
· 7 coats of polyurethane, applied with a 4 inch brush, hand sanded between the last 3 coats
· Screw holes covered with plugs cut from scraps of finished planks
· Took 826 plugs, each hammered and then hand sanded
· All kitchen cabinets raised 1.5 inches to accommodate new flooring
· In total, cost less that cheap laminate flooring, but took ~130 hours of labour
2 month project, finished last night:
Background:About a year ago, I got a deal on 400 sq feet of maple planks. Long story, but the short version is it came from a 220 yr old church that was bought by a one-legged googly eyed drunk who I'm convinced is a pirate. He starts every sentence with "AARRRGH". I call him, and he answers: "AAARGGHH Jake can I call ya back when I'm vertical?"But I digress... I bought a truckload of 1" thick, 10" wide and 12' long maple planks, that had spent the last 220 years on the walls inside a church. I paid less than you'd pay for really schitty laminate flooring.
You may also remember that in the winter, I painted the kitchen. Although a vast improvement, it was not quite perfect yet. The floors were ugly vinyl flooring. It was time to do something with that maple I bought from the pirate. 2 months ago I hauled it across town to have it milled. They planed it, jointered it and ripped it. The finished product was near perfect 9 & 9.5" planks.
Up in the loft, I set up a large rack for the 40 planks, and gave them a final sanding before laying one coat on the backs, and then 5 coats of polyurethane on the faces. I sanded between the last 2 coats. Then, I let the finish dry for a week before laying them.
Saturday we screwed down the boards. To lay the floors, I had to counterbore & screw the boards. Rows of 3 screws, every 16".
To plug the screw holes, I didn't want cut dowels, because that would give me end grain which wouldn't sand well and would show up dark when I varethaned. I used a plug cutter from Lee Valley Tools. Folks, I had to cut 826 plugs.
On Tuesday, I gently sanded the plugs. I did so by hand, using 220 grit:
After vacuuming and wiping the floors down, I put a coat of polyeurethane over the plugs. It was starting to look really, really nice.
This is what they looked like before the final coat of polyurethane:
Before:
Finished the kitchen floors.
Yeah I know; kitchen floors...big deal.
To wit:
· 10 inch maple planks, 10-14 feet long, from a 220 year old church
· 7 coats of polyurethane, applied with a 4 inch brush, hand sanded between the last 3 coats
· Screw holes covered with plugs cut from scraps of finished planks
· Took 826 plugs, each hammered and then hand sanded
· All kitchen cabinets raised 1.5 inches to accommodate new flooring
· In total, cost less that cheap laminate flooring, but took ~130 hours of labour
2 month project, finished last night:
Background:About a year ago, I got a deal on 400 sq feet of maple planks. Long story, but the short version is it came from a 220 yr old church that was bought by a one-legged googly eyed drunk who I'm convinced is a pirate. He starts every sentence with "AARRRGH". I call him, and he answers: "AAARGGHH Jake can I call ya back when I'm vertical?"But I digress... I bought a truckload of 1" thick, 10" wide and 12' long maple planks, that had spent the last 220 years on the walls inside a church. I paid less than you'd pay for really schitty laminate flooring.
You may also remember that in the winter, I painted the kitchen. Although a vast improvement, it was not quite perfect yet. The floors were ugly vinyl flooring. It was time to do something with that maple I bought from the pirate. 2 months ago I hauled it across town to have it milled. They planed it, jointered it and ripped it. The finished product was near perfect 9 & 9.5" planks.
Up in the loft, I set up a large rack for the 40 planks, and gave them a final sanding before laying one coat on the backs, and then 5 coats of polyurethane on the faces. I sanded between the last 2 coats. Then, I let the finish dry for a week before laying them.
Saturday we screwed down the boards. To lay the floors, I had to counterbore & screw the boards. Rows of 3 screws, every 16".
To plug the screw holes, I didn't want cut dowels, because that would give me end grain which wouldn't sand well and would show up dark when I varethaned. I used a plug cutter from Lee Valley Tools. Folks, I had to cut 826 plugs.
On Tuesday, I gently sanded the plugs. I did so by hand, using 220 grit:
After vacuuming and wiping the floors down, I put a coat of polyeurethane over the plugs. It was starting to look really, really nice.
This is what they looked like before the final coat of polyurethane:
Before:
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