Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Every decision we make has lots of baggage with it, known or unknown.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

Come on, man.

Republicans in disarray!

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

Jack Smith: “Why did you start campaigning in the middle of my investigation?!”

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Day 1: Carpet Out, Hardwood Installed, Not Sanded Yet (Open Thread)

Day 1: Carpet Out, Hardwood Installed, Not Sanded Yet (Open Thread)

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I told you guys I was playing musical chairs with furniture in preparation for the switch from carpeting to hardwood in my sunroom.

Day 1: Carpet out, Brazilian Walnut installed, not sanded and no clear coat.

Reserving judgment.

Apparently I won’t have my house back for another week.

Today: carpet out and hardwood installed.

Skip a day for the floor to do its thing.

Wednesday: floor will be sanded, and 1 coat of clear finish on.

Thursday:  clear finish, coat 2.

Friday:  clear finish, coat 3.

Weekend: finish gets to do whatever it does for 2 days before moving furniture back.

Monday: furniture in place, hopefully.

Dinner tonight:

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

35Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Not reserving judgment on the asparagus.

    First asparagus of the year.  It was perfect!

  5. 5.

    The Audacity of Krope

    Asparagus, the food so good it reminds you later that you ate it.  Enjoy.

  11. 11.

    Raoul Paste

    Three coats of polyurethane is what you want.  Two is not enough, especially with pets.

  12. 12.

    Geminid

    @The Audacity of Krope: There’s a book titled Five Acres and Independence that was popular in the 1970s. The author– I think Maurice Granville Kerns– was an experienced small-scale farmer, and he delivered a lot of good information.

    Anyway, he said that commercial growers of asparagus called it “Sparrow Grass.” This was decades ago so I’m not sure farmers still call it sparrow grass.

    Kerns knew fruit tree culture, and he had a good Q&A regarding it:

    Question: When is the best time to prune fruit trees?

    Answer: When the pruning knife is sharp.

  13. 13.

    frosty

    The floor looks great to me! The asparagus doesn’t look like enough food though.

  14. 14.

    The Audacity of Krope

    @Geminid: Question: When is the best time to prune fruit trees?

    Answer: When the pruning knife is sharp.

    Potentially insightful, but I don’t know enough to be sure.

  16. 16.

    WaterGirl

    @HinTN: Worse than that.  I put that one up on 4/5, and put it up again today by mistake. My morning brain must have thought it was still April.

  19. 19.

    WaterGirl

    @frosty: You know, I thought it would be enough.  But today was a gardening day, and when I finished my asparagus right after I put up the post, I microwaved the bit of spaghetti that I saved last night because I was full.

    So I ate that, too!  Perfect amount.

  22. 22.

    Ramalama

    Friend of mine showed me a photo of her dinner last night. One of those frozen chocolate cakes that you defrost and enjoy. I said, “what, no dessert?” She is in her 70s.

    That asparagus looks like it was a very good preamble to chocolate cake.

  23. 23.

    No One of Consequence

    @WaterGirl: Wow. That is going to be one kickass floor. Out of idle curiosity, how are you going to oil/seal it?

    As for dinner, and as other commenters have already noted, asparagus. Not on my list of vegetables that will pass my lips willingly, but whenever the subject comes up, I am reminded of Tim Robbins’ Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas. In that novel, a character at a restaurant notes that another (not his dinner guest) has had asparagus with her meal. She acknowledges that she did, and he tells her: “Later on, our urine will smell exactly the same.”

    Don’t know why exactly, but I laughed out loud the first time I read that. The rest of the book isn’t nearly as good as his other previous work (imho), so I don’t recall too much else of it.

    Bon chance on the floor tho, that’s gonna be sweet. Hope you don’t live anywhere too humid though. (Or is that a concern with hardwood floors in humid areas? I’ve only experienced the jungle-sweating-doldrums of Iowa late summers.)

    -NOoC

  26. 26.

    Jay

    @No One of Consequence:

    In areas with high temp and moisture swings, you don’t nail down the hardwood to the subfloor. You use a polyurethane glue to join the planks together edge to edge. Ideally you lay down an underlay, like wax or butchers paper.

     

    This creates a “floating” slab, that allows it to expand and contract with temp and moisture changes, isolated from the house. You just need to leave the right amount of room, based on the temp and moisture along the walls, to allow that expansion and leave a hair thick gap when installing trim.

  28. 28.

    Danielx

    Floor will be awesome – provided there’s no water anywhere around, say from a hot water heater.

  29. 29.

    Jay

    @Danielx:

    Code now is a drain tray under the water heater, plumbed to a floor drain. Annual flushing and draining, no problem, tank liner bursts, no problem

    Up until about a decade ago, IPE was mostly used for outdoor decks and a teak replacement on boats. Uncoated, it goes a silver grey, like teak.

  31. 31.

    WaterGirl

    @No One of Consequence: They are going to do 3 coats of something water-based, but I don’t know exactly what.  I will ask on Wednesday

    Really hoping I love the floor once it’s finished.  I am currently reserving judgment.

  32. 32.

    WaterGirl

    @Danielx: Nowhere near the water heater.  Of course, my existing hardwood floor is everywhere else in the house, including by the water heater.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @WaterGirl:

    It will be a low VOC polyurethane.

    I prefer McCloskey’s Gym Varnish, it’s what the NBA uses, but it’s high VOC’s, dries slow, so the house has to be empty for a week.

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