Snapped a few before the final coat. The satin top coat should cut down on the gloss a lot, and the crappy camera on my tablet really doesn't do the wood justice.
I need to see if I can find a before picture, it's amazing how much better this looks than when we moved in.
Beautiful!
AWSX1686 said:In reply to frenchyd :
I missed where painting cars came into this... Can you explain more? Is it just on wood trim, or like painting metal with lacquer? I'm confused but curious.
Many posts earlier Curtis and I in debating the benefits of old versus new Curtis made a comment about how Henry Ford painted cars with Lacquer.
I defended Lacquer and we both seemed to drop the distracting debate.
In reply to Furious_E :
Looks great!
In reply to Furious_E :
Looks nice.
You know there's gaps between those boards, right?
In reply to Dr. Hess :
In the winter wood indoors will shrink. Lack of moisture caused by heating causes wood to shrink in width only. ( length shrinks almost in perceptively) It’s what all wood does.
Soft woods like pine shrink a lot. Hardwoods less. Each species of wood has shrinkage numbers.
If wood is installed too tight it will cup when the moisture of summer humidity causes wood to swell back up.
University of Wisconsin has done a lot of research if you are looking for confirmation.
In reply to Dr. Hess :
First I've heard of it.
In reply to Furious_E :
Looks great!
In reply to frenchyd :
And thanks guys. Now I really want to get the rest of the floors done (or rather, I want them to BE done, not looking forward to more sanding...
) . Downstairs will be next, but not before lots of plaster repair, painting, and other crap.
Plaster: Modern or old style?
Floor looks great.
As a professional contractor who has made a 40+ year career of historic restoration work,
...I'm staying out of this.
Floors look great. :-)
In reply to coexist :
Old horse hair stuff. That will be my next learning adventure, never really messed with the stuff. I have a lot of cracks and holes to patch that were hidden underneath the wallpaper and a few larger areas, most notably around one of the windows where some of the brick work was damaged on the outside and water got in (which has since been repaired.)
In reply to Furious_E :
For plaster patching, Easy Sand works great. Recommended as “quick setting joint compound” by the NPS: https://www.nps.gov/tps/how-to-preserve/briefs/21-flat-plaster.htm
Horse hair: blond, red or black?
Might want to start a new thread for plaster discussion. dculberson's link looks great. Quick tip: they make adhesive mesh, like the drywall mesh tape, that is 36" wide.
I've put up a fair amount of it, "thick" and veneer, but mainly for the benefit of integral color and aesthetics, like so:
In reply to coexist :
I wasn’t aware that they made it 36 inches wide! Is it available in big box stores? If not where will I find it?
I get it in Seattle at Salmon Bay Sand and Gravel, one of the larger plaster and stucco supply houses.
frenchyd said:AWSX1686 said:In reply to frenchyd :
I missed where painting cars came into this... Can you explain more? Is it just on wood trim, or like painting metal with lacquer? I'm confused but curious.
Many posts earlier Curtis and I in debating the benefits of old versus new Curtis made a comment about how Henry Ford painted cars with Lacquer.
I defended Lacquer and we both seemed to drop the distracting debate.
We both had valid points, just disagreed on what was better... so Furious_E wisely chose a completely different coating because he loves us both so much he couldn't stand to disappoint us. Or something like that.
In reply to Curtis :
I hereby grant you permission to use whatever you wish to finish floors.
Curtis said:frenchyd said:AWSX1686 said:In reply to frenchyd :
I missed where painting cars came into this... Can you explain more? Is it just on wood trim, or like painting metal with lacquer? I'm confused but curious.
Many posts earlier Curtis and I in debating the benefits of old versus new Curtis made a comment about how Henry Ford painted cars with Lacquer.
I defended Lacquer and we both seemed to drop the distracting debate.
We both had valid points, just disagreed on what was better... so Furious_E wisely chose a completely different coating because he loves us both so much he couldn't stand to disappoint us. Or something like that.
Yea, we can go with that
Opening this back up...
Getting the main bedroom refreshed before I move into it, did some electrical work, painted the walls, and also found this underneath the vinyl that was on the floor:
The floor of a little rough when you walk across it, and doesn't look the best. I'm thinking sand it down, maybe stain it if the discoloration in some parts doesn't sand out, and then finish.
For finish, I'm kinda leaning towards shellac. Ideally I want something that I can do fairly quickly over one, maybe two evenings. (2 rooms in the apartment are only accessible be going through this room, weird old house.) It seems like waiting the appropriate times between coats, probably only shellac would work in that sense. 15 min, 30 min, hour, 2 hours, makes 4 coats doable in an evening.
So I got the basic rundown of how to do it from frenchyd on the first page I think, now I'm trying to figure out more details.
Where to buy?
-For the most part all I can find is this stuff, is it good? https://www.lowes.com/pd/Zinsser-Bulls-Eye-Clear-Shellac-Actual-Net-Contents-128-fl-oz/3098549
Mixing:
-If I'm doing one gallon of the above shellac, to two gallons of denatured alcohol, will a 5-gallon drywall bucket work?
-How much should that cover given 4 coats?
-And how should that be stored in between coats?
Maybe I'm over thinking this... But I've not really messed with refinishing floors before and I really just want to get it over with and off my list.
In reply to AWSX1686 :
Try Amazon! Do you have a Menards near you? That’s where I buy mine but if I was smart I would have bought it in 5 gallon pails ( they don’t sell it in 55 gallon drums)
Yes sand things to make it smooth but if it remains dark just bleach it with wood bleach. Sorry laundry bleach probably isn’t strong enough.
There is a real art/skill to how long to bleach. Too long and the wood turns too light. Not long enough and it remains too dark.
I over bleached a part of my floor and had to stain it back. Still not exactly right. But better than the dark spot.
Now be easy on yourself. Buy a new cotton paint roller and mix the 1 part of Shellac to two parts denatured alcohol right in a paint tray. Then roller your floor like you do a wall! Easy on your back;)
the cotton roller will dry hard but if you leave it for a little while in the shellac/ alcohol mixture it will soften right back up. When you are finally done with the roller while still wet put it in a plastic bag for future use. I’ve been using one roller and three brushes for years now. And 20 years from now a soaking will have it back perfect. In short, no clean up ever! Any shellac you get on your clothes will come out in the wash. Same with it on your hands, hair or whatever, soap and hot water!
you can be pretty messy because new Shellac melts old and makes an invisible repair.
After you put the first coat on it will dry in like 15 minutes. So slide your hand over the floor. Feel those nubs? Sand them off with a DA sander and 220 grit. You don’t need to sand the whole floor just wherever the nubs stick up.
Then take a towel and wipe up the white residual of sanding. Time for second coat. After it dries ( twice as long so about 1/2 hour ) feel for nubs again and like the first coat just enough to eliminate the nubs. Again wipe up the white with a towel and give it the third coat
As to using a 5 gallon pail. It will work but it’s heavy and awkward. Don’t worry about being exact in your mixing. Close works just fine. Remember most of the denatured alcohol evaporated and you’re left with shellac.
It’s tempting to try it mixed 1 to 1. It’s a mistake. You’d have to be a pretty good painter and really fast since you’d quickly get a dry edge. Covering a big area is bound to leave ridges. Yes you can “wash” the ridges with a lot of denatured alcohol but that would make things kind of splotchy.
In reply to frenchyd :
No Menards here...
Alright, next question. Liquid shellac, or shellac flakes?
Pretty much the only gallon of shellac I've found is the Zinsser Bulls Eye stuff I linked above. Amazon also has shellac flakes though...
In reply to AWSX1686 : I’ve used flakes but prefer the ease of mixed.
Both are fine. Slight savings with flakes mainly due to shipping costs. Disadvantage you have to mix the flakes and then let them dissolve. I prefer the stir pour and get on with the job.
The one advantage the liquid has ( aside from stir and pour) is the liquid will stay liquid in the can for a very long time if the lid is properly replaced.
Since I’m finishing trim a little at a time that’s important to me. Doing a floor, it’s not so important.
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