Sanding

Only three more things to do before we can officially move in! The first and last truly messy step is the floors. We are spending this memorial day weekend sanding. I know not very fun but it has been exciting. In the last two days we have sanded the master bedroom, guest bedroom, living room, dining room and hallway. We still have a long day in front of us but I wanted to give a quick update and show our progress. It has brought so much life back to the house and has brightened each room and the house as a whole as we continue to go. We are doing three passes with a drum sander. The first at either a 20 or 36 grit, then a 60 grit, then finally 100. After which we use a buffer to screen the floor with a 150 grit screen. We are still up in the air what type of finish we will use. The big debate is Oil vs. Water based finishes. Oil tend to be more durable, last longer, but are more toxic to those applying the finish… us. Also they tend to yellow over time. But for old floors giving them a little honey color maybe not a bad thing? Water based finishes are not a durable, tend to be much less toxic having lower VOC’s than oil based finishes. VOC’s are volatile organic compounds and tend to describe the toxicity of a product. A lot of green products and verifications limit the use of VOC content in paints, solvents, thinners, stains and finishes. It begins to start an interesting debate. Do you use a green product that is better for the environment and the workers applying the finish if it compromises durability? We are doing our research and home work and I would love people to weight in if they have any recommendations of specific finishes that you have used and like? Check out our progress.