So after waking up nice and early on a Saturday morning, I decided to grab another can of Kilz and go over the half of the room with the cat smell a few more times. I figured more coats couldn’t hurt. It wouldn’t slow me down waiting for it to dry as I was planning on starting on the otherside anyhow. Here’s a picture with the floor all clear and primed.
 |
| Just the beginning... |
I next had to plan out what the angle I’d be laying the floors, seeing as we had the idea of doing them diagonally. I was originally planning on just doing it 45° from the walls, which seemed to be the standard, but I quickly noticed that the angle of the entryway from the front door area was more like 55°. Being the gigantic nerdy engineer I am, I decided to make a quick AutoCAD sketchof the two possible layouts (45 vs 55) and send them to Amanda for approval.(Entryway is the top left corner area)
 |
| 45 Degree Layout |
 |
| 55 Degree Layout |
We quickly decided that 55 would be better, even though it meant it would be a lot harder for me to do. 45 degree layout would require me to cut everything at 45 degrees; I’d just have to figure out which direction I needed. 55 degree layout means I’d have to do 55 or 35 degree cuts and in two different directions, so I’d have to be extra careful in figuring out which way to cut each board.
So next I grabbed the staple gun and went to work laying out the underlayment. We got simple foam underlayment to help with noise reduction. Nothing fancy but it'll still get the job done and it won't echo downstairs in the basement. I stapled down half of the room while the other half was still drying from the primer.
 |
| Underlayment down, ready for first board |
First board was actually pretty easy to nail down. I know we wanted to keep the angle of the entryway throughout the floor (“so it flowed”) so I started there. I centered the plank on the entryway and nailed it down. BEHOLD!!
 |
| One down, a "plethora" to go... |
Now that I had my first piece down, laying the rest of the boards should “theoretically be easy”. I actually said that… out loud…. I’d just have to keep them snug up against each other and have the seams set at randomlocations so it looks all professional and such. Never mind that I had to do this 224 more times. That part I stashed away in the “do not want” area of my brain.
Anywho, I decided to finish up the corner nearest the first plank so I could just start cruising through the rest of the room. What I didn't think of, however, was the fact that laying the planks in that direction would cause me to be unable to use the floor nailer. Because the floor nailer shootsnails though the “toe” of the board where the tongue is, you can really only use the nailer when you’re laying boards in one direction. However, because I started at the entryway I’d have to go “backwards” to the corner. So for all of these boards I just drilled pilot holes and top nailed these boards with finishing nails. After I was done I’d have to go back and fill the holes with putty, but shouldn’t be that big of a deal. This method, however took a LONG time.
 |
| Corner dun. Nailer getting lonely, wants hugs |
It was already nearing midday and with only the corner done I needed to start layingdown rows and chug right along. Here’s what I learned about laying hardwoodfloors diagonally: you have to do a TON of cutting boards to fit. And you're going to screw up measurements. And you’re going to cut boards the wrong direction. And you’re going to cut boards with the wrong angle. And you're going to be dripping with sweat. And you’re going to be cursing. And your back will be cursing from using the nailer. And you’re going to be taking “sanitybreaks” with the pups to make sure you don’t lose your mind.
But regardless of all that, I got about half of the frontroom done by the end of the day. That included the corner where I had to topnail all of the boards and the one vent in the room, which slowed down production considerably.
 |
| End of Day 1 |
I figured I should be able to get the rest of it done in one more day. However, because Amanda’s family reunion was the next day I’d have to wait till Monday to get it done. My aching back was very appreciative of the break.
Next post: Into The Hallway And Out Of My Mind
No comments:
Post a Comment