The Log house Project begins........

[woodlandfarms]

I watched a guy load a framing nailer backward and somehow successfully fire it. Shot the nail right through the bottom rail of the gun and completely destroy it. Actually I didn't see the loading, just the end result.

 

[tnmike]

The house is really looking good. That flooring was going down nicely and should look great. If you can your hands on a commercial quality sander I would consider doing it myself. If I had to rent one. I would hire it out.

Thanks for the eggs....:thumbsup:

 

[MotorSeven]

A local builder/friend has offered a drum sander(he has two), so I will give it a whirl...pun intended:laughing:

I'm almost half way, should finish the whole house including the 200sq ft loft this weekend. When we bought the flooring, the guy said he had about 2900-3000 sq ft left. Once loaded, he measurements and calculated the bundles and said there was 4,000 on the trailer/truck. We all looked at each other, then he said...how about $1500? We agreed thinking that he was overestimating a bit. Well, it looks like I am going to get a thousand feet down and looking at the bundles I bet I will have used one quarter of all the wood....so his guess-ta-ment was pretty darn close. And that includes about 10% in the discard pile that was too damaged to use.

So far so good, measuring to the opposite wall I am running about a quarter inch off at the most in any place over the 36' length. I did get into trouble about 2' off the wall while 45-ing around the stove flue in the corner. A river rock hearth is going in the corner, so no need to plank the whole corner. As the floor went further and further out cut on the 45 degree & it being unsupported when nailing, it began to hook. I caught it before it was out of control, knocked back some of the planks and face screwed them. After about 4 rows the hook went away, and all of that will be under the rock hearth...no harm done.

 

[tnmike]

I assume that sanding the floors will be one of the last things you do. Too much potential to mess up the floor otherwise.

On another note...your baseboard could hide a lot if wiring with a groove routed behind it.

 

[EddieWalker]

A local builder/friend has offered a drum sander(he has two), so I will give it a whirl...pun intended:laughing:.

Have you used the drum sander before? Really easy to over sand an area and also to create waves in a floor. It's a fast way to get a floor sanded, but it takes experience to do it well. Most beginers ruin their floors and in every case when they are asking me if I can fix it, they say they wish they had never done it themselves.

Home Depot and some Rental stores have big orbital floor sanders. They use a sanding paper that is about one foot by two feet. It just vibrates like a random orbital sander, but much bigger. You can get paper in all grits. I've used it on decks and on hardwood floors in older homes. You can return the sand paper that you don't use, but I always tend to use twice as much paper as I think I will need. It's a bit slower then a drum sander, but just about impossible to destroy your floor with.

Eddie

 

[Robert_in_NY]

I'll second eddie with avoiding a drum sander. Their very powerful and easy to ruin a floor. I like the orbiting sanders as you move slower but its a lot less stressful. If you do decide to use the drum use the finest sand paper first as you will have more of a learning curve that way. A course grit will dig a trench instantly if your not prepared.

 

[Ranger Rick]

Home Depot and some Rental stores have big orbital floor sanders. They use a sanding paper that is about one foot by two feet. It just vibrates like a random orbital sander, but much bigger. You can get paper in all grits. I've used it on decks and on hardwood floors in older homes. You can return the sand paper that you don't use, but I always tend to use twice as much paper as I think I will need. It's a bit slower then a drum sander, but just about impossible to destroy your floor with.

Eddie

I tried one of the orbital sander on our wood floor to try to refinish it. It was a very slow process. After going through a bunch of sandpaper and having very little progress I contacted a hardwood floor company and had them use the big sanders on it. After it was sanded I refinished it. I used Bona Traffic Satin finish on our floor. It has held up great with 3 dogs bringing in dirt and water. Rick

 

[MotorSeven]

Actually I used one on my house in Tyler(Lake ********* a long long time ago) and you are right, it is easy to make a 2' long divit. You absolutely cannot stay in one place at all...it must be in perpetual motion. Robert has a good idea...use a fine grit. Keep in mind this is a used floor and it really needs quite a bit of work to get is close to level, so I think I will give the drum a try...starting in the closet of course. Also, I have no interior walls, so swinging it around in a big open space is easier than trying to do a room at a time. Since it won't cost me a thing, I'll give it a try...if it creates a problem, I'll try and rent the pad sander...but our HD has no rental section

 

[MarkV]

I am sure you know this but you will need another sander to work up to the walls, an edger. If it were me, with used antique flooring that normally has an old sticky varnish finish and some ridges from install, I would use a 30, 60, 100 grit sand paper combination for the three passes we would make. If the old finish really gums up the sandpaper we go down to 15 grit at times.

MarkV

 

[dstig1]

We have a great resource here in the Twin Cities - Pete's Floor store. They have a training room in the front of the store with a hardwood floor section and the basic drum sander and edger. They show you how to use it and let you try it out as much as you want. You find it really only takes a couple tries to get the hang of it, but you are not doing that damage on your floor but on a training floor, so that works out perfectly. Maybe there is something like it in your area? It really didn't take long to get it, but if you are the kind of person who rushes through everything, you will not be happy doing this. It requires smooth, methodical, consistent motions.

Petes Hardwood Floors - St Paul MN Hardwood Floor Experts - www.PetesHardwoodFloors.com

 

[Iplayfarmer]

...but if you are the kind of person who rushes through everything, you will not be happy doing this.

In Motorseven's defense, I think this thread is proof that he's not the kind of person who rushes through everything.

 

[MotorSeven]

I'm not Rushin,....but a mutt of Irish, English and {cough} French and a few others thrown in for flavor:laughing:.

I keep a pretty good pace, but I'm not in a hurry.....being retired has it's advantages. The last time I did T&G floor was in 1985, and it was pine. My own floor in '84 was 2x8 pine...no T&G. I used a drum on both with no ill results, so I am confident of my ability to get 'er done without wrecking it.

 

[dstig1]

:laughing: Yeah, that was more of a general comment ...not a poke at M7...:laughing:

 

[MotorSeven]

I know i'm late on the pic's.....here was past the half way point:

That was on Thursday. Yesterday I got all done except for 3 more feet in the kitchen, so I will finish the main floor today and start on the 200 sq ft loft. The runout has not been bad at all but I am very curious to see what the margin is at 30'.

 

[woodlandfarms]

If you are comfortable, I would love to know more about your over all budget. You have been getting killer deals and have made some very creative decisions, as well ss you own personal skill is amazing. I think you said no bank involvement? If that is the case how have you and your wife changed your life to make this work if at all.

Carl

 

[MotorSeven]

Carl, no problemo, I'm a full disclosure kinda guy. Initially we wanted to do it without adding to the existing land loan. However after we started the project, my wife decided to open her own real estate brokerage, so we dumped a lot of $ and time into that. We did the driveway, basement, & block on our own, then "paused" almost two years while she built up her business. When we realized this was going to take longer than planned, we talked to Farm Credit who holds the land mortgage. They would not finance a "partially built home" nor do they really like to finance homeowner builds. We were told in early summer last year that once the house was "in the dry" ...come back and see us.

Thank goodness her business has taken off and done well. So, we purchased things on HD & Lowes(6/12/18 and now 24 month interest free), then paid them off when due before interest accrued. We paid cash for a lot of things, others went on other cards then we paid them off as $ came in. It has been a huge balancing act and I admit probably not the best way to get it done, but we managed.

We just went back to Farm Credit and asked for a re-finance(rates are ridiculously low) to get enough to finish the house and they are ok with it now. We don't need much, but we want to get this done before another winter rolls around.

As for the cost....I have not tallied all the receipts, but we have been keeping tabs on spending. Best guess right now including the driveway($5K) we should be somewhere between $50 and 60K. Well & septic are next @ $10K, & I am guessing another $10K to finish. So all in all we should be under $80K total.

 

[bindian]

Rick,
Your such an inspiration, I decided to put down a wood floor. I did it over two weekends.
hugs, Brandi

 

[pacerron]

Well & septic are next @ $10K,QUOTE]

You must have a very shallow good aquifer.

 

[woodlandfarms]

I just got a $300 a square foot quote for our propised new house. Not a chance this is going to happen. How do contractor think this is going to happen in this economy? Then again, I also heard Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari and rolls Royce have sold more cars in 2012 than ever before.

 

[whitedogone]

Rick,
Your such an inspiration, I decided to put down a wood floor. I did it over two weekends.
hugs, Brandi

Nice looking floor Brandi. But, those are some ugly looking dogs you got there.