Of Wood & Disappointment

Today was another day where progress was made, but one of the projects ended did not live up to expectations.

The whole morning was spent cleaning the wood floor in the powder room and the end result was disappointing.

Remember this picture taken towards the beginning of the project? There was a lot of optimism when this picture was taken. Today, it was dashed on the rocks....

This picture was snapped when I was more than 3/4s of the way done with cleaning, and scraping the floor. On the left side is the section where the linked picture was taken. On the right is the floor with the crap still on it.

Did you notice the whitish stuff on the left hand side(?) - keep this in mind.

Here's more of the surrounding area.

You can really see the whitish stuff on the left side now. Take a look towards the bottom of the picture, where the squirt bottle, blade scrapper and paper towels are. This part of the floor still looks like the part above it, but it has been cleaned.

And here is the floor completely scrubbed.

The whitish spots are all around the areas where water pipes came up through the floor and waste pipes went down through the floor.

This tells me that there had been LOTS of leaks over the years.

The water, since it is filled with chemicals such as chlorine and florid, has left mineral deposit stains behind. Around the toilet area you should probably throw urea into the mix since wax seals can leak.

So, since the damage is over 50% of the floor we have a lot to consider. Do we try to repair the floor as it is (including the holes) or do we rip it all out and replace it? I do have the wood to replace it with, but doing this will just about deplete my stash and we have the foyer floor to consider.

The first thing I'll attempt is denatured alcoholic. We'll see what happens.

Let's drop this depressing subject and go to a better one.

Even though I spent all morning working on the wood floor, the first thing I did was spray a high-gloss seal coat on the light fixture.

About two hours later I added a second coat.

The light is now installed!

However, it will come down again when we paint and I want to put better screw anchors in as well.

It doesn't look too shabby does it? It needs a more appropriate wattage bulb and bulb cover, but you get the gist of it - right?

Okay - time to come clean and tell you all about a couple of my 'numb nut' moments; unfortunately they happened back-to-back.

'Numb-nut' episode #1 - Having removed the light bulb from the old porcelain socket plate, I was holding the plate in one hand. I was about to touch the screwdriver to the screw in order to remove the wiring when it dawned on me - the electricity hasn't been turned off yet.

"D'oh!"

'Numb-nut' episode #2 - with the new wiring attached, and the sconce setting on the ladder, I tested it by turning on the juice. Luckily it came on (I always have a moment of dread before doing this). So, I turn the juice off again and went to finish installing the fixture.

After installing the light I flipped the light switch on the wall - NOTHING!!! I flipped it again, and again...still nothing. So, I'm thinking I will have to take the fixture back down to check the connections. Stepping back onto the ladder, and getting ready to put the screwdriver to the top screw, it hit me - I never turned the juice back on!!

"D'oh!!!!!!"

Anyway...now that you've all had a good laugh...let's move on.

This is a better view.

The wiring was replaced so it's still kind of stiff; that's one reason you can see the wire above the arm. Since taking the picture it has laid down some.









And here is an even better view.

Do you see ANY chips or flaws?!

I think I did a pretty good job matching the faux tortoise shell. Anyone out there have some faux tortoise shell needing to be repaired?

Also, the part the bulb is screwed into looks a little off kilter. This is due to the new wiring as well. It will eventually hang the way it should.

Well, even though the floor turned out to be disappointment the day did end on a bright note! So, I call it a day and relax a bit.

Till next time...

Cheers ~
Larry