We had planned to take up at least half the floor today and possibly install the new oak. Step one--after visiting Home Depot's tool rental center to get a floor nailer--was to cut the floor along the toe kick line because we don't want to disturb the cabinets and hence are leaving the maple floor under them. Our first idea was to use the Bosch multitool to make the cut (after removing the toe kick).
This was slow going. After an hour we had a shallow cut line marked, a few inches cut through to the subfloor, several burned out blades, and one seriously warm tool.
So Plan B was to go back to the HD tool center and get a toe kick saw. We got something like this and got to work. It's basically a small power saw and cut better than the Bosch but not a whole lot better. Every few inches it would conk out and belch smoke from where the blade was cutting. The black marks inside the cut are scorch marks.
A third trip to the neighborhood HD revealed that the blade was dull from use (not uncommon for a rental tool). They didn't have a replacement anywhere in the store, so we returned the tool and the nailer. They're going to order a new blade and once they get it we'll restart this project. So it's on to the upstairs bathroom!
Elsewhere we continued our backyard beautification project by powerwashing the back fence. And boy did it need it. Here's the job half done and you can see what a difference it makes. Once this has a few days to dry we'll stain it.
Here's a close-up of the panel that was in the worst shape. The tree's roots were pushing it out at the bottom, it was semi-detached at the top, and a 2-inch thick vine had grown through parts and pushed boards (including the one on the top) askew. A new 2x4 to attach the vertical slats and post to helped anchor the bottom. Elsewhere (and not just on this panel) a number of slats had come loose at the bottom. Nothing some 2-inch screws couldn't handle.
No comments:
Post a Comment