Yesterday my friend Kamila (who’s also a kickass photographer) came by to pick up our soundproofing!
I had it all stacked outside waiting for her.
She loaded up the car and – VOILA! – no more soundproofing. I’m so glad it’s getting reused! It was either that or recycle it (all cardboard). Hope it’s just what you guys need & it works!
I want to punch our risers in the face; if risers on staircases had faces (or would it be singular “a face”?) but they don’t, so I can’t. GAH!
Yesterday I was chipper and optimistic. Today, not so much.
We naively began sanding the risers last Wednesday. We started using a palm sander with 40 grit sandpaper. It.took.forever. But slowly we were seeing a difference. That is until the pad you stick/clamp the sandpaper to wore out.
Now the sandpaper doesn’t make great contact with said riser. Also, it clamps kinda funny so the super thick 40 grit sheet does get pulled taut and therefore just snaps at the clamp. This would be the same pad that Home Depot does NOT stock. Some internet search found that Sears may, but I have to call. Otherwise we have to have it shipped from DeWalt.
So Wednesday evening, when we realize that the palm sander just isn’t cutting it, we move on to plan B. Bring in the bigger guns!
Enter the Black & Decker 3″x21″ Dragster Belt Sander.
According to the description, uses include:
Sounds PERFECT!!
And this baby has power! Awesome.
We didn’t purchase said “Big Gun” until late last Wednesday evening. At 10pm, 4 steps into the last staircase, we decided our neighbors would probably appreciate it if we turned the power tools off.
We left for the shore knowing there was more sanding to do but confident we could finish it up this week.
Last night, we went back over to finish. Plugged everything in and picked back up with the 4th step down (we’d left off in the middle of it).
We were finding that the “Big Gun” was leaving ridges in the risers. It’s a large sander for such a small space. There’s not a lot of room to keep it moving, which is essential for all sanders but especially belt sanders.
Rob worked his way down the stairs.
And I followed with the palm sander to even things out.
About 5 minutes into sanding, I made an awful realization.
We can’t have nice things.
Immediately I told Rob to stop but damage was already done.
If you look closely at the belt sander, you may notice a small black knob on the right side.
If that knob is on the top, you can get the belt pretty close to the tread, moving toward the banister. However, when you hold the sander in the OTHER direction, moving toward the wall, that knob is now on the bottom of the belt. It’s also now on the side that’s already farther away from tread because of the placement of the belt.
You can see where I’m going with this.
Unknowingly, we were dragging said knob across our treads.
Our brand-spanking-newly-refinished treads.
Yup. It’s official. We can’t have nice things.
Ever the eternal optimist (even when I’m grouchy), I guess it could be worse. We could have kept going and noticed only when vacuuming up all the sawdust after we were all done.
Luckily we stopped as soon as we realized. It seems only 2 of them (the 2 in these pics) are badly scratched up. And it’s all right close to the riser, not far out into the middle. With a little touch up stain & sealer we should be able to fix it. It’ll add “character.”
But it’s just one more thing added to the ever-growing, never-shrinking TO DO list.
I think we will be purchasing a few new pads for the palm sander and taking the slower, yet less destructive, path to sanded risers.
This coming weekend, July 18 & 19, is our next Work Weekend and your chance to be added to the Wall of Awesome. Here’s the plan:
Garden Apartment
Upstairs
This TO DO list is rather ambitious. There’s a lot of prep work to do before we can even paint. I’m starting that To Do list now. The weekend may end up doing that To Do list so we can get to the other TO DO list. Confused yet? Yeah, me too.
If you’re free, we’d love the help! Let me know if you can come and I’ll get you the details (brickcitylove at gmail dot com).
Afterwards, we’ll hit up the local watering holes. Maybe McGoverns? Maybe Nicks? Maybe the Flavor Tripping party at Hell’s Kitchen? You’ll be able to say that you knew Newark was hip before everyone else! Hoboken was sooo 5 years ago.
Hope you can come!
Last week was our vacation. While we worked on the house for the first half of the week, we spent Thursday – Sunday down the shore. It was amazing.
Work tomorrow will be full of catching up. Lots of amazing pictures but here’s a sneak peek at some of our fun.
Have a happy Monday! Back to your regularly scheduled renovating tomorrow or Tuesday.
Last Saturday we saw some AWESOME fireworks. Unfortunately the City of Newark didn’t do fireworks (to my knowledge) but Macy’s NYC fireworks were going off in the Hudson River this year.
We headed down to Newark Penn Station.
And hopped on the PATH train to Hoboken.
Got to the river about 7pm with about 2hrs & 26 minutes to kill before the fireworks started.
For those familiar with Frank Sinatra Blvd, we were sitting at the railing here
And if you looked up, you’d see this –
Aren’t we cute?
Rob went in search of margaritas but couldn’t find any. This was the next closest thing. I was unaware that Edible Arrangements also made smoothies. It was good but very frothy.
It was cool watching the sun set over the city.
Rob started playing with the camera lens, zooming in or out as the shutter closed.
It created a lot of motion (as one would expect).
This one he held the lens steady and zoomed by rotating the camera.
Here’s a steady one just in case you started getting dizzy.
At 9:26, the fireworks started!!
They were awesome! And I probably would have gotten better pictures with a tripod and zoom lens. Oh well. There’s always next year.
Afterward we avoided the initial PATH rush out and grabbed some nosh at The Kebab House.
While waiting for the train home, Rob started pointing across the platform and I thought it was the weirdest thing. For the life of me, I cannot replicate that.
You’re trying to do it, aren’t you? I knew it. 😀
When we moved in, the front bedroom on the second floor looked like this:
Every square inch covered in sound proofing tiles. And when I say every square inch, I mean EVERY square inch (except the floor).
They were meticulously cut to fit perfectly around the ceiling medallion, electrical outlets & light switches. It must have taken forever.
I almost felt bad taking them down. Almost.
As previously mentioned, we started taking them down Saturday but cut it short to go see some awesome fireworks.
They were fantastic, by the way, but that’s not what this post is about.
Rob and his Spartan Spear tackled it Monday.
It popped off pretty easy.
It did make quite the mess though. I tried to stack as we went. It didn’t really work. And that was before we tackled the ceiling.
See all those little bits that look like dots? That’s the adhesive; it came in a variety of forms.
The most common was the hard brown pellets –
A few places used double-sided foam strips –
And, finally, a couple places had this yummy looking brown goop –
Then it was on to the ceiling.
I even got a turn with what’s quickly becoming the most popular tool in the house.
We got all the sound proofing stacked in hopes that someone will be able to use it.
All done!!
Our first non-family additions to the Wall of Awesome*!!
Jenn & John came up Tuesday night and helped us tackle the 2nd floor bathroom.
That fugly wallpaper was already peeling off.
They helped it all the way off.
YAY! First step in the bathroom remodel is underway.
Thanks guys!! It was awesome seeing you.
Awwwww!!!
Jenn’s leaving in 2 days to work down in Nicaragua for a month with our other friend Ali. Lets all say a little prayer that they have an amazing time and come home safely. John, you’re welcome to come back up if you get bored without her.
*We have decided that we will have an actual Wall of Awesome in our house. We’re going to take pictures of everyone who comes help. Said pictures will be framed and hung all grouped together. So if your name emblazoned on the interwebs in all it’s bloggy goodness isn’t enough for you, how about an actual picture on an actual wall in our actual home?! Yeah, I thought that might sweeten the deal. And you can pose with props! See how John got to pose with the Spartan Spear?? Rock.
Shameless Plug: Our next Working Weekend is coming up July 18 & 19! We will be working on finishing the garden apartment and painting. Power tools & paint rollers; something for everyone! If you want in, shoot me an email (brickcitylove at gmail dot com).
Thanks Jenn & John!!!
Day 3 of our vacation is going swimmingly. Went shopping this morning (we’re going down the shore tomorrow and I needed a bathing suit) and now we’re working on the house.
I replaced the plaster behind the door with some drywall and am waiting for the joint compound to dry. Rob is currently sanding the risers on the staircase. We’re working top down and the first few didn’t go so well.
They were caked with something hard & gross; adhesive maybe? It was going so badly, we had a 20min conversation deciding if we should just have Jon back. In an effort to keep the refinishing costs within budget, Jon just did the treads. Refinishing the risers was extra. We decided to keep sanding and see what the next hour brought.
After the first 3, things started to look up. It’s still taking forever but it’s working. We’ve (& by “we’ve” I mean Rob) got 2 risers left on the top staircase. Then it’s on to the 1st floor staircase.
Proper update coming tomorrow!
For our floor refinishing, we used JDL Wood Floors. This post details why we selected them, now onto the review.
Overall, we were very satisfied with the service and quality of the job and would highly recommend them.
Our floors were in rough shape (as you may remember from here, here, & here). Lucio (Jon’s head refinisher) and his crew were able to bring them back to their original splendor (or rather, what I imagine that to be).
Jon was very easy to work with. Communication was great; he returned our calls, emails, & texts promptly. He was able to work with our tight timetable and started 2 days after we agreed on the total price. Regarding the cost, he really worked with our budget and didn’t go over. What we agreed upon before work began was what we paid upon satisfactory completion. The lack of surprises was awesome.
We knew we wanted the floors stained but didn’t know exactly what color. Lucio put some test samples down at the end of sanding day 1.
Seeing the samples actually on the floors was crucial! SO so helpful for us. Stains looked a lot different on our floors than they did on the Minwax website. (We went with #3, Provincial, by the way.)
Things I wish I’d known & would have done differently:
Same with filler. The sanders will smooth it all out but they can’t get in between boards. Even if they could get in between the boards, you’d have cracks that would trap crud & dirt. Gross. Again, this is something we were OK with. The floors are original. The paint & filler is all part of the history of our house. We’d rather have that part of the history than rip them out and put new stuff down. It seems so much more authentic this way.From start to finish, it took JDL 5 days to complete the whole job. They started Wednesday and finished Monday (took Sunday off). They provided excellent service and value.
Saturday, Rob & I went over to the house and just laid on the floor. Yeah, we’re giant dorks. They’re just so smooth and the color is incredibly rich; simply yummy. (Satin was the way to go, by the way.) We’re very happy with them.
~ ~ ~
*Disclaimer: Obviously, individual experiences with contractors will vary. We can only share the experiences we’ve have. Our reviews are based solely on personal experience. Always do your research and check references. Happy renovating!!
As promised, pictures of the floors after they’ve been refinished. I forgot to do the 3rd floor, but it’s pretty much the same.
I thought it was interesting how differently the newer wood took the stain compared to the older wood. See the difference?
Stain was Provincial by Minwax on 130+ year old pine floors.
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