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Sunday, March 02, 2008

Back From The Dead

Boy, that flu just killed me. It has been 2 weeks and I’m still coughing my head off, no appetite, my energy level is nil, and I’m just out of it. Despite this, though, I have managed to get some things done. I just haven’t had the energy to blog about it.

I spent about an hour each evening out in the garage cleaning the salvaged beadboard. The dirt that was caked on to the back side was thick. It came off easily, but it was time consuming and very messy. There were also a few straggler nails that needed to be pulled out. The final tally is 72, 10-foot pieces, and 5, 8-foot pieces. That comes to 760 lineal feet of 1X6 redwood beadboard. The final cost was .32 cents a foot. Not bad. The one odd thing about it is, for some reason, it is milled on both sides. Both sides have the same exact double-bead profile milled in to it.



This will all be going in the laundry room. It is now all stacked up on the dining room floor waiting for installation. I spent most of yesterday doing the last of the demolition in the room. There were still some nails and some lath here and there. Also, because the room is 10.5 feet high, and the beadboard is 10.2 feet long, I had to add a nailer near the floor.

The nailers are just pieces of 2X4 added between the studs about 6-inches off the floor. I had considered cutting the beadboard down to 9.5-feet and then adding a frieze at the top, like I did in the mudroom. Since it was so close to being long enough, I decided to raise it off the floor. By doing that, it will reach the ceiling, and then I’ll cover the gap at the bottom with a base board.

It dawned on me as I was about to start the installation that I hadn’t decided what to do about the floor. This is what started the whole mudroom project. I needed to build a doorway so I had to decide about the floor. Next thing you know, I'm finishing up a 7 month project that was supposed to take a few weeks. I’ve decided I’m going to repair the redwood floors that are in there. They’re not too bad, but a few small sections of board will need to be replaced. Below are shots of another local house where Joel, the owner, refinished the old 1X6 T&G floors. This is the same thing I have. I think they look great.

Before


After

7 comments:

Unknown said...

That floor is beautiful. The color variations are stunning!

Jennifer said...

Glad you are feeling better! The beadboard was a great find.. it will look very nice. Very odd it was double milled, but it will be handy if one side is a little messed up...just flip!

Sandy said...

Loved the before and after photos. Glad you are feeling better!

Unknown said...

Sorry to hear you have The Cough still. The folks at St. Joseph's say it can and often will last 3-4 weeks, so don't worry if it does. (This will be no comfort while you've got it, I know...except the assurance that yes, it will end.)

That is a gorgeous floor. Looking forward to seeing your own refinishing!

Fred said...

Love the before and after transformation! Absolutely beautiful.

Greg said...

It is nice, isn't it. The floor just comes alive.

Joel Mielke said...

Our flooring specialist, Rick Willits (Humboldt County), did a superb job.

It was a fraction of the cost of hardwood, and it's a lot more interesting. They didn't use the old redwood with a finished floor in mind, so it's not all vertical grain, but if you had to sit and stare at a floor for any length of time, this one would hold your interest.