Hardwood
The next phase of our home improvement is the hardwood. Our phases may be out of order but we figured we'd get the hardwood out of the way now. We were told that sanding hardwood kicks up a lot of dust which can collect on the walls so its probably better to refinish the hardwood before painting the walls. I guess we need to find a bunch of drop cloths now. Donations are welcome =)
Initially we were so ambitions, we thought we'd do the repairs and refinishing ourselves. Then we talked to people and did some research about refinishing hardwood floors. One person told us to expect three 10 hour days just for sanding the floors with various grits of sandpaper. After we heard that we automatically thought, "We barely spend 10 hours on the house a week, how will we ever get this done?!?!" And we have repairs to make so we'll just pay someone.
A word on the repairs... It looks like there used to be a space heater between the living room and hallway. Whoever took that out did a sloppy job patching up the wall and floor. They nailed some piece of wood in the gap in the floor and covered it with carpet. The wall isn't flat. When they put the drywall in, they didn't make it flush, there's a ridge on the living room side now. And they didn't even sand or paint the patch in the hallway side. So you know what I'll be doing next time I'm there. So besides repairing those spots in the hardwood, there are also pet or water stains all over the place.... mostly in the living room. The master bathroom threshold looks like it flooded and the hardwood shrank so there's gaps between the hardwood in some spots. *sigh* Too much for us to do. We'll just pay someone.
Quote time.
1st option. So my brother used a guy that our realtor suggested. We put our realtor to work. We had her call to set up an appointment for a quote.
2nd option. My friend recently bought a house and had his floors refinished. Chris called his guy. He's a contractor in Oakland and just contracts the job out to someone else. Chris said he had a super thick accent. He wasn't sure if the guy said "Installation" or "Restoration." That doesn't seem too good. He asked Chris for the square footage. M:"You mean he didn't want to see the place?" C:"No, he's from Oakland, maybe he doesn't want to drive." M:"Maybe he thinks Installation." So I calculate the square footage and its waiting for us to call him back.
3rd option. My dad had his floors redone about 6(?) years ago. I asked him if he had the number to the guy. "I think its written on the garage wall." So he gives me the number but there's no name. He thinks its Phil. He doesn't know the name of the company either. Hmmm... He tries to look for an invoice or something with a name on it but can't find one. Uhh... We don't even know the guy's name. We'll pass.
So 1st option guy comes to the house and Chris' dad is there to talk to him and stuff. He gave us a quote that was less than what we expected. And we've seen his work before (My brother's house). We decided to just go with him and forget about getting more quotes. That theme's been working well for us since all the wedding planning. We ended up using our first restaurant we tried, the first photographer, florist, bakery... We'll keep the ball rolling for now.
SOLD!! He starts work next Thursday. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
Initially we were so ambitions, we thought we'd do the repairs and refinishing ourselves. Then we talked to people and did some research about refinishing hardwood floors. One person told us to expect three 10 hour days just for sanding the floors with various grits of sandpaper. After we heard that we automatically thought, "We barely spend 10 hours on the house a week, how will we ever get this done?!?!" And we have repairs to make so we'll just pay someone.
A word on the repairs... It looks like there used to be a space heater between the living room and hallway. Whoever took that out did a sloppy job patching up the wall and floor. They nailed some piece of wood in the gap in the floor and covered it with carpet. The wall isn't flat. When they put the drywall in, they didn't make it flush, there's a ridge on the living room side now. And they didn't even sand or paint the patch in the hallway side. So you know what I'll be doing next time I'm there. So besides repairing those spots in the hardwood, there are also pet or water stains all over the place.... mostly in the living room. The master bathroom threshold looks like it flooded and the hardwood shrank so there's gaps between the hardwood in some spots. *sigh* Too much for us to do. We'll just pay someone.
Quote time.
1st option. So my brother used a guy that our realtor suggested. We put our realtor to work. We had her call to set up an appointment for a quote.
2nd option. My friend recently bought a house and had his floors refinished. Chris called his guy. He's a contractor in Oakland and just contracts the job out to someone else. Chris said he had a super thick accent. He wasn't sure if the guy said "Installation" or "Restoration." That doesn't seem too good. He asked Chris for the square footage. M:"You mean he didn't want to see the place?" C:"No, he's from Oakland, maybe he doesn't want to drive." M:"Maybe he thinks Installation." So I calculate the square footage and its waiting for us to call him back.
3rd option. My dad had his floors redone about 6(?) years ago. I asked him if he had the number to the guy. "I think its written on the garage wall." So he gives me the number but there's no name. He thinks its Phil. He doesn't know the name of the company either. Hmmm... He tries to look for an invoice or something with a name on it but can't find one. Uhh... We don't even know the guy's name. We'll pass.
So 1st option guy comes to the house and Chris' dad is there to talk to him and stuff. He gave us a quote that was less than what we expected. And we've seen his work before (My brother's house). We decided to just go with him and forget about getting more quotes. That theme's been working well for us since all the wedding planning. We ended up using our first restaurant we tried, the first photographer, florist, bakery... We'll keep the ball rolling for now.
SOLD!! He starts work next Thursday. We'll keep our fingers crossed.
posted by Melissa & Chris at 9:00 AM
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