[Build] floor sanding test

[jim]

   sounds like a good plan. i suggest picking a spot 
in the middle of the floor in the front (west) space. 
   note that the floor in the front has some paint on 
part of it, maybe pick a 100 sq ft patch that has 
some painted and some bare wood. 
   i specified using 36 grit for the first pass for 
the reason that we expect inexperienced people to be 
doing the work. if we use a heavier grit (e.g. 20), 
we have a greater risk of gouging. the purpose of 
the 36 grit (or whatever) is to remove the grimey top 
surface so that the subsequent fillers and coatings 
will adhere. 
   the purpose of following up with 50 grit is to 
smooth down the peaks left by the 36 grit pass so 
that the fillers and subsequent coatings don't set 
up on the peaks that are later crushed by foot 
traffic. 
   the current plan is to smear on fillers after the 
50 grit pass. this should be done with broad knives 
with an eye to ensuring there are no peaks sticking 
up above the top surface of the wood. consider using 
bondo for deep or large holes. consider cutting wood 
plugs for very large holes. 
   then, per current plan, put on a thinned down coat 
of shellac to fill the pores at a microscopic level. 
   then sand with 80 grit to smooth down the surface 
of the shellac and filler. 
   the put down two coats of a top coat that has 
flexibility regardless of hardness--flexibility for 
the reason that the top coat will be bridging a lot 
of miniature cracks. 

   the floor store folks will probably balk at some 
of the above. i've chosen the above approach as a 
means of getting a sufficiently good job done in a 
minimum amount of time. 
   i've detailed the above so you can compare with 
the advice of floor personages, who likely will give 
you standard advice to refinish a floor so it's 
pretty, without regard to time and cost constraints. 
i've put enough tho't into the above scheme that i 
hope you'll present whatever you discover for our 
mutual (build bunch) discussion, so we can think out 
a final, optimal proposal. 
   the most valuable aspect of your self-sacrifice is 
getting some rough metric of time for sanding. i 
suggest maybe a 5 by 20 patch rather than 10 by 10, 
as that will better represent the way in which we'll 
be doing the work. note that edging (on one's knees 
with a large, rotary hand tool) will have to be done 
and the job of filling will be significant. seems to 
me the job of putting on coatings will be pretty fast 
and easy, relative to sanding and filling. 


On Wed, 2009-08-12 at 00:12 -0700, Lamont Lucas wrote:
> Hello.
> 
> At the meeting tonight I volunteered to sand a test patch of the floor, 
> with the idea of getting a better estimate of the amount of labor and 
> materials that would be needed to do the whole thing.
> 
> As such, on thursday or friday, I plan on doing the following:
> 
> 1) going to the new space, taking detailed photos of a 10'x10' spot of floor
> 2) taking the photos to pacific flooring supply co to get their 
> recommendations for grit and process
> 3) use the shopvac and maybe a giant magnet to clean all the crap I can 
> off of the test area
> 4) use a punch to hammer down all the exposed nails below the surface of 
> the wood
> 5) rent a floor sander and attempt to get the test patch to a clean and 
> consistent state
> 
> I plan on taking detailed before and after photos, and estimating how 
> long it took me to do each phase.
> 
> I'll try and pick an out of the way corner to work on.
> 
> I suspect friday might be best for me, but I could also work on 
> thursday.  I'm free most all daylight hours, and I'd like to have 
> something to report back before tuesday so we can settle the floor issue.
> 
> If you have floor experience or would like to participate, please let me 
> know or arrange a time we can both be at the space.  I hear Jim is the man.
> 
> 
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