How to sand and seal your floor in one week

Maybe Mark felt a little pressure from me to quickly finish the flooring project given how soon we'd be welcoming our first child into our home.  My pregnancy-induced nesting instincts and hormones could have made me a little emotional about needing to have things finished before the baby arrived.  Also, my predisposition toward planning.

But, imagine yourself in my shoes.  While others in our prenatal classes were discussing nursery colors and washing onesies, I was moving all our belongings to our unfinished basement, keeping shower gifts protected from dust in plastic bins, and packing a bag.  Not for the hospital, but for a week's stay with friends so our floor could be sanded and sealed.  Would you be completely rational and unemotional in this situation?  I didn't think so.

So, Mark and I agreed to divide up tasks, enlist the help of friends, and try to have our floor finished and livable within a week.  Ambitious?  Yes.  Achievable?  Well. . .

I was in charge of ensuring that all the necessary tools and materials were ready and waiting when needed.  Once again, I relied on my favorite hardware store for advice and a referral for a business that rented out sanding machines.  They haven't let me down yet.  All was ready and waiting for Mark and a few buddies to get to work.

I realize that it was January and we live in Minnesota, but did we really have to have a snowstorm during this critical week?  No, not flurries or a few inches of fluffy, snowman-friendly snow.  A real storm with high winds, limited visibility and weather-related travel advisories.  Yes, a snowstorm.

Just how did that affect us?  Well, for one, our friend Nick, who had graciously agreed to give up most of his weekend to push a sanding machine around our living room and kitchen, lives about 45 minutes away from us.  That's on a good day, with no snow-related travel advisories.

Nick's wife, understandably, didn't want him traveling alone in the dark with the bad weather.  So he stayed later than he planned, and Mark drove him home and came back to our house to do more work.   He spent the night on the couch in the basement one of the nights, after having worked until 3 AM to finish some sanding.  Thankfully, our neighbors didn't hear the loud machine (Mark asked later and was relieved at their answers).

The long and the short of it is that the work got done, though a lot of sweat, tears and stress went into this project.  I am not sure Mike and Deb saw me in the same light after that week.  I hope I'm forgiven.

Hardwood floors and the race against time

Now that we finally had painted walls, it was time to lay the hardwood flooring on the main level.  Yes, Mark did that himself, too.  To prepare for this project, he read a book, borrowed a nail gun and got to work.  I wasn't sure  his self-confidence and commitment to doing the majority of the work on this project himself was warranted.  But the finished floors proved me wrong.


We had a family gathering at our house before Mark began work on the flooring to say thank you to our painters and enjoy some food and wine (being pregnant, I obediently drank sparkling juice instead).  The subfloor was covered in black felt paper to prepare for the hardwood flooring.  I remember little about that night, but I do recall that one family member spilled red wine in the kitchen.  We were relieved that this spill happened on the felt paper and not newly-laid floorboards that were not yet sealed.


Because we had extended the house to the side, Mark would need to join new floor boards to the existing floor in the kitchen and dining room.  This task proved intimidating for a few reasons.  First, the walls weren't straight, so the existing flooring wasn't laid straight.  The new flooring would have to feather in the existing floorboards in a creative fashion to make the layout work.  Next, to make the new boards blend into the existing flooring (and avoid a clean break between rooms) he'd have to tear out some of the original boards.

The first row of boards that Mark laid in our dining room took several hours.  He snapped chalk lines and did a lot of measuring to make sure the first board was at the right angle to match in with the existing flooring and the flooring around the staircase to the basement.  I worried that this project would take weeks at this rate, but once Mark felt comfortable that the boards would line up, the installation sped up considerably.

I did find a way to help with the flooring installation.  I got to choose the layout of the floor boards, making sure to vary the lengths from row to row.  Mark then just had to slide each board in place, thump it with a mallet, then nail it in.











Once the floorboards were laid, it was time to sand and seal the floor.  We chose a water-based sealant because it was winter and we would have a newborn shortly after the floors were finished.  We were very conscious of using materials with a low VOC and other chemicals to minimize exposure to our baby.  It wasn't easy!  A lot of better options have come along since 2006.


The week that Mark sanded and sealed the floors on our main level was the only time we moved out of the house during the entire project.  We stayed with Mike and Deb, who worked with Mark.  I was very uncomfortable that week, as I was 37 weeks pregnant and would have been mortified if I had gone into labor while staying at their home.  My doula, Emme, reassured me that my body wouldn't let me go into labor at their house because I wouldn't be comfortable enough.  She was right, thank goodness!

We have walls!

Our second floor linen closet, lounge room and a peek into the baby's room prior to the installation of drywall.

A view of our kitchen and breakfast nook from the dining room, with sheetrock installed.

The sheetrock was installed in our kitchen, dining room and throughout our upper level by Juan, who had worked with our electrician friend, and some of his friends.  This contractor landed on our list of those we do not recommend.  The nicest thing I can say about them is that they were inexpensive.  We learned the hard way that generally it's worth the money to hire a contractor who is known for dependability, communication and attention to detail.

Mark had to finish the framing of our pantry, master bedroom closet and other places before we could have the sheetrock installed.  We had planned to have our contractor work the weekend of Thanksgiving, while we were visiting my parents, so we could avoid the dust.  Unfortunately, the pieces that Mark needed to finish before we headed to my hometown of Pierre didn't get done.  He notified Juan that we'd have to push the project out another couple weeks.

Because Juan did this work with some friends as a side business, he found it more challenging to line up enough help to work on the project on the weekend that we were ready for him.  On that Saturday, they arrived later than we were expecting and left earlier.  They returned the next day, but again, it was later than we'd hoped and fewer people were able to work.  The house was a dusty mess.  We weren't happy.

This task was taking longer than we had hoped, which started to cause me and my eight-months-pregnant belly some serious stress.  My goal was to have a functional kitchen before we brought home our newborn.  For that to happen, the sheetrock needed to be installed and painted; and hardwood floors, cabinets, countertops and appliances all needed to be installed.  I was beginning to lose hope that any of these projects would be completed, much less all of them.

After the sheetrock was installed,  the equally-messy job of mudding and sanding began.  Juan and his buddies came over on a couple of weeknights and again on the weekend.  The compound had to dry, then be sanded, then another layer had to be applied and sanded.

On that Saturday, Mark and I made plans to be out of the house for the full day to avoid the dust.  But first our contractor needed to arrive.  We waited, called Juan, waited some more, called again, saw a car pull up, then saw it leave again.  It was Noon.  I was furious.  We called again and finally Juan arrived, alone, at 3 PM to work.  I was still furious.

Once the sheetrock was installed, I called in reinforcements to help with painting.  We owe a huge debt to my Uncle Mark and Aunt Kathy and cousins Emily and Katie for painting the main level of the house and to my mom and sister for traveling here from South Dakota to  paint the upstairs.  Because I was pregnant, I didn't want to be exposed to paint fumes, so I babysat Emily's son Adam and stayed out of the house.  We couldn't have done it without all of you!  Thank you so much!

My Aunt Kathy and cousin Emily putting primer on the walls in the kitchen.

My mom painting our baby's room green, the safe color we chose because we didn't know the baby's gender. 

My cousin Katie painting walls in the master bedroom. 

My sister Elizabeth working on walls in the master bedroom.

Uncle Mark working in the dining room.

When the painting was completed, Mark was able to begin installing the hardwood flooring in the new dining room and kitchen areas.  Two projects down, four to go before our baby was born.  Would it happen?

What's been happening inside the house?

While the framing, windows and siding were being done on the outside of the house, internally we had professionals working on plumbing and electrical.  These tasks ordinarily wouldn't be of much interest to report - running pipes and wires isn't very exciting.  But our contractors managed to give me some material for this blog anyway.

The electrical wiring in the existing house was not safe when we first moved in.  There were exposed wires, old two-pronged outlets throughout the house, no grounded outlets and an inadequate electrical box to manage the power through the house.  Mark worked with our friend Micha, a licensed electrician, to get our electrical wiring up to date and safe.  When the time came to hire a company to add electricity to our addition, we were happy to use the company that Micha worked for, and he was happy to serve as the primary electrician for the job.

Micha's work brought him to our neighborhood often, so when Mark was on leave from his job to build the house, Micha often dropped by for a cup of coffee and a chat before he went off to his job for the day.  He's the kind of friend who has no qualms about heading straight to your fridge and checking out what's there.  We kept Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches on hand primarily for him.  For a few weeks and off and on throughout the next several months, he'd be installing wiring, fixtures and switches at our place.

I was assigned the task of selecting all of our light fixtures.  It was a big job.  I bought most of them at a lighting outlet store in Golden Valley.  The building was cylindrical with no internal walls and an all-glass exterior.  It was the perfect way to display hundreds of light fixtures and lamps.  I marveled at the number of choices as I circled around and around that little shop.

One fixture I found online was perfect for our breakfast nook.  I showed it to Mark, who promptly vetoed it.  Disappointed, I kept looking for something else.  But a few days later I looked at that fixture again and found that the price had dropped by $10.  I decided to take that as a sign that I should buy it anyway.  Until it was installed, Mark maintained that he didn't like it.  Once he saw it hung in our breakfast nook, he changed his mind.

Our plumber, Al, was a hardworking, meticulous German man who thought his work through carefully to ensure that the job was done right.  Some nights he would stay to 7:00 PM or even later to finish up a task he was working on.  A few times we had to kick him out so we could go to bed.

He did make one major mistake, which made for a big mess and a good story.  He was installing pipes in an upstairs bathroom.  To do this work, he had to walk or crawl around on the joists; the subfloor would be put down afterwards.  One afternoon, when Mark and I happened to be home, we heard a big commotion.  We ran to the bathroom on the main level and found Al standing like a cat, holding a glass shelf.  He had fallen through the ceiling and brought a lot of loose insulation with him.

We were shocked that Al survived this fall unhurt and even managed to land on his feet and catch our glass shelf on the way down.  Mark ordered me to go outside, since I was pregnant and shouldn't breathe in the insulation particles swirling around the room.  He did a quick cleanup of the mess while Al apologized repeatedly and told him that he always knew he would fall through a floor like that.  He was just glad it happened at a house with such nice people.

The hole in our bathroom ceiling was covered with a piece of plywood for about four years before Mark replaced the ceiling and walls in that room.  A part of me thinks Mark wanted to keep that piece of plywood there to keep the story alive.

The finishing touches for the external work on the house

When the addition was completed, our house had nearly tripled in size, from 860 square feet to 2300.  This ambitious project caught the attention of many neighbors, who gave accolades, advice and even sometimes lemonade on their daily walks.  A lot had been accomplished in a short time, but Mark's six-week leave from work was nearly over, and he still had several windows to install and siding to put up.  Our project timeline was behind due to weather, miscalculation of time needed, and some mix-ups with materials deliveries.  To get the house sealed up in time for winter, we relied on the help of contractors, friends and a relatively warm fall that year.

We used a contractor to shingle the roof.  Mark decided that installing shingles on the steep- pitched roof should be left to the experts.  We later used the same contractor to install gutters and complete the siding. 

I got to make a couple window wells along the back wall of the house.  Other than that project, I stuck to running errands, making lunch for the laborers and going to work. 

Our shipment of 41 windows (that's right, 41) included two with broken panes, two with incorrect dimensions and two that were the wrong color.  A couple weeks went by before those windows were replaced.  The windows in the new parts of the house were all installed before Bruce and Dave went back to Australia.  It was those that needed to be retrofitted into the existing parts of the house that weren't completed, and those took additional time and skill to install properly.  When you're working with an existing house, you have to compensate for openings not being plumb and square, or in layman's terms, not straight.  But before the siding could be put up, all of the windows needed to be installed.

Several friends helped with window and door installation.

Mark installed Hardi board siding, beginning with the framing around all the windows on the main level, moving on to the siding boards on the main level.  He created a little handy tool to help him hold one end of a board while he nailed the other end.  This method enabled him to work independently.  The contractors who helped out with the remaining siding were impressed with his invention. 

Mark installing our Hardi board siding on the back of the house.

Mark and Don were glad to finish the soffit installation. 

Here is the house with windows, siding, roof and doors all installed. 

Here's the back side of the house.  There's me, about six months pregnant.

Having finished the outside of the house, it was time to start working on the inside.  We prioritized the completion of the main level before starting work on the second level.  Would we have a floor, cabinets and appliances in our kitchen before the baby arrived in February?  Time would tell.

The surprise from our old dryer

Allow me to go back in time before the major project began.  I can't leave out the story of our dryer.  Before we put the addition onto the side of the house, Mark and I decided to finally take our old, rusty, non-working dryer out of the basement and get it hauled away.  We planned to drag it up the stairs and out the side door that was mercifully located at the top of the stairs.

The two of us lifted the dryer step by step, Mark at the bottom and myself at the top.  That thing was heavy!  Each time we dropped it onto a step, a coin or two fell out.  We got partway up the flight of stairs and Mark decided to give the dryer a thump.  A handful of coins fell out! I banged on the top of the dryer and more fell out of the bottom.  How about that?  The previous owner left us a little money in the dryer to go toward functioning appliances!  No wonder it was so heavy!

Once the dryer was outside, we took turns banging and shaking it to see how much more change would fall out.  Did someone think this machine was coin operated?  Mark took it apart to see if we could find where the coins were coming from.  But ultimately, our method of banging and shaking proved most successful in getting the coins to drop out of the bottom.

We guessed that the previous owner didn't empty his pockets of change before washing and drying clothes.  Nearly $40.00 in coins came out of that dryer that day.  Not enough to pay for the new dryer we had already purchased, but hey, every bit helps, right?

We can't turn back now!

Once our renovation plans were finalized, Mark was on the phone with his dad and brother in Australia.  They had agreed to travel to Minneapolis to help build the addition.  The two  would arrive in early July, with the expectation that the project would have been at the point when the framing could begin.  We had a great deal to do before they arrived to work on our project.

A little wrinkle in our planning came up just before we started this major project.  I got pregnant with our firstborn.  It was exciting, but also challenging to determine whether we should go ahead with our plans.  At the very least, I wouldn't be able to help with a number of projects that would expose me to chemicals that may harm the baby.  But we ultimately decided to proceed as planned and re-allocate our respective tasks to ensure that I didn't put my health, or that of the baby's, at risk.

Mark set to work tearing apart our half-story - taking down drywall, removing carpet, and tearing out insulation.  Then, he and a friend tore off the roof.  There was definitely no turning back now.  We literally had no roof over our heads.

Check out our Tear-down slideshow!

Some tasks seemed more appropriate to delegate to people with the training and tools for the job.  We hired a contractor to dig the basement for our addition.  Then, a concrete contractor built the basement walls.  Everything started to feel much more real once we had no roof and a deep hole in our yard.

New Basement Slideshow

Mark's dad, Bruce, and brother, Dave, arrived ready to tackle the framing segment of the project.  We were lucky to have a neighbor's brother, Don, who was a semi-retired builder, to lead the way.  All three Bertrams admitted that they wouldn't have made so much progress in two weeks were it not for Don's leadership.  The three would have wasted time arguing about the proper way to get the job done.

On an unlucky night before the roof was built, we, along with our next-door neighbors, Kevin and Meg, scrambled to put up several tarps to keep out the rain that poured down that night.  It was a stressful process, but we succeeded in keeping out the rain.

Framing slideshow

Dave's girlfriend Sophia flew into Minneapolis and the two of them took off on a cross-country road trip.  Two days later Bruce departed for Australia.  We were grateful for their help and happy with the progress that had been made up to that point.  It was fun to see the house take shape and begin to visualize how it would look when finished.