{"id":292,"date":"2011-12-06T12:25:19","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T17:25:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=292"},"modified":"2014-09-03T22:31:06","modified_gmt":"2014-09-04T02:31:06","slug":"how-we-made-sure-our-friends-didnt-fall-through-the-floor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=292","title":{"rendered":"How we made sure our friends didn’t fall through the floor"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write today’s story, Opie and I are sitting in our sun room.\u00a0 That’s because it’s one\u00a0of the only rooms left we can actually walk into.\u00a0 We are in the process of installing hardwood floors.\u00a0 And it is quite a process.<\/p>\n

The way\u00a0our little\u00a0house was made there was only one layer of pine boards installed on the floor joists.\u00a0 There was no sub floor.\u00a0 In the last 78 years no one has added to it, but instead took away.\u00a0 Everytime\u00a0it was\u00a0sanded and refinished\u00a0the floor boards got a bit thinner.\u00a0 If we had tried to do that again\u00a0there may not be enough for support for let’s say the couch.\u00a0 Or the dog.\u00a0 There was a section that had been repaired before we had moved in but the wood was inferior to the old growth that was there and couldn’t hack the pressure.\u00a0 It had started to split and break up to the point where if you left the basement light on you could tell through the floor.\u00a0 We worried one of our taller, huskier friends might fall through.<\/p>\n

Here is the old floor.\u00a0 The finish has taken a beating from a certain someone’s paws sliding through the room while playing ball.\u00a0 The blue tape\u00a0at the top right is where the floor was breaking up and I was trying to contain the damage.\u00a0 Classy, I know.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Old floor<\/p><\/div>\n

It took me a long time to come to grips with the fact I couldn’t save the original floors.\u00a0 I didn’t want a brand new floor in my old house that would look out of place.\u00a0 I was also very concerned with the thought of that floor being made of a bunch of trees that were cut down in the process.\u00a0 I had been pushing this project off until it became obvious that we didn’t have a choice.<\/p>\n

Although I love the cork we installed in my bedroom I didn’t want that for the whole house.\u00a0 It’s was actually used in the 1930s so it fits but I wanted wood.\u00a0\u00a0So we then went to\u00a0reclaimed wood as an idea.\u00a0 This means that old wood that was\u00a0used to build\u00a0buildings maybe\u00a0a hundred years ago would be reused instead of being just trashed or burned.\u00a0\u00a0After being saved, it is\u00a0remilled into flooring. \u00a0Well, lately a lot of people have thought the same thing which is great for the\u00a0environment but not for my wallet.\u00a0 Demand means higher prices.\u00a0\u00a0Plus just as with\u00a0everything else, there are some mills that are shady\u00a0and sell you a bunch of wood you\u00a0can’t actually use.<\/p>\n

I called Norman at Green With Envy Home Store<\/a>.\u00a0 I buy all my paints and stains from him for the design business and he is a very knowledgeable green contractor.\u00a0 I asked his advice on where to look and he called me back in about 3 minutes and told me to look on Mountain Lumber Co’s <\/a>site.\u00a0 They are a reclaimed wood company in Virginia that sources there wood locally.\u00a0 That means not only are the products not coming from who knows where in China, but they don’t have far to be shipped.<\/p>\n

There was a sale on Antique Oak but it was only for a couple of weeks.\u00a0 That meant I had to buy it from pictures only with Norman’s assurance it was a quality product.\u00a0 That may seem crazy and well, frankly it was.\u00a0\u00a0I love to research everything and this was a total leap.\u00a0 I must have asked TB about a thousand times whether I should do it.\u00a0 And I did.\u00a0 I bought enough wood to go throughout the living room\/dining room, office and kitchen.\u00a0 It wouldn’t be done at the same time but I wanted it to all match since the house has an open floor plan.<\/p>\n

When I ordered with Janel at Mountain Lumber I was told that the sale was on random width and random lengths.\u00a0 So I gave them the square footage and they sent me a bunch of wood.\u00a0 The shortest board was 16 inches,\u00a0\u00a0the longest board was 10 feet 2 inches, with everything inbetween.\u00a0 It also came in 4 widths: 3 inch, 4 inch, 5 inch and 6 inch.\u00a0It would be made up of lumber from a dismantled barn in Virginia\u00a0or West Virginia. \u00a0Little did I know then the jigsaw puzzle I had just bought.\u00a0 Here is what arrived.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So now that we had picked the wood and it had been delivered\u00a0we had to install it.\u00a0 And before Christmas since I am hosting dinner for at the lastest count 8 people.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s funny how every project ends up a little ridiculous.\u00a0 Tomorrow the install!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I write today’s story, Opie and I are sitting in our sun room.\u00a0 That’s because it’s one\u00a0of the only rooms left we can actually walk into.\u00a0 We are in the process of installing hardwood floors.\u00a0 And it is quite…
Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,20],"tags":[56,52,51,54,55],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/IMG_0134.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1J4KT-4I","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":302,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=302","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":0},"title":"The Floor Install","date":"December 6, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"It is very handy to know people who know how to do things.\u00a0 My Uncle John\u00a0is one of those people.\u00a0 He worked refinishing floors for 20 years or so and luckily was willing to help me get the floors done.\u00a0 Now you may be wondering why I didn't just do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/IMG_0352.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":314,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=314","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":1},"title":"The Floor Finishing","date":"December 14, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The last step in the project is sanding and finishing.\u00a0 For once I didn't have\u00a0much to do with the process.\u00a0 My biggest contribution was keeping Opie and his constantly shedding in December hair out of the room. There are so many finish options available and it can be overwhelming.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/IMG_0374.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":784,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=784","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":2},"title":"This place is a mess","date":"June 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I know I have been rather scare around these parts lately. \u00a0It is not because it's summer and I am sitting at the beach getting tan. \u00a0I don't really tan. \u00a0In fact when I went to Vegas a few years ago, a guy came up to me and asked if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Green Ideas"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/IMG_1249-764x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":739,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=739","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":3},"title":"The new office floor","date":"May 16, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"On Saturday we got to install the new floor in the office. \u00a0It was a long morning. Since we had already installed this same flooring in the living room, we knew the deal. \u00a0We had figured out who was good at what and we all had jobs. \u00a0The floor itself\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/staple-gun-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":732,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=732","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":4},"title":"Demo Day in the Office","date":"May 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"When we decided to put new floors in the living\/dining room in December, we also bought enough of the same floor to go in the office and kitchen. \u00a0We knew for a number of reasons we would have to install the floor in stages. \u00a0Tomorrow is stage two, the office.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Before & After"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/office-floor-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1006,"url":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/?p=1006","url_meta":{"origin":292,"position":5},"title":"Reclaimed Wood Signs","date":"November 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I love to makeover furniture. \u00a0The problem with furniture is that it takes up a lot of room. \u00a0And working on it makes your arms very, very tired. \u00a0 I thought maybe I could start working on something smaller for the shop. \u00a0I figured TB would really appreciate a break\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Green Ideas"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ridiculousredhead.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/screw-it-sign-ksd.jpeg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=292"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2207,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292\/revisions\/2207"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ridiculousredhead.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}