Effectively, yesterday didn’t fairly go as deliberate. My flooring within the bed room suite nonetheless aren’t utterly completed, however they’re shut! I solely have yet another step to do, after which they’ll be completed. However let me begin in the beginning and share the nice, the dangerous, and the humiliating from yesterday.
Yesterday morning, I confirmed you what our pink oak hardwood flooring regarded like after I spent three days sanding off the darkish end utilizing the drum sander and the sting sander, doing extra element sanding and scraping to take away the end across the door jambs and corners, after which including a coat of Bona NaturalSeal to the flooring.
My plan for yesterday was to do the primary coat of Bona TrafficHD clear coat early within the morning, then do a second coat within the early afternoon (since every coat dries in about two hours). Then I’d take a break and have an early dinner with a good friend, and on my means residence, I’d cease at House Depot to lease a buffer in order that I might buff the ground earlier than including the third and closing coat of TrafficHD clear coat. I felt fairly assured that I’d have the ground completed by the point I went to mattress.
The primary coat went as deliberate. The second coat went as deliberate. Renting the buffer went as deliberate.
I acquired residence with the buffer round 7:45pm, and I estimated it could take me about an hour to buff the ground, about Half-hour to do a closing vacuuming of the ground, and about 40 minutes to use the ultimate coat. I’d be carried out round 10:00 or 10:30 on the newest. That looks like an affordable plan, proper? Mistaken. 😂
I acquired the buffer inside, acquired it plugged in, and acquired the attachments on and able to go, and that’s when my plan went sideways. Have y’all ever used one these machines? Oh my gosh. How on the earth is it even attainable?! I can think about that’s it’s in all probability simpler to make use of on a moist software, however how is it even attainable to make use of this on a dry software like I wanted to do?
I had watched a YouTube video of somebody utilizing this actual machine (however he was utilizing it on a moist software with water and suds), they usually warned that in case you’ve by no means used a gradual velocity buffer earlier than, you’ll must take a while to get used to it. They warned that it might take just a few tries earlier than you work it out, and it’s finest to start out in the course of a big room. In order that’s what I did. I began proper in the course of the bed room, pressed the button on the facet, braced myself as a lot as I might to push again in opposition to the pressure that I used to be anticipating from the spinning pad, after which squeezed the handles to make the buffer begin turning.
Inside what appeared like a cut up second, the buffer had flown from the middle of the room, throughout the ground, and into the facet wall, dragging me behind it holding on for expensive life and bashing a gap within the drywall.
The loopy factor is that when an enormous machine flies uncontrolled like that, your pure intuition and reflex is to carry on even tighter to attempt to management it. However holding on tighter means squeezing the handles even tougher, and that simply makes the buffer go sooner! 😂 It appears utterly counterintuitive to launch the handles and let go utterly when it begins to get away from you, particularly when your reflexes inform you to seize on tighter.
So I attempted once more. And once more. And once more. I attempted it in all probability ten instances, and it wasn’t getting any higher. Irrespective of how tightly I held on, or how a lot I braced myself, there was no means I might get the buffer to remain in a single place. It was bodily inconceivable for me to maintain the buffer from flying throughout the ground every time I began it.
I lastly gave up after concerning the tenth attempt when it left this gentle curved mark on the ground.
I don’t know in case you can see it, however I can, and it frustrates the heck out of me. The excellent news is that if that mark reveals after the ultimate clear coat, at the least it’ll be below the realm rug.
In complete, it took me about ten minutes to understand this simply wasn’t going to occur. There was no means this buffer machine and I have been going to get alongside. I’m a fairly cussed and decided lady, however I used to be battling a machine that was much more cussed and decided that I used to be, and even with all the energy I might muster, I used to be no match for it. So about ten minutes after unloading it from the van and wheeling it into the bed room, I used to be rolling up the twine, wheeling it again to the van, and heading again to House Depot.
I couldn’t assist however giggle when the person who had simply rented out the buffer to me regarded up and noticed me wheeling that machine again into the rental division. He didn’t even react, virtually like he had been anticipating me. 😀 I simply laughed and stated, “I don’t even come near being robust sufficient to make use of this machine.” He grinned at me and stated, “I believed it is likely to be an issue for you.” Ugh. Why didn’t he warn me? I imply, I do know why he didn’t. He couldn’t. It’s not precisely acceptable lately for a person to say to a lady, “I don’t suppose you’ll have the ability to use this.” However I positive want he might have stated that to me earlier than I wasted time renting it, dragging it residence, bashing holes within the wall, leaving marks on the ground, and dragging that machine again to House Depot.
I had it for such a short while that he was variety sufficient to simply void the rental contract and refund the rental charge to me. So the entire humiliating expertise solely value me the $10 I wasted on the buffer pad and the hour of time I wasted on two journeys to House Depot.
I laughed till I had tears streaming down my face when he handed me the voided contract and I noticed this…
Sure, that’s proper. It was a half day rental. Precise time? 19 minutes. 🤣🤣 Oh my gosh, I’m laughing so arduous once more proper now that I can barely see by my tears. 🤣 I’m fairly positive I had it longer than that as a result of the drive from our home to House Depot is about 12-Quarter-hour. So simply driving residence with the buffer after which driving again would have taken 25-Half-hour. Possibly he tweaked it a bit of as a result of it must be below a sure time restrict with the intention to void it. I’m undecided. If that’s the case, I’m very grateful that he had pity on me. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless so humorous, an a bit of embarrassing, to see that on the rental contract.
However I nonetheless needed to sand the ground earlier than the ultimate coat as a result of the ground was too tough to place the ultimate coat on with out sanding. So I ended up doing the complete factor with my little 5-inch sander and 220-grit sanding discs.
It truly didn’t take that lengthy. I feel I acquired the entire flooring in all three areas sanded in about an hour and Quarter-hour. That’s not too dangerous. However I didn’t have time to do the ultimate coat of clear coat lasts evening. I’ll have to complete up right now. So yesterday didn’t fairly finish how I had deliberate, however at the least I realized one thing (that lesson being that I CANNOT use a flooring buffer), and I acquired a superb giggle out of the deal.
In different information, I took an opportunity and ordered the fourth closet rod that I wanted from a unique Amazon retailer. It matched completely, and I managed to chop it to the proper size this time, so at the least that’s carried out.
Addicted 2 Adorning is the place I share my DIY and adorning journey as I rework and enhance the 1948 fixer higher that my husband, Matt, and I purchased in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do bodily work, so I do nearly all of the work on the home on my own. You possibly can be taught extra about me right here.
