Once the repairs in the teak were finished, it was time to get down to the really messy part of the floor project–sanding and refinishing the teak through about half of the house. This, of course, meant moving ALL of the furniture and pictures somewhere else. Thankfully we still didn’t have much in the way of furniture in the great room, and what we did have, including all the house plants in the foyer, could be moved outside, to the studio building, or onto the tile in the great room. From the north end of the house, we moved just about everything, including the bookcases, closet contents, china cabinets and such, into the blue room. The boys, however, had to be moved out of the house, so we rolled their cages into the studio building. They weren’t entirely keen on that idea, but it was the safest spot for them considering how much dust was about to be created.
Then the guys from Leslie Floors, who would handle the bulk of the sanding, taped plastic across all the doorways into rooms that don’t have teak. They did leave the power room bathroom open for themselves, but every other door, including to our bedroom and my office, were sealed up. It’s a good thing we have so many sliding glass doors, because if we wanted to enter or exit our bedroom or the south end of the house for the next week and a half, we had to use them. And if I wanted to leave my office…well, that required a utility ladder and climbing through a window.
Soon enough, the sanding began. Here the floor is taken over for that week.
Below is a great shot of the bare floor, compared to the deep cherry-esque stain the POs had used. After a couple days’ work, everything was looking great and it was time to test the goop to seal the wood. We elected to have the wood look as natural as possible. The stuff we used goes on kind of purply, but then cures and becomes clear with a bit of shine.
After a couple of days and coats of sealant, we had gorgeous floors. The next post will have some before and after images.