So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[tango]

Walk this morning in the glorious sunshine. More proximity to people today - we passed within about 30 feet of a family playing ball in their front yard in the sun.

Now getting ready to cut some baseboards, measure and cut extra holes for electrical backboxes, and then I can start staining them. I took the chance to pick up some floor-grade lacquer from the hardware store so I can lacquer the baseboard when it's stained, and then lacquer the floor when the space is fully cleared.

 

[Naiwen]

Good afternoon all, having a French dark roast coffee and Chinese herbal tea. Lunching on leftovers with orange juice. Doing aroma therapy and music therapy till dinner and heading to bed tonight.

 

[tango]

I found my baseboards aren't quite the same width. They are pretty close - within a little under 1/8" - but different enough that I can't just put them next to each other in a corner and figure it will work out. So I spent some time cutting a thicker piece of wood to make three posts to go in the corners - about 50% thicker than the baseboards and a couple of inches taller, with a rounded edge and tapered top. If I put the baseboards against these corner posts a slight difference in the width of the board should be a lot less noticeable.

And if gives me something else I need to pin into place, to sand, stain and lacquer. Maybe tomorrow I can get on with some of that. Today was really very demoralising until I figured I could cut the corner posts. The room previously had posts but I'm not sure what happened to them when I took everything apart. It's possible they splintered - the way everything was held together with enormous nails it's far from impossible they didn't survive being pried apart.

 

[NewCreation435]

It is suppose to be warm here today about 84 degrees. Maybe going outside today to walk if the trails are open

 

[tango]

Been measuring, marking and cutting holes in the baseboard. Luckily I've got a short blade on my jigsaw so I can cut it without needing to stack stuff underneath it.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, breakfast is Belgian waffles with maple syrup and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

Nice walk in the sun with my wife. A slower pace today - neither of us were really feeling like rushing around. Now back to the work room to get some more holes cut.

 

[Lamb]

Making stir fry for dinner and watching tv. We walked to visit the cows earlier at the Amish farm and my husband is the cow whisperer. They kept wanting to follow him.

 

[tango]

Speaking of cows, a friend of ours is a farmer and talking about sending a cow or two for slaughter in (I think) June. Just lately it seems most of the meat has disappeared from supermarkets - another effect of parts of the food supply chain being shut down I guess. I think I'm going to talk to my friend to see what it would cost to buy a good chunk of cow.

I can only fit so much in the freezer at once but want to take enough that it's absolutely clear I'm not accepting it as a freebie. Our friend isn't one to take money for stuff but if I'm having more than a single steak or two I don't want him to give me a whole stack of meat.

 

[Krissy Cakes]

Laying in bed, listening to music.

 

[tango]

Got a bunch of work done today. I ran my belt sander over the boards that are going to become the baseboards, with a finer grit belt to smooth them off and get a nice finish on them. Then I cut holes for the electrical back boxes - back boxes don't normally go in the baseboards but the only other options are to either replace all of the antique wood or leave unsightly holes. Then I ran a router along the edge to give them something a little nicer than a square edge, ran a random orbital sander over everything to smooth it all off, and finally got them stained. They are looking quite nice now. Tomorrow I can lacquer them.

 

[Lamb]

We slept with the windows open last night and there was too much noise outside to actually get good sleep. The frogs were making noise. The baby foxes were making noise. Then it rained.

 

[tango]

We slept with the windows open last night and there was too much noise outside to actually get good sleep. The frogs were making noise. The baby foxes were making noise. Then it rained.

Opening windows at night isn't much of an option for us because of noise from the road

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, enjoying my usual breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[tango]

My stained baseboards are looking good. This morning I got a first coat of lacquer on them. My plan is to put a second coat on this evening. This time I put the window fan in place to suck out the vapors before I started working.

I also took the chance to pick up some longer nails for my nail gun. With the thickness of the baseboard and drywall the nails I already had wouldn't have reached the wall studs. The longer nails will go about half an inch into the studs. I considered going longer still but the longest nails are long enough to hit the cables if I misjudge positions. Normally I'd prefer the cables to be further back from the drywall but it's hard to do that with the depth of the wall studs I have to work with.

Now I really want to be getting on with more work in that room but need to wait for the lacquer to dry. I'd prefer to have taken the boards out to stain and lacquer, but I'm still working with the board that's too big to get out. Once that's in place on the wall I can carry other boards out and stain them elsewhere, which will be handy. It will mean I can stain and lacquer the boards in the basement, and lacquer the floor while they are drying.

 

[Lamb]

Got done with the groceries, finally ate breakfast and now will grab my pepper spray, phone, and ID to head out for a nice 3 mile walk. I believe the cows miss me.

 

[Naiwen]

Good morning all, had about 12 hours sleep last night, having my usual breakfast and my morning coffee.

 

[Lamb]

Still waking up and turned on the news which I rarely do while drinking my coffee and eating an egg for breakfast.

 

[tango]

Got done with the groceries, finally ate breakfast and now will grab my pepper spray, phone, and ID to head out for a nice 3 mile walk. I believe the cows miss me.

Beef is good with pepper sauce

 

[tango]

Got a couple of things to see to, then I can get busy rebuilding my room. The baseboards are looking really nice, if anything I think they look a lot nicer than they did before I stripped their previous coating. You can see the grain much better now.

The next process will be to stain and lacquer the posts that go in the corners, cut holes in the drywall to feed the cables through, and get the back boxes fitted to the baseboards and connected up. Then, with the baseboards out of the way, it will be easier to measure what I need to make the rest of the baseboards, get holes cut as needed, and continue the process. I can stain and lacquer those outside of the room though, so I won't be stuck waiting for stuff to dry before I can press on with anything else.

I suspect the biggest job remaining will be to lacquer the floor. It seems like it could take a while to apply lacquer to the entire floor, and I'll need to figure out how best to apply it around the door so I can get out of the room when I'm finished.