To briefly recap the day that just happened would take another day, so I will summarize on parts and go into great detail on the funny bits.
To start the day we knew our task on hand: get the last layer off the kitchen floor. This was the 1930's vinyl floor adhesive backing that was stuck on the hardwood floors, PS the only good looking layer of flooring other than the wood floor was the third layer of laminate flooring, most likely from the 60's. Since we didn't have a floor sander or any kind of sander for that matter we knew that we needed to get one ASAP. Since it is Sunday most of the pawn shops we frequent were closed, we searched all over the three nearest towns and found only one pawn shop open and he had a few sanders which were all overpriced, when he didn't go for my sweet southern charm to get the price lower I pulled a John Wayne move and walked out. We (about 2 hours later) ended up exactly where we started from- Home Depot- which as a side note I went to 6 times just today; and 4 out of those 6 times I was in the return line returning the items that didn't work for sanding our floor. We became known with the return lady as "The newlywed home improvement couple). We learned today many lessons, 1: Ryobi is our friend, since we are poor and we had to make the most out of Prestons most recent pay check we had to go with the cheaper tools. 2. It would be really nice if they made a "never dulling sandpaper" or atleast make it more freaking durable. 3. If they couldn't make a more durable sandpaper why cant there be a 24 hour sandpaper mart where Preston and I could buy some more and finish the little bit of sanding we needed to do.
Altogether we ended up buying a whole lot of sandpaper, a orbital sander which is good for more detail work, a belt sander which has more balls and really gets after it without any fear like a WW2 Sherman Tank or a tiger ready for a nice dinner, more sandpaper, some big gap filler (because under the thresholds there are big gaping holes to the underneath of the house) and a really cool "bit" to our drill. It is a metal wire crazy thing and really is good for getting the top layer of crap off the last later of the wood floor.
Funny sayings for the day:
Preston: atleast if we ever ended up to be homeless people we would be happy!
Man at Chipotle: MAN! You are so dirty!
Preston: Yeah, we've been living on the side of the road for the last month.
Mr. Chipotle: Which road?
Preston: hahaha, naw, we've been sanding our kitchen floor, believe it or not we showered just this morning!
Also as a side note, Preston and I both ended up injuring ourselves; I got a gash in my shin from a piece of flooring that jabbed me. And Preston was going so crazy with his crowbar that he made a piece of flooring jam into his arm and slice him. Thank goodness for band-aids and neosporin.
PS. Just as another side note. The DIY folks on all those shows on DIY and HGTV completely bypass some of the most important things when renovating your home. First; Not any sanding job is a "quick sanding job" no, we realized (perhaps too late) that you really should cover your doorways with plastic and tape so your house doesn't begin to look like your Aunt Gertrude died and then her cats died and all the dust in the world came into your home and settled on EVERYTHING. Second; it takes so much more effort than they let you see to do this stuff. Preston and I are walking around like 80 year old folks after 2 days of this kind of crazy labor and we are both under 30 and in decent shape. Thirdly, the last thing they don't ever share with you, sometimes you just need a shot of Whiskey to continue. After working yourself silly and sanding a kitchen floor with a 5 inch orbital sander and a belt sander and going through soooooooooo muchhhhhhhhh sandpaper, whiskey is almost the only things that keeps you going. Not to mention the laughter that Preston and I shared, sometimes you just reach the point that laughter is the only thing that keeps you going because if you start to cry it is just straight to hell for your home improvement project.
Preston and I need to shower up and get ready for tomorrow, since Preston works a real job we need to get some sleep.
SIDE NOTE: People are really crazy, they just tell you things like you can't use a belt sander to sand a floor and blah blah blah but honestly, have you tried it? Everyone has an opinion and not everyone has tried it, and not everyone opinion is a good opinion. You have to sometimes try things for yourself to know if something really works or not. Just try something, because if you are right you will be completely happy and if you are wrong, big freaking deal and you can just figure something else out. If you are smart enough and don't just listen to everything everyone else says you can pull your own John Wayne move and just figure it out your self and not have to have your hand held like you are in 1st grade going to the bathroom or a spineless twit who can't think for them-self. This will save you a LOT OF MONEY. Too many people go around asking Can I do this? and then they end up at Home Depot asking the workers "How can I do this?". LET ME REMIND YOU: They work at Home Depot! Probably not the sharpest tool in the box. Insead just get after it, last time I checked I was able to potty by myself, hold a steady job, and re do a house with my husband and throw other peoples suggestions out the window because they just act like they know things.
Bed now, check out these pictures. Even our crowbars love eachother.
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Floor after a day worth of sanding:
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