Back and Forth

This weekend we spent most of our time finishing the floor. Unfortunately this was a come-and-go process. We put down three coats of Zip Guard (I'll post a link to the right) water-based "environmental" finish. It went on easily and dried very quickly. One end was starting to dry by the time we got to the other. We started out by sweeping off the wood and rubbing it down with alcohol to remove as much of the dust and footprints as possible. The first coat went on and we came back in an hour and it was dry. We sanded it down (by hand which made Anne wonder why we hadn't rented a machine) and then applied the second coat. We came back another hour later, sand and repeat. It was very low odor and on their website it claims that it out-wears "polyurethane, varnishes and lacquer finishes 2-1." I'm not sure I buy that and we will subject it to very heavy wear (i.e. Shanks) but the flooring is made to be replaced.


On Sunday we came back and sanded again and I put on a fourth coat. I let this one sit for a few hours this time (and the Patriots game was basically over by halftime) and then went back to finish putting in the screws. As there are about 50 screws per sheet it took a while. I put in all the fasteners but those along the edges which will require a 90-degree gun. We'll let the finish cure for a few days and start the cabinet installation this weekend.






Skylight ready for plaster.