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I'm
hoping that you may be able to give me a bit of
advice. Here's the deal....My fiance & I just bought
a house here in town. We live in central Georgia, by
the way..The house was built in 1920, and when we tore
up the carpet, we noticed that it had the original
pine plank flooring.
It had a couple layers of paint on it, but it was
no match for the sander that I rented from the local
rental store. After 3 days of sanding just the living
room, I was happy with it. It was pretty yellow pine,
with some heart wood boards mixed in. The final pass
of the sander, I hit the floor with 100 grit paper to
make it nice and smooth.
It was getting late that night when we finished, so
we swept up the sawdust and put it in the trashcan,
along with the broom and dustpan. We then left to go
back to our other home, since we haven't moved in yet.
When we returned the next morning, I smelled smoke.
When I walked into the living room, I just about went
through the roof. I had a hole the size of the trash
can in the middle of my floor! The floor that I
slaved on for 3 days! At first we didn't realize that
it was the trash can. Then I noticed the black
plastic ring around the perimeter of the hole. My
fiance at first thought that she might have dropped a
cigarette in the trash can. It broke my spirits so
badly, that I almost gave up on the rest of the rooms.
We had several friends and family members come by
to check on the floor that day. They all knew that I
had been sanding the living room for days. Everyone
felt so terrible about it, especially my fiance.
Later on that night, one of my old friends who saw the
hole earlier stopped by with some strange news. First
he told my fiance that it was not her fault. He found
out that when I sanded with the finer grit sand paper,
the varnish apparently gives off some sort of gas.
When we piled all the sawdust in the trash can, it
didn't have air to allow the gas to escape, and it
just started smoldering. We are very happy that our
new home didn't burn down. That next night, after we
finished sanding the dining room, we just left the
dust on the floor!
Now I'm trying to deal with the problem at hand.
Luckily, my little brother just bought an old home as
well, and he pulled up some flooring in his house
exactly like the floor that I have. I can't decide
how to approach the repair of this floor. I have
experience working with wood, as I worked in
construction for 5+ years. So I'd like to do the work
myself. The boards are tongue & groove, and I just am
not sure how to install the new boards without making
the floor look like it has been patched. Any
suggestions that you might have would be most
appreciated, and if you need more information, please
don't hesitate to ask.
Thank you very much, and have a good day!
Jake McNutt
hoping that you may be able to give me a bit of
advice. Here's the deal....My fiance & I just bought
a house here in town. We live in central Georgia, by
the way..The house was built in 1920, and when we tore
up the carpet, we noticed that it had the original
pine plank flooring.
It had a couple layers of paint on it, but it was
no match for the sander that I rented from the local
rental store. After 3 days of sanding just the living
room, I was happy with it. It was pretty yellow pine,
with some heart wood boards mixed in. The final pass
of the sander, I hit the floor with 100 grit paper to
make it nice and smooth.
It was getting late that night when we finished, so
we swept up the sawdust and put it in the trashcan,
along with the broom and dustpan. We then left to go
back to our other home, since we haven't moved in yet.
When we returned the next morning, I smelled smoke.
When I walked into the living room, I just about went
through the roof. I had a hole the size of the trash
can in the middle of my floor! The floor that I
slaved on for 3 days! At first we didn't realize that
it was the trash can. Then I noticed the black
plastic ring around the perimeter of the hole. My
fiance at first thought that she might have dropped a
cigarette in the trash can. It broke my spirits so
badly, that I almost gave up on the rest of the rooms.
We had several friends and family members come by
to check on the floor that day. They all knew that I
had been sanding the living room for days. Everyone
felt so terrible about it, especially my fiance.
Later on that night, one of my old friends who saw the
hole earlier stopped by with some strange news. First
he told my fiance that it was not her fault. He found
out that when I sanded with the finer grit sand paper,
the varnish apparently gives off some sort of gas.
When we piled all the sawdust in the trash can, it
didn't have air to allow the gas to escape, and it
just started smoldering. We are very happy that our
new home didn't burn down. That next night, after we
finished sanding the dining room, we just left the
dust on the floor!
Now I'm trying to deal with the problem at hand.
Luckily, my little brother just bought an old home as
well, and he pulled up some flooring in his house
exactly like the floor that I have. I can't decide
how to approach the repair of this floor. I have
experience working with wood, as I worked in
construction for 5+ years. So I'd like to do the work
myself. The boards are tongue & groove, and I just am
not sure how to install the new boards without making
the floor look like it has been patched. Any
suggestions that you might have would be most
appreciated, and if you need more information, please
don't hesitate to ask.
Thank you very much, and have a good day!
Jake McNutt