floor restoration

So apparently there is a very large difference between refinishing a floor vs restoring a floor...who knew?  Certainly not I.  I spent the last two weeks of my life pulling up tiles, carpet, staples and nails.  Once that was over I thought is was smooth sailing.  I thought Home Depot gave you a sander for the day and voila....24 hours later you had nice smooth floors. 

Boy was I ever loving wrong.  I should have been tipped off when I heard we needed a drum sander and not an orbital.  Apparently the orbital wouldn't take care of the damage that the drum sander would.  What?  There's damage?  I didn't realize that the splintered floor boards in the middle of the dining room or running down the length of the hallway posed an issue.  I certainly didn't realize that the 50 or 60 year old paint covering large portions of floor boards would be difficult to sand off and would ruin disc after disc after disc.  I also failed to understand that when my husband had to replace damaged floorboards in 5 of the 6 rooms we were refinishing that in fact we weren't refinishing but refurbishing!!  Holy smokes someone should have prepared me. 

By day number 4 of sanding the floorboards, my husband corrected me when I commented on how long the refinishing process took when people assured me it would be relatively easy.  At this point in time, my husband gently informed me that we were restoring the floor to it's origins and not simply refinishing a floor that needed a new coat of poly.  Oh!!  So that's why we are moving into day #5 of sanding and still haven't sealed the boards....now I see. 

It has been a slow and arduous process but one that will pay off in the long run.  I had every intention of documenting with pictures until I misplaced the battery charger for the 100th time and have had no chance to look for it.  I have had thoughts of investing in a video camera to tape the rest of the refinishing and the 95 projects on our to do list ranging from dishwasher installation to laying tile to blowing foam insulation.  Somewhere along the way I am also trying to convince my husband that hot tub installation needs to be bumped to the top 5 on the list.  For the meantime though floor restoration has become my home away from home, my second job, my other love....