Side effects

Okay it's time for me to come clean about something. We have pretty much sacrificed an entire summer for our 2nd floor wood work. We started in June with the removal of the trim. That claimed 2 of my vacation days. (June 3-June 6)

Then we continued with nail pulling, which went on for weeks and weeks. (June 11-June 26)

So after 2 weekends, I finished the nail removal and then we had to label the wood with a dremel. The Sharpie just wouldn't hold up under the harsh chemical strippers. (June 26-June 28)

Steve handled the dremel task since my hands were wrecked from 2 weekends of nail removal. Just imagine almost 2 full days work each weekend removing nails. Which circle of hell do you think this is?

After this, our wood pile was transported across town to be stripped. This gave us a merciful reprieve until, just shy of 2 weeks later, we got the first of the wood back. (July 9)

Next up, building the drying rack, so we had an organized place to store and have the wood dry from staining.(July 15)

After about a month of repairing cracked boards, filling cracks with wood filler, and sanding, a bit of burnout was experienced.(August 6)

But when you are working with a deadline and a budget, you have to get back on that horse.(August 7)

And just when you can see the light at the end of the tunnel? Well, you find out there's more wood to finish.(August 10)

But you keep on keepin' on.(August 13-20)

Now we are truly reaching the finish line with the wood work. (Present)

We're looking at only maybe 2 more weekends max of working on trim.
Any side effects you might ask?

Well, my sinuses are very irritated from allergies (I get them in August) and the sawdust and I think from the fumes from the stain*. So are my eyes. I try to wear a respirator but it's summer and it's hot and I have been outdoors and I didn't think it would be so bad. I think I've said before that my right arm is bionic.

We are both very tired and somehow we just keep going. This is not to say it was a miserable summer. Obviously we enjoy the work or else we wouldn't sign up for it but we get tired.

Just wanted to paint a realistic picture for anyone crazy enough to think of undertaking this project: Refinishing 1900 feet of wood trim in a summer.

Oh I just remembered, I have 9 doors to finish! Oh well, what's another 2 weeks right?

We just got our Jorgensen Clamps for gluing the doors as the joints are loose.

Next up: clamping and re-gluing 9 oak doors, sanding them, restoring the hardware and the staining. At least it's not trim though. We've had enough of trimwork for a while.

*Free advice from author: Wear a Dust Mask while sanding!