Floor Lessons

Took day off work - lots of errands - have master bath tile (except for 9 accent tiles), wood for drawers and shelves for built-in. Good progress on finishing built-ins...

Another item today was the third quote from another floor finisher. The hardwood didn't hold up very well though all this. It swelled and cupped throughout - the reason is in question. Could be the loss of A/C during a hot and humid summer, or else moisture from the crawl space - which could be from sweating A/C ducts or the "sink-hole" I mentioned a few days ago.

As for the sink-hole - here's the deal: on the extreme opposite end of the house from the crawl space entrance, is a hole (deep, down below the blocks, to the poured foundation), filled with water, and the water main into the house and sewer line out are both "in" the hole. I hadn't noticed previously, but during the last trip in there, there is a large amount of sand piled up, under the plastic, adjacent top the hole - as if it was purposely dug up. Also, there is a "Terminix" tag hanging from an insulation hanger over the middle of the "pond" - they check for moisture and termite activity quarterly - never reported a problem, in fact, always checked it out as "OK", including moisture...

In any event, today's vendor actually tested the hardwood floor for moisture - and told me it was dried out. The hole is still there, and still full of water, so I'm thinking it was the absence of A/C that damaged the floor. The good news, the floor will recover. Need to figure out the pond though... my plan is to pump out the water, fill in the hole with the adjacent sand, install some crawl space fans, and re-inspect a month later - see what's going on. More to come...

As for tomorrow, have lots of supplies, plenty to do - finish kid's bath, work on built-ins, master bath tile... come help if you can!