09/17/2025
This was a fun project! Started with repairs from walls that were removed. Reclaimed original flooring from the front of the living room to make the repairs in the high visibility areas. Remillled new flooring for the living room to keep that area consistent.
Installed new solid red oak treads, risers, railings, newel posts, and painted spindles. Man! That makes that part of the project sound simple! It wasn't. It's solid and strong. When I say that, I mean it's like a tuning fork! You hit it and the sound resonates through the structure of the house! I enjoy building railings. Keeps the mind sharp.
After all of the carpentry was done I flipped the switch to sanding staining and finishing.
Made up an area for stain samples on the floor and the homeowner picked a color.
Sanded the railings newel posts by hand. No other way to do it. Sanded the treads with and orbital and hand sanding. Stained and finished. Ha! Simple! It wasn't...
The flooring was an original pre-finished wax, beveled 3" & 4" solid red oak plank flooring with 3/4" walnut pegs. Knowing that I was staining and finishing with poly means that ALL of the wax needed to be removed. So first thing was to scrape out the wax in the bevels. Not fun. After that, sanding was about like any other floor. Man! That makes that part of the project sound simple...
Stain, and 3 coats of Bona Traffic HD satin polyurethane and done!!!
This was all done by myself at a neighbors house across the street from my own. Our homes have a lot of similarities and it was a very fun and rewarding project.
Thanks for looking
