Fliperati

You would never know that I had planned on having all the original floors in my property refinished if you saw the mountain of brand new oak strips sitting lazily in the dining room (which, through the magic of the internet, you can see pictured below).  Did I win this wood from a timber baron in a high stakes poker game, you ask?  Unfortunately not.  (Note to self: play poker with more timber barons).  The wood is in my dining room because the refinishing crew discovered that the entire ground floor of my flip house is peppered with deep, dark stains sent from hell to ruin my otherwise perfect renovation budget.  No amount of sandpaper or stain is going to get rid of these marks (the exposed nails from excessive sanding are there to prove it).  I don’t think I could easily sell the property with nasty black spots throughout the first floor, so I have broken down and bought new wood.  This has been by far the largest unexpected expense I have encountered over the course of this project (setting me back an extra $2,000), but I think the new wood is going to look awesome and I might even earn some of that money back.  My only concern is that the new wood will not harmonize well with the more rustic original floors upstairs.  The floor guys think they can stain it a similar color and I’m hoping that it meshes well in the end.

Also, even though I usually do tons of research before making any major purchases, the new wood was a snap decision and I hired my refinishing crew on the spot to do the new floor installation as well.  I know that any new flooring will take some time to acclimate to the temperature and humidity of the house and I can’t afford to delay the project any further, so I did my best to negotiate a fair price with the existing crew to make sure the job would get completed as soon as possible.  I’m already behind schedule thanks to Clyde’s flakiness and because my countertops have been on backorder, so I’m trying to do some damage control and prevent this flooring problem from delaying me any further.  I knew these issues would come up and I’m (pleasantly) surprised that there haven’t been more problems, so I’m trying to take it all in stride.  The target open house date is now September 24^th and it’s going to be a marathon of work to get everything finished in time.  Cross your fingers for me…