Finally going to get a man pit

billbillw

Ever wonder what 1000 sq ft of hardwood flooring looks like? 32 boxes, had to spread them out and open them up to 'acclimate' to the home's relative humidity. They say minimum 3 days, but most say 1-2 weeks is best. You have to keep the straps on to control warping.





BTW, those with a sharp eye may notice this is not red oak as I mentioned above. I changed my mind and went with something from Lumber Liquidators called Rio River Cherry. It was an extra buck/sq ft, but it had a much higher grade of quality (select vs utility). The website said it was Brazilian Cherry, but I later found out it is actually a wood called Purpleheart. Should be pretty unique. Stuff is very hard. The top finish is 'cherry' looking, but the wood beneath has a deep red/purple color.

Oldfatdogs

That's Beautiful flooring Bill,Purpleheart is a very hard wood and should be a durable floor. I think you will be happy when the finish goes on,deep purple will stand out for sure.Enjoy your project.Dan

billbillw

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

That's Beautiful flooring Bill,Purpleheart is a very hard wood and should be a durable floor. I think you will be happy when the finish goes on,deep purple will stand out for sure.Enjoy your project.Dan

Dan, this is pre-finished wood. I do like the look of clear purpleheart, but this has a stained finish that gives it a look that is close to brazilian cherry. LL had it mis-labled on the website (said it WAS B-C).

It looks like this:


I am not really upset because they also had the warranty wrong on the website. They had it listed as 10y, but the paperwork I received is for 25y.

The mill work on the wood seems exceptional. Very tight fitting and consistent widths along the boards. Hopefully it will be a pleasure to install.

Oldfatdogs

Bill you probably know exotic wood can vary in color quite a bit the Brazilian Cherry I have worked with darkened with age.Anyway beautiful wood I'm sure you will be happy.With a 25yr warranty you cant hardly go wrong.That's a big project your doing,you must be quite a craftsman to take it on.Have fun Dan

billbillw

Oldfatdogs wrote: »

That's a big project your doing,you must be quite a craftsman to take it on.Have fun Dan

Not really, that's why I keep saying "I'm in over my head". I can however work my way through just about anything, so that's what I'm doing. Learning along the way.

chumlie

Its gonna look sweet when your done. Hope ya got a few helpers.

madmax

Nice house! Here is a nice room dimension calculator for the best sounding room sizes. http://www.tmlaboratories.com/RoomDimensionsCalculator.html

Progression photos would be awesome.

billbillw

I tell you what, doing tile is much more work than they lead you to believe on the internet DIY sites. A week+ later and I'm just finishing the backer board part of the job! Cutting it to fit, mortaring down, **** it in (~50 screws per 3x5 sheet!) taping and mortaring the seams, just takes forever and it is HARD work! With a little luck and some help from a friend, I'll be done laying the tiles after this long weekend. I think hardwood flooring install (with a pneumatic floor nailer) will seem like a cake walk after this tile job. I'll post some photos of the tile when finished.

chumlie

At least ya know its done right. Doesn't make your back feel any better now though.

billbillw

Yeah, so many people (including pros) skip some of the steps.

chumlie

Especially the so-called pros. You have no idea who the retailers sub to do the install work.

EndersShadow

I can tell you every apartment I have lived in (including my currently renovated one) all skimp on subfloor screws lol. I hate squeaky floors and its even more annoying when you know they could have fixed it since you have new carpet and flooring in the whole place..... so they had the subfloor sitting there with easy access..

billbillw

Renovations coming along, slower than expected, but making progress. Tile kitchen/dinette finished, redid floor in dining room and study. Here are some photos of the progress. The kitchen really took alot out of me and I'm very glad to be finished with it. The hardwood install is going much smoother and faster. Hope to be done with the living room (380sq ft) in a few days and then there is just an upstairs hallway to redo. Should be able to start moving after that.

(Note: The tile photos are pre-grout. I have since grouted with a light grey and it looks great. Also, the ugly floor vents will be replaced shortly.)

Sherardp

Nice work bro!!!

Oldfatdogs

Very nice work Bill,I knew you weren't over your head. The flooring is beautiful!Dan

seeclear

That is some good looking flooring! Tile and wood looking good. This will be a source of pride for a job well done for a long time. But that doesn't make your back feel any better right now.:cheesygrin:

chumlie

Beautiful job. Nicely done.

billbillw

seeclear wrote: »

That is some good looking flooring! Tile and wood looking good. This will be a source of pride for a job well done for a long time. But that doesn't make your back feel any better right now.:cheesygrin:

You know, its not my back that has been bothering me, its been my hands/wrists. Being on my hands and knees for hours at a time is causing major pinching of the nerves (ulnar?). Lots of numbness in my hands. Not as bad now that I'm past the tiling though. Continuous intake of ibuprofen is helping. Not that young anymore...

txcoastal1

billbillw wrote: »

You know, its not my back that has been bothering me, its been my hands/wrists. Being on my hands and knees for hours at a time is causing major pinching of the nerves (ulnar?). Lots of numbness in my hands. Not as bad now that I'm past the tiling though. Continuous intake of ibuprofen is helping. Not that young anymore...

Been there done that...driving butt loads of screws in the cement board sucks

Awesome job

billbillw

Finally finished few boards of hardwood flooring last night. 400 sqft of porcelain tile (kitchen/dinette/common area +main floor bathroom) and 980 sqft of hardwood. All of that required ripping up the old panel flooring and removing thousands of stubborn nails. Movers are coming on Thursday. Still quite a few small projects to finish up, but hopefully now I can at least think about starting to get my man cave in order. My poor projector has been sitting in the box for more 3 months waiting to show me the Star Wars saga on Bluray.

chumlie

Congrats. Time to enjoy the fruits of all that labor. Beautiful job you did.

billbillw

Funny how time flies and priorities shift. We've been in the new house for a month now. Still finishing all sorts of small projects. Just finally found time this morning to move things around in the basement (aka: Man Cave!) and get my 2-ch system setup (not finalized, but its playing at least). Was sweet to play some vinyl for the first time in a very long time.

Spent the rest of the day listening. The VPI got quite a workout.

billbillw

Unfortunately, this is what the basement home theater looks like:



That will take more than a morning to get going. Not in a rush. Don't have any furniture to sit on yet and I'm waiting for the long Redmere cables to come back in stock at Monoprice anyway. Will also have to run a couple pulls of CAT5e to finish out the networking.

BTW, My wife fully understands that this is MY space to do what I want with it. There will be no arguments over the size of the speakers, the layout, etc. She even bought me this:

chumlie

All the hard work is done. Take your time and enjoy the music. Looks like a damn nice 2 channel setup you have there. With that setup i would be happy with a lawn chair. And no wife hacking on ya. Congrats !!!

dkr919

jmwest1970 wrote: »

Here's a shot of my man pits...:eek:

Attachment not found.

haha, that's hilarious.

schwarcw

Looking good Bill!

I am glad the 2 channel rig is up and running!

billbillw

Finally got off my ar$e and did some more work for my Man Cave.

Now this looks more like a home theater.



Wall and ceiling painted dark grey, screen mounted, cables run, speakers mounted, sound calibrated, Epson 6500UB ceiling mounted, roughly calibrated (waiting for a few more hours to do full colorimeter calibration). Picked up a decent used reclining sofa off craigslist and we are ready to go. Just in time for football season (Most of it was done before last weekend).

My son thinks this is the coolest thing ever. He has been patiently waiting to see the Star Wars saga on BluRay. This weekend, I'll squeeze in a couple of the movies for him between games.




Here is hand held shot of the screen with a movie playing. Looks pretty darn good considering it hasn't had full calibration yet. Epson makes some great projectors for the money.

polkatese

Excellent work Bill!

Sherardp

Sweet rigs bro.