Farkel West: Tree gets a trim and Floors get a finish...

Another busy week. Our neighbor had a friend that trims palm trees and he came by this week to trim 20 years of dead growth off our palm. Ropes, harnesses, and a chainsaw... he was up the tree and trimmed in 45 min. Today he came back and cleaned the trunk.

I also tackled the side entrance this week. I knocked down the old steps and reframed the landing so the new steps would go towards the back yard and also made the top have a slight slope away from the house so that water won't drain to the door. Today I hand mixed and poured 15 bags of cement after setting new rebar.

I also decided to leave a little timestamp for Abbey and I on the house...

The biggest news of the week, however, is the progress on the new floors. After cut tests and chemical tests, we confirmed that the wood in the house is white oak. The challenge was going to be matching the wood and hiding the divide from old floor to new. The crew took all the old floor out of the bedroom and used it to patch the holes and damaged pieces in the living room. Then the new wood went down and yesterday they started sanding. Today, the sanding was finished and the first coat of stain went on. Tomorrow they will apply the first of three coats of finish. The floors turned out great. They were able to match the colors , and now, you can't even tell what is new and what is old.

Here is the sample board we made to test the different stain colors, and the chemical wood testing kit is on the floor in picture two.

The repairs were complicated as most of the holes and damaged wood had to be pulled without damaging the surrounding wood and then the replacement pieces blended in to match the rest of the room.