I shared on facebook two days ago that we were beginning to sand and stain the wood floors in our bedroom.
I cannot tell you how giddy I was that day!!! This was a huge step that I had anxiously awaited for because I knew that it was one of the last steps before we can move into our bedroom. Did I mention I have been sleeping on the couch for two weeks?
I wanted to tell you a little about the wood we chose for our floors.
We chose 3/4 inch by 4 inch wide Utility Grade /White Oak from Lumber Liquidators. Mainly because of the price, but also because of the character of the wood. It only costs $.99 a square foot because they are pieces of wood with flaws.
Here are the negatives about utility grade flooring:
1. There is a lot of waste.
As Cy was laying the floor, he had to throw out or cut down a lot of pieces of flooring because they are unusable. We purchased 1,700 sq ft and are going to be able to use about 1,100 of it.
They will tell you at Lumber Liquidators when you purchase utility grade flooring to expect waste.
2. It takes a lot longer to install.
It takes longer to install because you have to sort through a lot of pieces of wood to find the good pieces. Unlike other wood flooring where you can just pick up a piece and quickly nail it down. Also, with utility grade flooring, there are a lot of shorter pieces which makes the process take longer.
Here are the positives about utility grade flooring:
1. Character
I LOVE the worn, not perfect, look of the utility grade flooring! They have so much character and give our floors an “old house” feel and look.
2. Price
It’s only 99 cents a square foot. Seriously, how can you beat that?
Cy installed the wood flooring all by himself. It was a ton of work.
We did have a professional sander that Cy is friend’s with to come in and help sand the floor. Cy has used a drum sander on our other floors, but since the utility grade is a rougher wood, he wanted to use belt sander on them. The belt sander is a lot less forgiving and can eat into the wood in you are not careful with it. So Cy wanted someone who had more experience with a belt sander to sand our floors. Plus, this saved Cy some time, and we were able to get the floors sanded during the day while Cy was at work. Yay!
He also filled any large imperfections in the wood with wood filler before the final sanding.
Then Cy applied the stain by hand with a lint free cloth instead of with a lamb’s wool brush this time. He has learned that you get a much better result if you apply the stain by hand. The lamb’s wool brush tends to leave start and stop marks.
It’s a lot harder to do it this way, but definitely worth it.
We applied only one coat of Dark Walnut stain from Minwax.
Last night, Cy applied a coat of fast drying Satin Polyurethane with a china/natural bristle brush.
Again, in the past, Cy has always applied the poly with a lamb’s wool brush. However, he has learned that to get a more professional look, poly is best applied with a bristle brush.
It’s not as easy, but the look is worth it!
We also used a Satin poly instead of a Semi-gloss poly which looks perfect on this wood!
Cy got up at 3:30 am this morning to put the second coat of poly on the floors. You are supposed to put the second coat on 6-8 hours after the first coat.
Look at the beautiful morning sunlight on our floors!
Next, we are going to buff the floors, and then Cy will apply the third and final coat of poly on the floors.
And then we will be done! Woohoo!
Cy has done an AMAZING and PROFESSIONAL job on these hard wood floors!
All that we have left to do in our bedroom is the trim work. However, the bathroom is another story. 
We still have to install the tub, toilet, and vanity, and we have to tile our shower. We probably won’t be able to complete those projects until after Haven next week.
If you have any questions about our flooring, feel free to ask!
Have a blessed day!
