What did you do today?

[highup]

I heated the doorway cross join (end joint) and rolled it backwards and side to side to flatten it. It had 15 or 20 minutes to cool maybe longer before I folded it back to start glueing. I didn't heat it after gluing, scribing and cutting the seam. The second seam with a gap was a seam in length. It shrunk the same amount.
After a week of having the house a good 78 degrees day and night, the heat was at some point turned down, then once the hardwood floor was sanded and refinished, the heat was turned off. It's probably around 58 to 60 degrees in the house overnight for the past week. I'm judging by the outdoor temps we are having.
If the house cooled off 20 degrees since I installed the flooring..... could that be part of the problem?

 

[highup]

expand...

"You not getting me
Okay go back to basics when these plastic backed and other vinyls came out
Why did they invent seam sealer heat welding?"
Because the stopped making good vinyl like Armstrong's Corlon products.
This is some sort of PVC product. My water pipes don't shrink.

 

[highup]

After a week and a half is this going to continue to shrink forever or is this as far as it plans to recede?
Do these materials ever curl like old paper backed vinyls of days gone by or do they just shrink? I'm guessing the latter.

 

[Jon]

Nobody I know ever cuts the joins before spreading the glue we always do the joins when the vinyl is placed into the glue
Corlon from what I remember had an asbestos type backing which is a very different animal than the different backings of today
We used to cut the asbestos backed vinyls neat then into the walls then tube them to drop them into the glue as they used to shrink in the length if pulled back end to end but not side wise These plastic/fibreglass backed vinyls do not shrink like the asbestos backed vinyls. Also we would at times back roll the vinyls to pre shrink them We used to cut the asbestos backed vinyls in tight then force them into the skirting boards making the vinyl shrink into itself. When these newer vinyls will not do that as even if the vinyl is the thickness of a knife blade it will Bubble usually just after you leave, we had to learn all over again for these newer backings. No back rolling of these newer type backings as they dont shrink in length
Now the commercial type vinyl you laid is a bit like the asbestos type backings as they will shrink if folded back onto them selves etc etc. You can force shrink them into the skirting boards with a little heat, Also you can make the joins tight then heat to get the vinyl to lay flat as mentioned earler with a cold wet rag. Which is were you probually got into trouble. I didnt realise you cut everything in neat before placing the vinyl into the glue. I use a heat gun these days as you can heat them more without burning things like with a gas bottle
Re the turning up of the edges these newer type backings are made for loose laying so do not curl on the edges

 

[highup]

No.... I flattened the end joins then glued the vinyl, then cut the seam.

 

[highup]

....the end curl wasn't heated "hot". It was warmed. By the time I had folded the material back, glued the floor and cut the seam, 15 minutes had passed, long after any heating was done.

 

[Jon]

But you said

I heated the doorway cross join (end joint) and rolled it backwards and side to side to flatten it. It had 15 or 20 minutes to cool maybe longer before I folded it back to start glueing.

 

[highup]

Did everything in the correct order, just saying the material had way plenty of cooling time, especially since it was warmed gently but not hot.

 

[Jon]

So I am reading this wrong?
From the way I read it is that you cut the join dry then folded it to start glueing
What you said

I heated the doorway cross join (end joint) and rolled it backwards and side to side to flatten it. It had 15 or 20 minutes to cool maybe longer before I folded it back to start glueing.

 

[highup]

Let's forget the heating.
Folded both halves back, glued the floor then folded vinyl into glue, then used my underscribe to mark my cut line, then trimmed off the overlapped material and rolled the seam.

 

[Jon]

Yeah thats what we do so its just the way I read that sentence
Some guys here cut everything in dry then when they dropped it into the glue the vinyl ended up in slightly different place causing gaps eveywhere

 

[zannej]

Sounds like a tough process trying to glue that seam down.
Wednesday my power went out around 3am. I called to report the outage (automated system thing) immediately. Sometime after 7am it came back on for a couple minutes than blinked back out. Thunderstorm continued to rage & lulled me to sleep & we didn't get the callback to ask if we had power back, so I figured they were still working on it. 10am rolled around, still no power. I called again & they didn't have the report in their system that it needed to be fixed so it put in a new ticket. Called back around noon when it still wasn't back on. Then again at 5pm. It started to get hot & there was no running water. Our friend said we could come over to his place & crash on his couch until power came back but Mom didn't want to go anywhere & didn't want us to leave her there. She was in a bad mood until I got her something to eat. Then she told us around 6:30pm we could go see our friend while she napped (her room was the coolest in the house). I set up a phone that would work without power in her room so she could call if she needed anything. Went to hang out with our friend & grabbed food from McDonalds. Discussed home improvement stuff with the group there. Another friend is staying with them since his house burned in December & his fixing our friend's other house (that burned in 2016) up because it was still sturdy enough to salvage. They took down a wall between the old laundry room (which was originally a porch) and the bathroom, leveled the floor for both rooms to be the same height, put down vinyl plank, and moved the washer & dryer back into the old laundry room. There's a window on the adjacent room that I suggested they could convert to a storage shelf if they take the glass out & put wall panel on one side.
I had my friend put a level on the ceiling above the cabinets to figure out where the lowest ceiling spot was & measure down to see how much clearance would be under a 30" tall wall cabinet & it has enough room to work. Sometime this week we will go pick up unfinished cabinets from the surplus place. Gonna put a drop cloth down & I'll stain all of them while they are down, then they will get put up & set in place. Toekick trim will be cut to size & I'll stain it & poly it. Then I'll clean up the cabinets, do touch-ups & put a coat of polycrylic on. Need to see what sort of molding he wants to cover gaps between cabinets & flooring. I'm thinking either inside corner type concave molding or a convex shoe molding. Another friend got a nice new miter saw for the angled cuts. I can pre-stain & poly those. I want to do the stuff near the floor before they are installed to avoid possible drips on the floor. With my luck, drips would get under a drop cloth around cabinets.
Other than talking home improvement (and taking pictures) we played with the kittens. Some of them are starting to open their eyes. There's a solid black one who hasn't opened his eyes yet & he's pretty mellow. My brother held him & petted him for hours. The kitten rolled on his back for belly rubs & was peddling his little feet in the air & curling them up. We're naming him Namir. The other solid black one was a bit more fussy. His eyes were opening & he wanted to explore & was interested in seeing his mother when she came over. She's super cuddly so we were petting her, but fussy kitten wanted to nurse so we didn't hold him for too long. We're thinking of naming that one Temjin. We called to check on Mom around 10pm but she reported power was still out. It didn't come back on until almost 2am. She called to tell us. Namir got hungry around that time so we put him back in the bassinet with the other kittens along with the mother so they could all nurse.
I felt like garbage in the morning & took some medicine & racked out for several hours. Mom woke me after 2pm to get her something to eat. Then back to napping until after 8pm when she was hungry again. I woke up coughing & she heard me so she called. I was reaching for my medicine. She gave me time to take my meds before I got her something to eat, waited her to finish to see if she wanted something else, then went back to bed & just woke up at 2am.
Three cats and a dog are all piled on me right now. I'll probably nap again after posting.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Got all the drywall up. Put in a couple pieces in the garage (my carpenter did, actually). Final cost for all labor, electrical, plumbing, and carpentry, and the materials he bought was around $2800. That's 5 1/2 days of work. My bill of materials was around $2000. So I completed 1 rooms 12x20 each for under $5k.
Mike gives me a special rate at $50/hour because we're friends.

I think I'm going to get more seams done today. Will have to sacrifice an old shirt to the plaster gods since I ran out of ruined shirts from last year's renovations.

Bought some coveralls, medium size. I'm 5'2" and the height was almost perfect. Unfortunately, the width at the belly was a little tight. But I got them on. Getting them off was a real problem! I almost had to call fire and rescue, but managed to pull the sleeves while my arms were behind my back. Whew! Contortionist I'm not! Anyway, they go back and I already ordered a large set.

And I got a utility sink installed. No more washing stuff in the kitchen!

Getting bored being home. Stay safe gang!

 

[zannej]

I went over to my friend's burned house to help with painting the drywall with some primer. No electricity on there & no lights. The friend that owns the house was over there helping us. To clarify: I have two friends who had their houses burn. One back in 2016 and one in December last year. The one who had the fire in December suffered a total loss. Roof & burned out & most of the house collapsed. The one back in 2016 is still standing but needs a lot of work. Some of the floor has been replaced & new drywall is going up over studs that weren't damaged. One of the rooms had been renovated shortly before the fire & didn't get as much damage except for the ceiling.
We were painting in the room & the friend who had the recent fire was complaining of shoulder pain (from a recent injury). I told him he should take a break if it was bothering him & he didn't need to hurt himself on my account. I think he didn't want to leave me painting alone. So he went to go do measurements while I painted. His girlfriend showed up & when she found out I was having kidney stones she offered to go get the bottle of cranberry gel capsules & a cold bottle of water for me. The friend who owns the house had the cranberry gels because he is having kidney stones too. I was having one of my fatigue days & the girlfriend was worried about me. She's very sweet. I told her I was OK but mostly just tired. The naproxyn worked for me but I'd lost sleep from having to try to pass the kidney stones multiple times during the night to no avail.
We got most of the room done but still need to get the ceiling. It was hot in there & we were losing daylight-- no power or lights on over there yet. Well, there are no actual lights to turn on because they were destroyed. An electrician is supposed to come Monday.
We all took a break before it got dark so we discussed where things will go in the kitchen & what the measurements are and such. If things work out today, I'll be going back over for more painting.
I have a painting suit in XL size but getting it off wasn't easy. I had to do the same thing as Tom-- putting my arms behind my back to pry the thing off. I'm 5'5" but I'm fat so I need the extra girth on the suits. It's baggy on me, but I prefer it that way.
Damn roll kept slipping off the paint roller, but other than that, the painting went smoothly.
Tom, sounds like you got a good deal. I'm hoping it will be less than $5k for the bathroom/laundry reno I need to work on. Will work on Mom's bathroom first. At this point, we need to order the shower wall set & pan as well as the drain & we'll have just about everything we need for it. My friends are going to help with the heavy lifting.

 

[highup]

Watched a shoe repair video this morning........ and I'm not sure why.
I skipped ahead a lot, but it was interesting. Never gave any thought as to the skill level required for that trade. He charged almost as much to repair some shoes as I did for replacing carpet in a bedroom and hall.

 

[Floorist]

I tried to buy some 1x10s and 1x12s but the lumberyard had none. Found a 1x12 in my lumber stash. Fixing an old roll-top desk.

 

[highup]

I tried to buy some 1x10s and 1x12s but the lumberyard had none. Found a 1x12 in my lumber stash. Fixing an old roll-top desk.

Probably same hoarders the took toilet paper alcohol and sugar off the shelves.

 

[Floorist]

Probably same hoarders the took toilet paper alcohol and sugar off the shelves.

Next up is meat. The media is trying to start a panic on it.

 

[highup]

Meats gone, I already bought all of it.
......next? Probably tomato plants. Gotta plan for fall when the "second wave" media panic machine gets into gear.

 

[zannej]

I'll have to watch the shoe repair video later. I find stuff like that fascinating.
Any pics of the rolltop desk, Flyover? I love rolltop desks. My friend's bathroom ceiling reminds me of a rolltop desk.

One of my friends had a migraine & I didn't wake up until late so we didn't get anything done at the burned house today. I cooked for Mom and my brother made red beans with bacon.
Still waiting on the friend's check to land so we can go get his cabinets & he can grab the repair flange for me (or at least show me where it is in the store because I can't seem to find it on the website). It fixed his "rodeo toilet" for him.