Traci,

Wow! Your floors look great! So glad you didn't settle and found a good company to complete the job. Time to exhale. Congrats on making it past another milestone. Time to celebrate!

Thanks Janine! I think I'm too tired to celebrate anything :) I will definitely muster up some energy to celebrate if I ever get the house cleaned up and have a functioning kitchen - notice I'll be happy with "functioning" and not even "finished" at this point - haha. We hope to get baseboards painted at the beginning of next week and then next weekend are going to attempt to clean and move furniture back in. We've been in the basement so long now that I can't even imagine what it will be like to be on the main floor and see sunlight pouring through the windows! And it will be nice to get all the crap out of the sunroom so that our dog can enjoy her room again also (she loves to lie out there so that she can see everything and bark at anything moving).

Traci, it looks just wonderful! Sunshine is energizing. Maybe with some of those boxes shoved aside, you could stretch out one that long lovely counter and soak up some yourself.

Oh, that's gorgeous!

Thanks rosie and pbrisjar! Yes, that is true that I could use the counter for sunning - haha! At least once I manage to get all the dust off - might as well get some use out of it since I don't know when I'll finally be cooking in there :)

Traci, it looks lovely!!! So I hope you put a durable finish on it. Since you know that's it for the refinishing you can go Hawaiian and make it a no shoes zone. :-)

Most important, does this mean you're out of the basement???

I hope so!!

Re dust: Wood dust is pretty heavy. If there's any way you can disturb it as little as possible for a couple of days so that it can settle, you should be able to get it all up pretty fast. The big trick is not to use a vacuum cleaner until you've cloth dusted as much as possible. The airflow from the vacuum stirs it back up.

So happy to hear you are out of the basement! And the floors look great, congrats!

Plllog - thanks! The floor company used 4 coats of Bona Traffic which is used in commercial settings also, so I hope it holds up well! Much as I'm tempted to instate a no-shoes rule I figure we have to live in the house and can't baby the floor forever. I'm sure we'll be much more careful than before, but I'm going to try not to worry about it all the time :) The worst part will be making sure the contractor and his stupid subs don't mess it up. None of them have any regard for the fact that people actually live in the house, much less care about what damage they do to anything. There's still a lot of work to be done, so we'll have to watch them like a hawk!

Well, I wish we were out of the basement, but we're giving it another week just to be sure, as well as hopefully getting baseboards painted next week (which will cause MORE dust due to having to be sanded), and then will bring the furniture back in next weekend. Thanks for the tip on the dust - I actually would have started by bringing in the vacuum! Ugh - I'm not looking forward to that since I'm sure I'll have to go over everything at least 5 times!

traci29,its not just the contractor & subs that need to watch, but also anyone who services your applicances, etc. ... we called the sears repairman and he GOUGED our new wood floor. And we're not even fully IN the kitchen yet. They are going to pay for repair, but who knows what that will entail!

Traci29,

Wow they look amazing. I am so happy for you. That
was indeed a terrible time but now it is all behind
you because your floors are stunning.
Enjoy
~boxerpups

Traci29, Your floors look amazing! I am so glad this second company did a great job and that you can now move forward. Thanks for sharing.

You have a very healthy attitude towards the floors! Excellent! I'm just so happy that they look so good, even if you do have another week in the basement.

Something I learned from my tile setter: If you can, put down cardboard or whatever cushioning you can find, underneath floor paper. That helps protect the floor from dropped stuff.

Bona Traffic is a great finish (it has been on our floor since Christmas. I'm in a high muck area and in through the doors comes lots of sand and grit from the hillside and the floor is holding up well).

But be carefull of the subs big-time (ours was gouged when the GC tried to bring the fridge back in, so, it too will have to be re-sanded).

Rubyfig - I think I was posting a reply to Plllog at the same time you posted. We're not quite out of the basement, but at least the end is in sight :) Hopefully within the next week since I don't think I can stand it for a minute longer than that!

Bethandkevin - you are so right about watching everyone! I can't believe how most service providers treat someone's house! It's just ridiculous. One of the plumbers our GC used got red mud ALL OVER the entire house while working, especially in the main bathroom we were using at the time (updating all the existing plumbing). I didn't think I'd ever get it scrubbed out of the white tile. If I'd realized he was going to be there that day and what he'd be doing I would have at least covered the floors with paper. Then another plumber cracked and chipped a bunch of floor tiles while working around an electrical box - probably from throwing tools down on the floor. I can't wait to have everyone out of my house!

Boxerpups and Lynn2006 - thanks! The floors are still by no means perfect, but as close as we're going to get :) I hope we can continue moving forward from here and get the rest finished because I've really had it with contractors!