Finally, a project actually completed (put a threshold between living room and sunroom floors).
Before . . .
And after. . .
A small project, in the sense of skill or creativity required, but not so much in terms of steps and time.
1. Trim excess curly vinyl from sunroom floor (did this before the “before”).
2. Obtain a threshold that will span the bare space and cover the rough ends of the hardwood.
a. Look in about 5 stores–nothing works. Decide I have to make one.
b. Want something about 1/4 inch thick and 5-6 inches wide. Wood doesn’t come in those dimensions. Buy a piece of molding that is about 1/4 inch thick and 2.5 inches wide.
c. Cut two pieces to length (measuring twice. . or thrice. . . ), reverse one piece, glue and clamp. Wait.
d. Decide how to finish it–choose black because it’s easy, and I already have black paint. Paint. Wait. Paint. Wait.
e. Decide to put a harder finish on top of the paint. Buy polyurethane. Apply it. Wait.
3. Make shim–the two floors aren’t at the same level on one end, though they are on the other end.
a. Find a piece of molding of the right thickness.
b. Figure out how long a piece I need. Cut a piece.
c. Figure out how wide it should be, so that it is supported by the hardwood underneath. Cut to that width.
d. Put it in place and draw a line to show how high it should be. I need to shape it to that height–like a long skinny wedge. Decide what I really need is a band sander–go buy one 🙂 (Heh heh. Always good to have an excuse to buy a new tool.)
e. Put band sander together. (Yes, this is an entire step, or several. What with finding all the parts in the package, reading the instructions, and doing it, it took over an hour.)
f. Sand the shim down to the line I drew. It’s not perfect, but good enough. Set it in place to see how it works. It’s fine.
g. Paint the edge black so it won’t show underneath the threshold. Wait.
h. Glue shim to threshold. Wait.
4. Fasten the threshold in place.
a. Look for screws in my box of scores that I brought up from Marina. I have bunches, but none that are the right length and type. One of the reasons I have so many is that this happens a lot.
b. Go buy screws. CJ likes this part, because I walk into town and take her.
c. Locate drill with 1/8 inch bit and screwdriver. Drill hole and insert first screw. Decide I really need to countersink the head, not just apply force to get it to go level, because I’m afraid I’ll split the wood and have to start all over again. Know I have a Dremel bit that would work. Find the Dremel–but not the Dremel bits–I have no idea where I packed them.
d. Walk into town and buy a new Dremel bit. CJ happy.
e. Fasten the threshold with three screws, and decide that’s enough.
See what I mean? Nothing that was hard–just lots and lots of steps, several requiring waiting, which is in fact hard for me. Probably took about two weeks altogether. And that’s why I decided it was worth a blog post 🙂
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