Part II - The Cedar Cupboard, the story of recrafting a cedar cupboard to jam slide into a tight spot, has a prequel.  Why the cabinet was wanted. The text to Part I - The Mouse is at the bottom of Part II. Renovation images beginning after the radiator R/R have been found. 

 

The c.1926 flooring is loose, shrunken, cupped, wide gaps filled with lint, bits of cat claws, dust. The radiator was removed, mouse holes filled, that area refinished, the radiator replaced, heat restored. The rest of the floor, blecch ! So the bedroom was relocated and work began.

 

 

 

Each loose board, the ends and usually most of the length, were drilled, counterbored, screwed. The gaps vacuumed then puttied. I experimented with several wood fillers, liking Elmer's Probond Wood Filler best.  My 3" putty blade fit the container; its consistency was tops; easy cleanup. All the seams sanded with a 5" 8-hole orbital, the boards also hit.

 

Then the roof leak patched, ceiling repaired, baseboard smoother, and everything got multiple coats. While working I realized how much cold air was streaming into the room from the attic - down the lathe bay and under the baseboard. So those seams were stuffed with cement. Cement is my go-to; sometimes I add a pinch of dirt to get the color right.

 

 

 

 

Broken window + street light = cover it for now. Nice 1/2" birch plywood. Lowes cut me a break on it - edge fork split.

 

 

 

 

The hall for a quickie; I want to go back and do it right, though. Maybe in 2042 . . . 

 

 

 

Hope you enjoyed the tour!  - jim

Everything looks copacetic from this angle. Lotta work, there. Those floors look great. Ain't renos fun?

24 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

looks copacetic

Old plumber's trick just before the inspector comes into the basement. Unscrew a few lightbulbs. 

Looks great from here Jim!

Thanks! The room has sat mostly empty since completion but will eventually be rotated into a summer bedroom. Amazing I put up with uneven splintered floorboards for so long. It's so much easier to clean with a tight deck. Some areas only wanted surface sanding but most of it had loose boards, major shrinkage, cupping, damage. The finish was oil-based polyurethane variously tinted with my entire collection of small Minwax stains. There was even a Dark Walnut left over from the '70s I saved from Dad's garage.

 

Very nicely done Jim. I really like how your floors came out.

Thanks! That last picture is the main traffic pattern into the room. Almost a century of use. Something I learned on unfamiliar projects: start in a far invisible area. 

Killer job on the floors !