at long last

Methinks we have found the floor of our dreams. It is Cryntel's Kempas exotic engineered hardwood, available at Lowe's. Rather, it was available at Lowe's until we bought it all. We bought out our local Lowe's with the first 38 boxes, then had to go across town for the remaining 22. We needed 1000 sq ft for the three bedrooms and office. Luckily, I had a handy 10% off coupon, which, on a purchase like this, really adds up. We almost saved enough to purchase the glue...but not quite. There's only one place in town that sells Bostik's EFA (Engineered Flooring Adhesive), which is apparently the pro's choice...and they won't have it until Thursday. So if you include the GAS we're burning doing all this running around and picking up in the ol' hooptie truck, there goes those coupon savings after all.

We were worried about matching the floor to the color of the trim in the house for fear it would be too country, especially with some of the more widely available woods, like oak. But since Kempas is an exotic, it lacks the easily recognized grain patterns of oak, and the color varies greatly, which I think adds to the look of a real hardwood floor. It's sandable and re-finishable, and although I hope never to have to do either of those things, I find that knowing I could is comforting.

I was afraid that it would look too much like a laminate floor rather than hardwood because the texture of each board is identical when viewed in cross-light. However, due to the depth and variance of color (it's almost iridescent), it really does read as a solid hardwood floor would. It's also photosensitive, so the color will darken with time, which is fine. We've learned that the doors in our house are a darker, rosier colored wood than the trim is, and with the variance in this product, we've managed to coordinate with both.

So now we have to let it acclimate in the rooms it's going to be installed in for 4 days or so, so it can make adjustments for humidity or whatever. In the meantime, we still have the living room concrete to smooth out and acid stain (AGAIN). Here's a shot of the Other Half applying the skim coat, since I was totally not getting it. The instructions said to mix it with water "to the consistency of a milkshake". Apparently, I like my milkshakes thicker than the average person, so when I put it on it was pretty thick and hardened almost immediately to a play-doh like texture, which apparently was not the goal. So O.H. took charge and thinned it down to a consistency I would call "Tomato Soup", not "Milkshake". Maybe "Melty Milkshake on Hot Floridian Day". They should've been more specific about that whole milkshake thing so I didn't look so damn incompetent.

So we'll see how that turns out. At least we know we have an alternative (although I'd have to purchase yet another 1000 sq ft. or so (YOWZA) of wood if it doesn't work out, since we'd do the whole living room, dining room, and hallway too. Add that to the cost of two tries of acid staining and concrete overlays. Ouch. My wallet hurts. So let's hope it looks darn good this time.