Sander

I think over the last two days I might have managed to remove my finger prints!  My hands are the driest they've ever been.

Martha had asked me if I'd sand her living room floor, and since she was away and Christina had changed when she was visiting I did it this weekend.

We hired a floor sander, and I have a belt sander and a couple of small sanders for the fiddly bits.  Because I'm using the coarsest available, putting the belts on has destroyed my hands!

Martha was down in Birmingham for the team England tryouts, so that gave me all weekend to get it done.  Personally I think the floor looked great already, previous owners had stripped and varnished it.

This meant that all the nails were already knocked in, and so I could just get in with the job.

Saturday was all about the big sander, but first I had to sort out the dust mask I'd bought - the filters wouldn't attach, and after 20 minutes of trying I ended up back at B&Q where three members of staff couldn't do it either - we decided they had a design fault (we tried other sets too), and in the end I bought a different mask.

On with the sanding, and the floor came up ready well, it's got character and some marks that just won't shift, but it looks good and certainly good enough to varnish.

Martha had left me cheese, chorizo and some of her bread for lunch but I didn't stop for long.

Sunday was the fiddly bits, the edge under the radiator, the bay window and the corners - I had to get more sanding belts/sheets.  The corners were a real bastard.

I heard via FB that Martha had made it to the final cut for the team, so we wait to hear over the next few days if she made it - but for me that meant they were on their way back to Sheffield.

I tidied up the sanding mess, emptied the bag, and then decided to remove the tiles from the hearth tiles (Martha had started it).  I got this done and left - I think about 20 minutes before she got home!

Since then I've been to see another friend and she's asked me to sand her living room and hall!  It's a big job as they've never been done before and there is currently carpet down, but it will look great.  She needs to okay the cost with her partner, but hopefully it will happen.