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floor-sanding-project-in-progress

Dispatches in Sandpaper: Send 20-Grit

floor-sanding-project-in-progressWhen you buy a fixer-upper house, sooner or later you need to start fixing it up before it can feel like home. And if you’re fixing the place up on a shoestring budget, you find creative solutions and invest sweat equity wherever possible. You start by checking the low-hanging fruit off the punch list, tasks like spackling mysterious holes in the original window frames, replacing lightbulbs, and gingerly tucking the porch door screen back into its frame with a butter knife.

Next you move onto jobs that are a bit more disruptive and take more time and resources, but that go a long way towards improving the look of the house. Painting is a great thing to do at this phase. Taping window frames and baseboards is a time consuming precursor to painting, but is very much worth it if the color of your paint is significantly different than the wood trim, if you’re trying to preserve the natural-wood look of that trim, or if you’re painting an accent wall.

The painting step goes something like this: after taping, grab some paint testers and throw some swatches up on the wall. Abandon the entire color palette and get more testers. Commit to a color scheme and begin transforming the look of your walls. Have so much fun painting that you decide to paint every room in your house. Every. Room. Because it turns out that having one freshly painted room makes the rooms that previously looked just fine suddenly look as dingy and dated as a 1980s B-reel movie. Oh, and remember that wood trim you spent hours taping? Well, that needs to be repainted now too, because the charming antique cream suddenly looks like dishwater splashed at the edges of your crisp and tasteful grey walls.

Be prepared for a few necessities to take priority along the way, like needing to re-plumb a section of the nearly brand new furnace because the previous owners cracked it and now it’s leaking. Also rip out the carpet almost immediately, because on the one hand you have no idea how long it’s been there, and on the other your cat has made it abundantly clear that she smells dog and she is having NONE of it.

If you’re lucky enough to be surprised by hardwood floors under that nasty old carpet and if you’ve come this far on your fixer-upper journey, then it is well within your reach to refinish those floors yourself and bring them back to life. And if you’ve been putting off refinishing the floors for several months, give yourself a deadline by ordering furniture for those rooms that’s too big to fit through any doorway except the front door.

In all seriousness though, when faced with the logistics of refinishing your own floors, the project can seem huge and daunting. With a plan in place, advice from experts, and more than a little moxie, the whole job can be done in a weekend. To prepare for refinishing your floors, you’ll want to patch any broken or damaged boards and pull out any lingering carpet staples. With a hammer and nail punch, go all over your floor and pound down any nails that are at or above the surface of the existing wood; refinishing floors yourself can save a lot of money, but damaging the rental equipment on protruding nails would be very expensive.

Being a DIY-extraordinaire, you may be tempted at this point to use a hand sander to sand along the walls. I implore you resist this urge and spend the extra $25 for the room edger rental, since it will save you hours of labor and is really fun to use. Also invest in ear protection, a set of cushy comfy knee pads, and extra-strength Tylenol. If at all possible, try to find a local family-owned rental shop to rent the floor sanders and refinishing accoutrement. Big box hardware stores will also rent the necessary equipment, but by working with professionals who have specialized in this sort of work for years you’ll get expert advice and tips that make the job that much easier.

Top tip: if you’re refinishing a floor that still has an old stain and or finish, and that also has mastic or glue from old floor tiles, skip all other grits of sandpaper and go straight to the heavy-duty 20-grit paper. The person renting you the equipment may advise that you can get away with 36-grit alone, and it’s true that 20-grit paper is so intense that you really cannot let the machine stop moving or else you’ll wear a groove in the wood, but good gracious does it ever work like magic.

My final advice is that even though the sawdust catchment bags on these industrial sanders are actually quite good at gathering nearly all the sawdust, you will need to dust mop your walls after the project is done. Also your windows, baseboards, and ceiling beams. You may want to hang sheets over fixtures that can’t be moved, and over open doorways. Other than that, have fun and make sure you still have a way to get to the bathroom when the polyurethane is drying on your beautiful new floors!

Luckily the library has much more detailed and professional advice than mine when it comes to home improvement and DIY projects. Though dated, Grand Finishes for Walls and Floors by Matt Nikitas has indispensable sage advice like the sort you’d get if your dad were a finish contractor helping at every step of the process. Installing & Finishing Flooring by William Spence is worth a look, as is The Complete Guide to Flooring by Black & Decker. For more general home maintenance and DIY how-to’s, try How to Fix Anything by Popular Mechanics, The Complete Photo Guide to Home Improvement by Black & Decker, and The Ultimate Guide to Home Repair and Improvement by Creative Homeowner. If you’re not quite ready to roll up your sleeves and are looking for inspiration, we have tons of books about decorating, organizing, and refreshing your space and furnishings, such as Weekend Furniture Facelifts by Helen Carey and Styling with Salvage by Joanne Palmisano. I also highly recommend a few DIY magazines available through Flipster, such as Do It Yourself, The Family Handyman, Better Homes and Gardens, and Flea Market Decor. There are even more magazines available through the Libby app by Overdrive, such as HGTV Magazine, Country Living, Elle Decor, Good Housekeeping, and House Beautiful.

Good luck, fixer-uppers! As Red says in the classic Canadian comedy, The Red Green Show, “I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.”

Liz Reed is the Adult Services Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood MA. Look for her article in the February 27, 2020 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.

2017 Essay Contest Winners
cover art

The Boys in the Bunkhouse

The Boys in the Bunkhouse by Dan Barry

Nominated for the 2017 Hillman Prize and the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

With this Dickensian tale from America’s heartland, New York Times writer and columnist Dan Barry tells the harrowing yet uplifting story of the exploitation and abuse of a resilient group of men with intellectual disability, and the heroic efforts of those who helped them to find justice and reclaim their lives.

In the tiny Iowa farm town of Atalissa, dozens of men, all with intellectual disability and all from Texas, lived in an old schoolhouse. Before dawn each morning, they were bussed to a nearby processing plant, where they eviscerated turkeys in return for food, lodging, and $65 a month. They lived in near servitude for more than thirty years, enduring increasing neglect, exploitation, and physical and emotional abuse—until state social workers, local journalists, and one tenacious labor lawyer helped these men achieve freedom.

Drawing on exhaustive interviews, Dan Barry dives deeply into the lives of the men, recording their memories of suffering, loneliness and fleeting joy, as well as the undying hope they maintained despite their traumatic circumstances. Barry explores how a small Iowa town remained oblivious to the plight of these men, analyzes the many causes for such profound and chronic negligence, and lays out the impact of the men’s dramatic court case, which has spurred advocates—including President Obama—to push for just pay and improved working conditions for people living with disabilities.

A luminous work of social justice, told with compassion and compelling detail, The Boys in the Bunkhouse is more than just inspired storytelling. It is a clarion call for a vigilance that ensures inclusion and dignity for all.

 

Review by Amazon.com

Internet Privacy and You

“President Trump is expected to sign into law a decision by Congress to overturn new privacy rules for Internet service providers.” — NPR.

 

Here is some information that you can use to understand what this will mean for your personal information on the web.

PBS — “Before you lament the end of your internet privacy, read this”, March 31st, 2017

ACLU on Internet Privacy

WBUR — “Internet Privacy and You”, March 29th, 2017

NPR — “As Congress Repeals Internet Privacy Rules, Putting Your Options In Perspective”, March 28th, 2017

 

How To Protect Your Privacy (from NPR.org)

Jules Polonetsky, privacy expert and CEO of the Future of Privacy Forum, offers some suggestions, though he says they won’t deliver absolute privacy.

  • Use a virtual private network (VPN).
  • Look for emails from your Internet service provider allowing you to opt out of ad-targeting programs.
  • Turn on your browser’s do-not-track feature.
  • Clear or reset the ad ID on your smartphone.
  • Turn off location-based ads on your iPhone.

 

beautiful flowering tomato

In Search of the Perfect Tomato

beautiful flowering tomatoFor the first time in over two months, my husband and I are able to eat dinner at the kitchen table. Since March, nearly every flat surface in the house has been completely covered in seedlings. While I devoted a fair amount of counter space to peppers, strawberries, pumpkins, and the like, it is really the dozen varieties of tomatoes that have taken over our house and my life.

As an adult, I have always had a garden of some kind, but in the past few growing seasons, things have gotten a little out of hand. After having poor results in the little plot in the back of our yard, I moved my entire garden to containers on our patio. Twenty giant pots yielded enough beans, peppers, tomatoes, peas, strawberries, cucumbers, and herbs for us to eat like kings all summer, but I still wanted more. So last fall, my father-in-law and I installed two large raised beds and I started planning how to expand my edible hobby.

Unlike many gardeners, I don’t garden simply for the pleasure of making things grow, I garden because I think that most store bought tomatoes taste like sawdust- a fact that gets me unreasonably angry. Somehow humankind has perfected methods of farming that bring about incredible yields, disease resistant crops, and vegetables that are so beautiful that they are practically art, but somehow we forgot the most important thing about food: the taste. After a summer of eating garden fresh tomatoes, that first bland grocery store tomato of the winter makes me want to weep.

I have found utter disappointment with what is available in the produce section at a reasonable price is a wonderful motivator. After one too many mealy grocery store tomatoes, I vowed to give myself the flavor that commercial farmers were not able to provide. I went in search of the perfect tomato. As such, I spent hours researching seed varieties all winter with plans to enjoy an abundant harvest of flavorful fruits and veggies this summer. While the internet is a wealth of knowledge and the best place to find rare or unique seeds, there is really nothing like a good book for gardening tips and inspiration.

 

While I found several helpful titles, like “The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables” by Marie Iannotti and “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Loise Riotte, the best book I came across is “Epic Tomatoes” by Craig LeHoullier. This book got me downright excited to get some dirt under my fingernails. “Epic Tomatoes” covers everything from the history of tomato varieties to how to deal with commons pests, not to mention the absolutely mouthwatering images.

After reading about Cherokee Purples, Mortgage Lifters, and Sun Golds, I ordered my seeds in late February and rushed into work to share my tomato hopes, dreams, and fears with my coworker and fellow overzealous gardener, Irene. She and I routinely encourage each other to take things to excess, so it wasn’t long before she also came in excitedly sharing news of the dozen varieties she selected for her garden this summer.

Over the next several weeks, Irene and I discussed starter soil, grow lamp height, and germination rates and my husband and I ate dinner with our plates in our laps sitting on the living room couch. By mid April, with our makeshift kitchen greenhouse taking up so much living space, I was getting antsy to move my growing brood outside.

Now that the weather has warmed and my little seedlings have graduated to outdoor living, I find myself missing the soft glow coming from the grow lamps in the kitchen and worry about all of the harm that could befall my cute little fruits and veggies in the wilds of my garden. I am officially a produce empty nester, and there is no book that covers how to cope with separation anxiety when it comes to plants, but with a little luck and a lot of sunny days, I’ll be checking out “Canning for a new generation” by Liana Krissoff and “Canning & preserving for beginners” in just a few short weeks.

For the first time in over two months, my husband and I are able to eat dinner at the kitchen table. Since March, nearly every flat surface in the house has been completely covered in seedlings. While I devoted a fair amount of counter space to peppers, strawberries, pumpkins, and the like, it is really the dozen varieties of tomatoes that have taken over our house and my life.

As an adult, I have always had a garden of some kind, but in the past few growing seasons, things have gotten a little out of hand. After having poor results in the little plot in the back of our yard, I moved my entire garden to containers on our patio. Twenty giant pots yielded enough beans, peppers, tomatoes, peas, strawberries, cucumbers, and herbs for us to eat like kings all summer, but I still wanted more. So last fall, my father-in-law and I installed two large raised beds and I started planning how to expand my edible hobby.

Unlike many gardeners, I don’t garden simply for the pleasure of making things grow, I garden because I think that most store bought tomatoes taste like sawdust- a fact that gets me unreasonably angry. Somehow humankind has perfected methods of farming that bring about incredible yields, disease resistant crops, and vegetables that are so beautiful that they are practically art, but somehow we forgot the most important thing about food: the taste. After a summer of eating garden fresh tomatoes, that first bland grocery store tomato of the winter makes me want to weep.

I have found utter disappointment with what is available in the produce section at a reasonable price is a wonderful motivator. After one too many mealy grocery store tomatoes, I vowed to give myself the flavor that commercial farmers were not able to provide. I went in search of the perfect tomato. As such, I spent hours researching seed varieties all winter with plans to enjoy an abundant harvest of flavorful fruits and veggies this summer. While the internet is a wealth of knowledge and the best place to find rare or unique seeds, there is really nothing like a good book for gardening tips and inspiration.

While I found several helpful titles, like “The Beginner’s Guide to Growing Heirloom Vegetables” by Marie Iannotti and “Carrots Love Tomatoes” by Loise Riotte, the best book I came across is “Epic Tomatoes” by Craig LeHoullier. This book got me downright excited to get some dirt under my fingernails. “Epic Tomatoes” covers everything from the history of tomato varieties to how to deal with commons pests, not to mention the absolutely mouthwatering images.

After reading about Cherokee Purples, Mortgage Lifters, and Sun Golds, I ordered my seeds in late February and rushed into work to share my tomato hopes, dreams, and fears with my coworker and fellow overzealous gardener, Irene. She and I routinely encourage each other to take things to excess, so it wasn’t long before she also came in excitedly sharing news of the dozen varieties she selected for her garden this summer.

Over the next several weeks, Irene and I discussed starter soil, grow lamp height, and germination rates and my husband and I ate dinner with our plates in our laps sitting on the living room couch. By mid April, with our makeshift kitchen greenhouse taking up so much living space, I was getting antsy to move my growing brood outside.

Now that the weather has warmed and my little seedlings have graduated to outdoor living, I find myself missing the soft glow coming from the grow lamps in the kitchen and worry about all of the harm that could befall my cute little fruits and veggies in the wilds of my garden. I am officially a produce empty nester, and there is no book that covers how to cope with separation anxiety when it comes to plants, but with a little luck and a lot of sunny days, I’ll be checking out “Canning for a new generation” by Liana Krissoff and “Canning & preserving for beginners” in just a few short weeks.

Allison Palmgren is the Technology Librarian at the Morrill Memorial Library. Read Alli’s column in the June 16th issue of the Norwood Transcript and Bulletin.

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