I Hit My Sealing Ceiling

It rained one night so for the lack of anything to do, Don left us here and headed to Nevada for a load of our stuff, including the kitchen cabinets we bought on Craigslist (more on that later).  After the insulators left, I got to clean up the dust and dirt and all the cotton candy insulation puffs that were floating all over the house. 

I realize that Owens Corning fiberglass insulation is pink because of their spokesman the Pink Panther, but when it is floating everywhere and anywhere, especially outside in the gravel and dirt, it’s a pain in the butt to clean up!  The idea was to get the cement floor perfectly clean so it could be sealed before the sheet rockers arrived on Friday.  No small task.

 

So first I swept.  Then I vacuumed.  Then I mopped the cement floors.  Somewhere in between, I moved all of Don’s tools, the newly purchased lights and the 85 gallon hot water heater outside.  And I learned a few things.

First lesson learned – never use a rag mop on cement.  No matter how smooth the cement appears to be, the mop will leave behind small fibers that cling to the porous cement.  

Lacks luster for me1

Next task was to begin sealing the floors.  The Luster Seal 300 comes in 5 gallon cans.  Since this product is a petroleum based, clear sealant, it reminds me of Deft or varathane.  It’s very oily, dries fast and is incredibly sticky. 

My next lesson learned was when I pulled the plastic top off of the pour spout, the contents must have been under some kind of pressure from the altitude change because the darn stuff shot out of the can and right into my face.  And of course my mouth was open.  I just knew that was the end of me.

Living, Dining, Kitchen

I ran to mom’s house, spitting the entire way and yelling, “shit, crap, help” as I rushed to the sink and started flushing my face, eyes, nose and mouth with water.  Someone, (Mom or Daniel) handed me a bar of soap and a wash cloth and threatened to call poison control.  I just kept leaning over the sink with the hose sprayer pointed at my face and panicking.  I will admit, it burned a little at first, but after I calmed down, I virtually had no physical reaction.  I just plain panicked.  Plus it smelled and tasted REALLY bad.  And when the can says “harmful or fatal when swallowed”, you tend to think you are about to die.

So after about a half an hour of stress, soap and drowning myself, I began to seal the cement floor.  I had opened the can, I wasn’t about to NOT do it.  I have my pride.  Third lesson was read the can at the store and get the right applicator.  Turns out the roller we bought wasn’t the right one and I spent the first day painting on the sealer with a 2” paintbrush.  I was able to get the bathroom, the pantry and part of the hallway done.  This wasn’t going to work for me.  It was too slow with too many fumes.  

Garage floor

Being out in the woods without a lot of resources, the next day I decided to sacrifice my favorite broom and I used it to paint the sealer on the floor.  You know what?  It didn’t turn out half bad.  Mom had some disposable rubber gloves and when I found any mop debris in my paint, I just tapped one of my fingers on it and the “sticky” took it right off the floor.  When it came time to do the garage floor (last), I was so ‘qualified’, that I skipped the mopping and naturally that floor was my best work!

Luster Seal 300 sealer calls for two coats.  I’m so done after one.  It looks good and Don will be back to NEWA today.  The sheet rocker (Josh) had the flu and can’t come until Tuesday “when the smell is all gone”.  So even though there is time to ‘paint’ on another coat, I think I’ve hit my sealing ceiling. 

I’d rather stack firewood.