Burning and More Floor Work

Bedroom Floor

Office Floor

On Saturday the 3rd I finally got a burning permit, good until the end of the month.

Stephen and Brenda Managing the Fire

The second coat of Estapol must be laid down between 6 and 24 hours after the first coat, which means that I need two consecutive days for varnishing a floor.  So the plan was for me to varnish the bedroom and office on Monday and Tuesday and burn the heaps of building material on Wednesday after an early morning visit to the dentist in Midland.  Brenda and Stephen agree to accompany me to the house on Wednesday to see the progress on the renovation and help me do the burning, because the formal requirement was that two persons be in attendance of the fire.

Everything went according to plan.  Monday and Tuesday were hard days for me because I had to spend 7 hours each day on my hands and knees wearing the breathing mask and brushing as fast as I could.

We began the burning at 10 AM on Wednesday.  There had been drizzle the night before but we had plenty of kindling and old newspapers on hand and soon we had a roaring fire which we fed for hours.  I took the opportunity to walk around the property gathering fallen branches.  We also burned many cardboard boxes that had contained the kitchen cabinet flat packs.  We doused the fire at 4 PM and the predicted rain started while we were still on our way to Beaconsfield.  That night the city got more than 1.5 inches of rain, the biggest downpour in 3 years the by far the most rain that I had seen since my return to Australia.  I returned to the house the next day anxious to see whether the new roof had stood up to the torrent and was pleased to see that everything inside the house was bone dry.

I spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday preparing the next two floors for varnish, the dining and sitting rooms.  This involved hours of belt sanding, punching down nails and filling them, and digging out tiny flecks of white plaster from between the boards.  When a left the house on Saturday evening the two floors were ready for the beginning of the varnishing on Monday morning.  This time I will wipe the floors with a damp rag soaked in methylated spirits to remove all loose saw dust.