Paper Bag Floor, Part 2, and Painkiller Punch

Hi,

I'm sure you're sore by now with all the work you did on the floor. I can tell you I sure was. Now we are off to the next step of the project.

Tools needed:

Concrete Patch repair. (I used Henry Feather Finish)
Wood Filler (if you have wood subfloors)

Trowel (a metal spatula from DT works good also.)

small bucket (DT purchase)

Cheap brush

Bag of paper balls that you have been working on.

White Elmer's glue (cheapest price I found was at Staples, gallon size)

foam knee pad or small pillow.

Now that you have swept up the floor make sure to go over all the glue spots again to catch any stray padding. If the glue is still noticeable then take some sandpaper (wrapped around a block for support) and sand the spot down. You don't have to make it disappear as the paper will cover it. Just make sure there are no raised spots.

Here's where we split up the directions. One will be for Concrete floors and the other will be for Wood sub floor.

Concrete Floor:  Mix up the concrete patch repair and fill all the little craters from the tack strip. DON'T mix up the entire bag. Just take a small bucket and add around 4 oz. of water to it. Now add the concrete and mix till it's smooth (Pancake batter consistency). This stuff sets up pretty quick, that's why you need to work in small batches at a time. Especially if you have never done this before.

As you work along the divots try to level it out as much as you can. Once dry check and see if it's smooth. If there are any raised spots you can either knock them down with a chisel and hammer or if too small, rough (80-grit) sandpaper. It doesn't have to be perfect. That's the beauty of the paper bag floor. It seems to hide a lot of imperfections. Plus being next to the baseboard, nobody but your evil mother-in-law inspects that area.

Mop with hot water to remove any left over dirt/debris. Dump water and repeat again. After it's dry then you can start on the next step.



Wood Floor: Take the wood putty and fill in all the spaces between the boards. If you don't then you will have shadow lines across the floor. Also fill in any large holes, knots, and other imperfections. Once dry sand down till smooth. If the hole is big you may have to do a second coat because of settling/cracks.

Now we are back to the regular scheduled program.

In a small bucket I mixed a solution of 1 to 1 of water and glue. Mixed up it looked like runny milk. I didn't make a large batch because I'm old and decrepit and my back couldn't handle working hunched over for a long time. I did this over several days. Once my glue ran out I stopped and the next morning I started a new batch till the room was done. You do have the option to do it all at once (not recommended), or invite the girls over and knock it out of the park in one grand slam. The part that cracked me up was when I remembered something from kindergarten as I was cleaning up for the day.  I instantly remembered doing art projects and putting glue on the back of my hand. I shudder with goosebumps because it's a strange feeling when you peel that dried glue off.

Best point to start is the farthest corner and work your way out. What seemed to work for me is to drop 3 balls at a time in the glue. If I added more then that they were a soggy mess by the time I got to the last one. 3 seemed to be the magic number. I swished them around a bit, grabbed a piece, and squeezed out the excess glue mix. Carefully pull it apart and lay out on the floor. Now with the contractors paper there is two distinct sides. It isn't noticeable till it's wet. One is slimy smooth and the other more rough. Lay the paper down with the rough side up. With your paint brush smooth out the wrinkles and bubbles. Grab the next piece and do the same. Make sure to overlap the edges by an inch as the paper will shrink. It's pretty simple to do and I varied the paper sizes so it wouldn't become a uniform, noticeable pattern. Variety is what makes it stand out.

(P.S. I mentioned pad/pillow because having a knee pad/pillow under my ankles while sitting Indian style on the floor was sooooo much easier then the rock hard surface. Trust me, you will be needing it within 5 minutes of working.)

When the entire area is done take a deep breath and do a happy dance. Now don't freak out while the paper is drying. It will become an ugly wrinkly mess making you think "What the HELL did I just do??????". Once dry it lays down flat again. Don't ask me why it does that but it's fine.

When the floor is completely dry wear a pair of clean socks and carefully go over the entire floor to check for any exposed concrete (shrinkage exposed a couple of places when I checked.) Also check for any raised areas. I carefully cut them out with a knife. With a small batch of glue, I added pieces to repair/cover the problem areas. Beauty of having a paper bag floor is that's easy to patch up if there is ever any damage.

Again let the patches dry then check for any new spots.

Now it's time to relax and have a drink to quiet the screaming your body is aiming at you. Some of the ingredients I used for this recipe are from the previous drink, Rocky Point Pina Colada.

Painkiller Punch

2 shots Rum (Captain Morgan's or the leftover Pineapple Rum works)

1 shot of Coconut milk (again left over from the Pina Colada)
2 shots of Orange Juice

Top off with Pineapple Juice (I used the juice from the bottom of the bowl of cut up pineapples. You can also throw the leftover pieces in the blender and mix with the rest of the ingredients.)

Garnish with a dash of Nutmeg on top.

Relax, enjoy the drink, and plot how to take over the world.

Part 3 coming up next.......