Original Condition

The 2nd floor hallway is roughly 22' x 5', hence 110 square feet.

My Fixes

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Wish List

Second Floor Hallway Wish List by Vendor

flexitions.com

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Flexitions T-mold	Moulding for hardwood floor to railing base	T-mold	1	$0.00	$0.00
  Total					$0.00

Totals by Vendor

• Vendor	Total
  Total	$0.00

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The following tables show the purchases I've made for the second floor hallway.

Second Floor Purchases by Category

Electrical

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Pass & Seymour 1595NTLTRWCC4	Tamper-resistant GFCI receptable with built-in nightlight, white	1595NTLTRWCC4	1	$17.86	$17.86
  Total					$17.86

Hardware

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  SMI VWM614	polymer resin cold air return grille, white	VWM614	1	$20.51	$20.51
  Total					$20.51

Flooring

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Great Lakes 13361	Hand sculpted hickory flooring 3/4" x 4" (16 sq.ft./carton)	13361	8	$92.64	$741.12
  Mastercraft 1049693	1"x6"x6' hickory board	1049693	1	$18.56	$18.56
  Great Lakes 16427	saddle 3/4" x 48" hardwood flooring stair nose	16427	1	$15.58	$15.58
  Total					$775.26

Trim

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  EverTrue B 31212FBDPM	5.25" x 12' MDF baseboard	B 31212FBDPM	2	$22.44	$44.88
  House of Fara 8583	3/4" x 3" x 96" primed MDF fluted casing	975657	8	$13.78	$110.24
  House of Fara 319	1/4" x 1-7/8" x 9-1/4" birch accent moulding	749029	3	$5.98	$17.94
  Ornamental Mouldings EV742PBWHW	3.5" x 6.5" x 1.0625" unfinished wood plinth	EV742PBWHW	8	$3.98	$31.84
  House of Fara 395	7/16" x 3/4" basswood shoe moulding	1000020354	30	$0.94	$28.20
  Total					$233.10

Totals by Category

• Category	Total
  Electrical	$17.86
  Hardware	$20.51
  Flooring	$775.26
  Trim	$233.10
  Total	$1046.73

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Second Floor Purchases by Vendor

www.lowes.com

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  EverTrue B 31212FBDPM	5.25" x 12' MDF baseboard	B 31212FBDPM	2	$22.44	$44.88
  Pass & Seymour 1595NTLTRWCC4	Tamper-resistant GFCI receptable with built-in nightlight, white	1595NTLTRWCC4	1	$17.86	$17.86
  Ornamental Mouldings EV742PBWHW	3.5" x 6.5" x 1.0625" unfinished wood plinth	EV742PBWHW	8	$3.98	$31.84
  Total					$94.58

www.homedepot.com

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  SMI VWM614	polymer resin cold air return grille, white	VWM614	1	$20.51	$20.51
  House of Fara 8583	3/4" x 3" x 96" primed MDF fluted casing	975657	8	$13.78	$110.24
  House of Fara 319	1/4" x 1-7/8" x 9-1/4" birch accent moulding	749029	3	$5.98	$17.94
  House of Fara 395	7/16" x 3/4" basswood shoe moulding	1000020354	30	$0.94	$28.20
  Total					$176.89

www.menards.com

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Great Lakes 13361	Hand sculpted hickory flooring 3/4" x 4" (16 sq.ft./carton)	13361	8	$92.64	$741.12
  Mastercraft 1049693	1"x6"x6' hickory board	1049693	1	$18.56	$18.56
  Great Lakes 16427	saddle 3/4" x 48" hardwood flooring stair nose	16427	1	$15.58	$15.58
  Total					$775.26

Totals by Vendor

• Vendor	Total
  www.lowes.com	$94.58
  www.homedepot.com	$176.89
  www.menards.com	$775.26
  Total	$1046.73

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Second Floor Purchases by Date

July 12, 2014

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Pass & Seymour 1595NTLTRWCC4	Tamper-resistant GFCI receptable with built-in nightlight, white	1595NTLTRWCC4	1	$17.86	$17.86
  Total					$17.86

July 16, 2017

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Great Lakes 13361	Hand sculpted hickory flooring 3/4" x 4" (16 sq.ft./carton)	13361	8	$92.64	$741.12
  Total					$741.12

July 23, 2017

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  Mastercraft 1049693	1"x6"x6' hickory board	1049693	1	$18.56	$18.56
  Great Lakes 16427	saddle 3/4" x 48" hardwood flooring stair nose	16427	1	$15.58	$15.58
  Total					$34.14

September 4, 2017

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  SMI VWM614	polymer resin cold air return grille, white	VWM614	1	$20.51	$20.51
  Total					$20.51

Someday

• Part	Description	P/N	Qty.	Unit Price	Total
  EverTrue B 31212FBDPM	5.25" x 12' MDF baseboard	B 31212FBDPM	2	$22.44	$44.88
  House of Fara 8583	3/4" x 3" x 96" primed MDF fluted casing	975657	8	$13.78	$110.24
  House of Fara 319	1/4" x 1-7/8" x 9-1/4" birch accent moulding	749029	3	$5.98	$17.94
  Ornamental Mouldings EV742PBWHW	3.5" x 6.5" x 1.0625" unfinished wood plinth	EV742PBWHW	8	$3.98	$31.84
  House of Fara 395	7/16" x 3/4" basswood shoe moulding	1000020354	30	$0.94	$28.20
  Total					$233.10

Totals by Date

• Date	Total
  Jul 12, 2014	$17.86
  Jul 16, 2017	$741.12
  Jul 23, 2017	$34.14
  Sep 4, 2017	$20.51
  Someday	$233.10
  Total	$1046.73

Second Floor Hallway Diary

• April 24, 2024
  
  • I cut in the second coat of paint on the wall.

    I rolled the first coat of the tight spots with a 4" roller, then rolled the rest of the wall with a 9" roller. It will definitely need a second coat, but I like it. I got the contrast I wanted versus the trim, and it's not as wild a color as it can seem in pictures. Especially under 2700K light, which is what is in the recessed hallway fixtures.

    I later rolled the second coat. The finish isn't as glossy as it seemed from brushing. The color is bolder in pictures than in person. I like it.

    Later I pulled most of the tape and reinstalled the wall plates, the newly painted central vacuum port covers and the cold air return grill. I have some touch-up painting to do and I've yet to paint the custom made pieces of trim on the second riser to the third bedroom, but I'm in the home stretch.

• April 23, 2024
  
  • I will need to touch up some of the trim due to some paint runs. I had put extra Floetrol into the paint, and I overdid it. But I usually need to touch up trim a bit after painting walls, so I'm moving ahead.

    It took several hours, but I finally got th bathroom pocket door reinstalled. I wish I had taken a closer look at it before I started all of the hallyway work. The top trim isn't right, it reveals way too much of the mechanism. Of course it doesn't get closed often (pretty much never), just due to the layout of the bathroom (you can't see the toilet nor the shower from the hallway even when the door is open). But just the same, I wish I had addressed it, and having the trim removed would have made the door work easier.

    I went to ACE Hardware for a roll of .94" FrogTape masking tape. I had some 1.88" from a previous project, but I needed the .94" to make my life easier taping the contours of the new door entablatures.

    I taped off all of the trim, and finished the first coat of cut-in. The paint color is much darker than the primer, so I know it needs two coats (I tested it). It might only need one coat rolled with a 3/8" nap roller, but there's a lot of cutting in on this wall and I can't lay down a thick enough coat with a brush without leaving dramatic brush marks. And unfortunately Sherwin-Williams' idea of 'matte' is more like what I think of as 'satin'. They no longer offer Duration in egg shell sheen, which is actually flatter than what they now call 'matte'. I'm OK with this since the wall is in a hallway and is now in good shape (I did a lot of patching), but it makes me with I had bought 'flat' simply because it might actually have more gloss than the trim (which is Behr Premium Plus Ultra in 'satin').

• April 22, 2024
  
  • I painted one side of the pocket door to the bathroom. I also painted one of the central vacuum covers after applying adhesion promoter.

    I put the first coat of paint on most of the trim. It will need a secont coat.

    I cut in the ceiling, electrical outlet, central vac vents and cold air return. They'll need a second round, so I wanted to get one round done.

    I nailed the final custom-made piece of trim into place on the left side of the upper riser for the steps into the third bedroom. I waited until now because having it in place was going to make caulking the end of the baseboard impossible.

    I put a second coat of paint on the trim, thinned a bit. I'm not thrilled with my paint job, mostly because the paint was a few years old. I may touch up a few spots later, but it's good enough.

    I pulled some of the tape, just to check my caulk lines. They look good, no heavy damming anywhere. I'll pull the rest tomorrow.

• April 21, 2024
  
  • I picked up the paint from Sherwin Williams. I went with Duration in 'Torchlight' (SW 6474), which is a very close match to Benjamin Moore 'Gamboge'. Sherwin Williams was having a 40% off sale, and paint is expensive these days. Plus their store is much closer than the nearest Benjamin Moore store.

    It took many hours, but I caulked all of the trim I intend to paint soon. I used Sascho Big Stretch, which I sort of regret only because I have ot wait 25 to 48 hours before painting.

    I sanded one side of the pocket door to the bathroom and primed it with KILZ Original.

• April 20, 2024
  
  • I carefully removed the pocket door to the bathroom and took it to the basement for paint prep. I filled the gouges with Durham's Rock Hard Water Putty.

    I primed the hallway half of the trim for the pocket door with Zinsser B-I-N. I'm not ready to remodel the bathroom, so I'm leaving the stained trim on the bathroom side as-is for the moment.

• April 18, 2024
  
  • I am still doign some spackling, sanding and priming on the new trim. I'd like to get to the point where I can caulk soon. I need to make another door entablature for the inside of the first bedroom doorway, I'll likely work on that tonight. I can't install the casings and plinth blocks there until after I've cleared the room and installed hardwood, but the entablature can be installed.

    I need to decide on a paint color for the hallway. The second bedroom was painted with Sherwin-Williams 'Concord Buff', but I'd like something that has more contrast with the white trim since I've put so much effort into the trim. I like a lot of the Benjamin Moore 'Williamsburg' colors, and I have a fan deck from them. I'm leaning toward CW-285 ('Gamboge') or CW-280 ('Moir Gold'). The family room wall is a pale pink right now (ick), but I intend to repaint it in CW-275 ('Ludwell White').

• April 17, 2024
  
  • All of the hallway baseboard and shoe moulding is nailed in place, and the nail holes are spackled. The door casings for the 1st bedroom doorway are sanded and primed with Zinsser B-I-N. The door frame is aslo filled, sanded and primed up to and including the door stop.

    I tried a few different solutions to terminate the baseboard at the railing. The original baseboard was just cut off after passing over the railing base, which looked unfinished. I tried the same with a return, with a miter cut and with a plinth. None looked right to me. So I wound up making my own small plinth out of solid oak, and placing it on top of the moulding I used to cover the expansion gap between the hardwood flooring and the railing base. I'm still not thrilled with it, but it's better than anything else I tried.

    I did some tricky work on the riser into the third bedroom, just to make the awkward step look a little better. I fabricated some pieces from solid oak to make it look like there's a column from the hallway floor all the way to the top of the plinth blocks at the bottom of the door casings. This whole area is kind of a PITA, but it looks better.

• April 10, 2024
  
  • I managed to get baseboard installed on the tricky part of the hallway, namely on the wall that has the step into the third bedroom butted against it at an odd angle. Tricky angled cuts plus an angled 1" hole drilled on the drill press.

    I went to Lowe's for another plinth block to do what I want to do at the top of the stairs. I removed some of the half-ass stair trim from the wall, then cut the big piece on the wall vertically with my oscillating tool. It previously had a half-baked return piece to the floor, presumably done by a trim carpenter. I can now butt a plinth block against the big piece, and then continue on the wall with baseboard. I also bought some caulk.

    I bought some smaller shoe moulding at Home Depot than I originally intended to use. This is because I dodn't like the look of the original shoe moulding where it meets the plinth blocks. I tried cutting returns as well as chamfer cuts (the tradidion ways of joining shoe to plinth or door casing when the shoe protrudes more than what it meets), but it just don't look right to me for plinths at the bottom of the door casings for the two doors that are very close to each other. The plinth should look like a substantial base to a column, but the shoe sticking out further than the plinth kills this look when the plinths are close together. Maybe it's just me. But I prefer the look of the new shoe moulding I bought, which sits just a hair inside the face of the plinth when butted.

    I'm doing something a little tricky with the shoe moulding at the awkward step to the third bedroom. The baseboard and trim on the walls is all going to be white, but the piece of hickory riser for the step is stained to match the flooring. But it needs shoe moulding, and white would look terrible. So the wall shoe will be white but the shoe for the step riser will be stained to match the riser. Where the wall shoe meets the riser shoe, I have a miter joint. To pull this off cleanly, I need to prefinish the shoe pieces, then touch them up after installation. We'll see how it goes. I can use my pain nailer for the wall piece, but I'm lery of trying to use it for the piece on the stair riser. My experience with pain nails in hickory is that they frequently do a 180 and come back out the face of what I'm nailing. They're just not strong enough for hickory, which is very hard. So I'll probably use 18 gauge nails there.

    I started the process by priming the piece for the wall with Zinsser B-I-N.

    I finally have a rough plan to install the last two pieces of flooring and the stair nose. I need to cut off the end of the subfloor, since it's rounded and sticks out too far. For the bulk of the cut, I think my savre saw with a guide is the best option, and I'll finish it off with the oscillating tool. Its edge is also ugly since it's a piece of particle board. Makes me wish I had replaced it with plywood like the rest of the subfloor before I installed the hardwood. The plan is to face the edge with a 3/8" thick piece of 3/4" hickory I have left from the step riser after I cut a straight edge. I'll run a roundover bit over the one exposed edge of this face piece, and stain it to match the stair nose.

    I cut the stair nose to length. I crept up on the length because the stair nose is very expensive, presumably largely due to the tooling to bullnose and shape hickory. It's our hardest domestic hardwood.

    I'm going to need to shape one custom piece of flooring, since I can't fit a full-width board as the last piece before the stair nose, and there are some odd transitions at each end due to the railing base on one side and the stair trim on the other. Not a big deal, I already have the router table set up with the new Yonico bit for the groove. I think the tricky part is going to be installing the stair nose. I don't want to face nail it. I _think_ I can drill pilot holes from underneath the edge of the subfloor and put a few screws in from underneath, and of course some Loctite PL construction adhesive. We'll see when I get to it.

• April 7, 2024
  
  • I finished installing the bulk of the hand-sculpted hickory flooring in the second floor hallway. The long curve at the railing base made it difficult but not impossible. There's still quite a bit of work to do to cover the expansion gap there, but I'm working on it. I am using solid oak outside corner moulding here, but it's possible I will change my mind. I also haven't done the stair nose or the last couple of pieces leading to it. Mainly because there is some moulding I haven't decided how to handle yet.

    I finished priming four of the plinth blocks for the hallway. Two for the second bedroom door and two for the bathroom door. I used Zinsser B-I-N here, only to prevent any tanins from leaking through the paint later on. I have two more to do for the first bedroom, but I've yet to decide how to deal with that door's proximity to the hallway wall. It's awkward for the plinth and the baseboard and shoe, even if I trim the plinth to match the width of the door casings I intend to use. I'd like to avoid any tricky coping of the baseboard since it's MDF which is generally not very nice to have to cut with a coping saw.

• March 28, 2024
  
  • I cut and nailed the door stop moulding to the first bedroom door jambs, after putting some Zinsser B-I-N on the back just to avoid oak tanins from later affecting the paint. I bought oak just for the durability, it was the same price as poplar.

    Like other doors in the house, the first bedroom door had deep gouges from the previous owner, presumably a large dog. Deep enough that just sanding wouldn't suffice. The doors were originally stained wood, but I'm painting them since all the trim on the second floor is going to be painted. I removed the door, then removed the hardware. I cleaned one side with denatured alcohol, then filled the gouges with Rock Hard Water Putty. Once it dried, I sanded and then sprayed the sanded areas with automotive primer. I then sanded again and sprayed with Zinsser B-I-N. I'll sand again, then flip the door over on my sawhorses and fill the gouges on the other side. The door will eventually get a full coat of primer (probably just Kilz Original since shellac-based products are pricey these days), then a sparay coat of enamel. I like enamel on doors because it's more durale than most latex paints, and I already have the satin white rattle canls I used for the other bedroom doors on the second floor.

    I nailed the door entablatures above the first and second bedroom doors, as well as the one above the bathroom pocket door. I had trouble with the dissolve on the one above the first bedroom, so I wound up cutting it a little short and I'll fill the gap with caulk later. It's only the corning that is dissolved, not the frize. It's going to be difficult to paint this area, I probably should have prepainted before installing but I haven't chosen the wall paint yet. I'll be able to do it with craft brushes and careful application of masking tape, it's just not going to be easy.

    I haven't installed the appliques yet. That's mainly because I'm not thrilled with their resolution. They're fine inside the bedrooms, but I think I want something higher resolution for the hallway.

    I need to make a shopping list for the big box stores. I know I need some Kilz Original spray, I only have one can. I think I also need more plinth blocks.

    At any rate, I can get back to installing the hardwood in the hallway now.

• March 24, 2024
  
  • I am almost done adjusting the door jambs for the first bedroom. I had the door to this room open since buying the house, and hence hadn't noticed how poorly the door was hung. The gap between the door and the latch side jamb was so big at the bottom that the door stop moulding didn't even cover the gap. It was more than 1/2". I bought new jamb legs in case I need them, but I think I've managed to get things where I need them to be by carefully prying the jambs away from the framing, removing much of the existing shims and reshimming both sides. I also carefully removed the jamb head and shortened it about 3/16", then reinstalled it. The jamb legs are now as plumb as I can get them without completely removing them and replacing them. They're at about 89.90 degrees according to my 4' level. I'm not inclined to completely rehang the door right now, since I'd have to cut the hinge recesses in the new jambs and make quite a mess during installation. If I had noticed this issue before I had laid all of the FloorMuffler, I would be more inclined to rehang the door. But repeatedly walking all over the FloorMuffler isn't a good thing; it's not durable enough to sustain a lot of foot traffic.

    At any rate, this wasn't easy work, in part because the jamb leg on the hinge side had no shims originally. This makes me think the carpenter didn't even try to make it plumb, and that the sims on the latch side were just to fill the gap. Especially asince it was pretty obvious that the jamb head was too wide for the door. I can't really be sure what happened here, of course.

    In the process of renailing the jamb legs, the no-mar pad on my very old Senco SFN40 nailer crumbled into pieces. I ordered a replacement from Amazon. I need it for the first and last rows of the hardwood flooring. In the interim, I'll probably just put some masking tape around the nailer's foot.

    I need some new door stop moulding. I'll pick some up at Menard's.

• March 20, 2024
  
  • I cleared the hallway and thoroughly vacuumed the subfloor. I'm preparing to install the thin foam padding (FloorMuffler) that goes under the hardwood.

• March 19, 2024
  
  • I completed the assembly of the three hallway door entablatures.

    I cut and routed the piece of flooring for the transition piece for the second bedroom. It needed to be slightly tapered from end to end, about 1/8" over 32". And the amount removed was only about 1/2". It was a bit tricky, so I first cut off the bulk on the table saw, then went back with a straightedge guide and flush cutting bit on my trim router to get the taper. I then used the new tounge and groove router bit to cut the groove to fit it to the hardwood in the second bedroom. I then slightly rounded the edge with a random orbital sander, then dyed the edge to match the stain. I put one coat of wipe-on satin polyurethane on it after the dye was dry. Looks good.

• March 15, 2024
  
  • After doing a bit of cleaning in the garage and burning some scrap wood and cardboard, I routed the cornice pieces for the second floor hallway doorways.

• March 14, 2024
  
  • The threshold for the second bedroom needs to be tapered. This is a consequence of the exterior wall (which I used as the reference for the hardwood installed in that room since it's the most visible) not being parallel with the wall that's shared with the hallway. I haven't measured yet, this is just a note to myself.

    I am taking measurements for the door headers in the hallway. There's a stackup I create here from MDF stock. The frieze is 3.5" tall with a bead routed around the bottom. The cornice is two stacked pieces, the top with a classical edge and the bottom with a cove.

    The second bedroom:

    frieze length	37 1/4"
    cornice top length	40 1/4"
    cornice top width	2 3/8"
    cornice bottom length	38 3/4"
    cornice bottom width	1 9/16"

    The bathroom, which is a narrower pocket door:

    frieze length	30 7/8"
    cornice top length	33 7/8"
    cornice top width	2 3/8"
    cornice bottom length	32 3/8"
    cornice bottom width	1 9/16"

    The first bedroom door width is the same as the second bedroom, but doesn't have room for the same length cornice. However, I want the same pilasters, so I might just trim off the end of the cornice (known as a 'dissolve'). My other option is to neck the frieze. For now:

    frieze length	37 1/4"
    cornice top length	40 1/4"
    cornice top width	2 3/8"
    cornice bottom length	38 3/4"
    cornice bottom width	1 9/16"

    I cut these pieces on the miter saw and sable saw.

    I checked the Yonico 15230 router bit set profiles against the edges of the hickory flooring. They match perfectly.

• March 6, 2024
  
  • I am finally starting to figure out how I'm going to install the hardwood flooring in the second floor hallway. It's been somewhat intimidaitng for years because one of the long edges is at the railing and has a very long gradual curve. Which happens to be parallel to the direction I need to run the hardwood. The fear has always been how to prevent slivered pieces and also how to scribe and cut the pieces that butt against the 1" thick stock that is the base for the railing stiles.

    I need to just get over this fear. I've never encountered a problem I can't solve; it's part of the reason I'm a good engineer. Yes, the edge presents a challenge. But it's one I can solve.

    Note that part of the issue here is that I need to leave space ffor wood expansion/contraction. Hickory, while harder than oak, is more susceptible to movement from humidity than oak. Meanwhile due to the bottom of the railing posts being flush with the edge of the 1" curved oak stock base, I can't just use flexible transition strip. I might be able to use corner moulding, or make my own. Fortunately the hallway isn't terribly wide, so at least I don't need to accomodate a ton of movement. If I could guarantee that I could precisely cut the curved edges here, I could get away with a high quality silicone caulk.

    The other issue is the transition to the second bedroom; I want no threshold, so I need to fit against the tongue of the second bedroom flooring. That's not a big deal, and I checked that the layout will work as I'd like. The only issue is that I need to rip about 1/2" from the first boards on that wall, and hence I need to cut a new matching groove for the board that meets the wood of the second bedroom. I don't have the router bits I need, so I ordered them from Amazon. While I'd love to have the Amana set, it's $150. I went for the cheaper option, Yonico.

• April 18, 2021
  
  • I patched and spot-primed the walls of the second floor hallway and the stairwell. Lots of dings and gouges from the previous owners. I used Kilz Original for the primer.

    I removed the cold air return grille in the second floor hallway in order to put some flat black latex paint on the drywall and studs behind it. The Victorian style grilles don't hide the area behind them. I did the same in Bedroom 2, and it worked well.

    I ordered Victorian cold air return grilles from Home Depot to replace the one in the second floor hallway, Bedroom 1, the master bedroom, the one above the thermostat and the one on the north family room wall.

    I ordered 8 more acanthus appliques for second floor doorway header trim.

• September 21, 2017
  
  • I moved 18 boxes of the hand-scraped hickory hardwood from the den to Bedroom 2. That's 936 pounds of wood. I am clearing space in the den to move my temporary office in Bedroom 1 to the den.

• September 20, 2017
  
  • I scraped most of the high spots off of the subfloor. These were joint compound, paint and construction adhesive.

    I'm trying to decide when to gel stain the banister and its base. It would make sense to do it now since the base is as exposed as it will ever be.

    I went to 'Pigeon in the Parlor' in Holly for two quarts of General Finishes Java Gel Stain and two quarts of Arm-R-Seal.

    I stuffed all of the old carpet padding into a large contractor's trash bag for this week's trash collection.

    I put a couple of test coats of the gel stain on a small section of the handrail, using an old sock. I don't know how far I'll get with this technique; it works, but I think I might decide to paint it on with a brush instead since I'm aiming for a fairly dark result.

• September 19, 2017
  
  • I removed the remaining baseboard from the 2nd floor hallway. I scraped the caulk ridge from the drywall with a 1.5" wood chisel.

    I started removing the carpet, carpet pad, tack strip and staples from the subfloor. I'm about done; it's all removed, but I need to haul the trash to the garage, scrape the subfloor, and vacuum. Tomorrow I need to make a plan for moving my desk to the den as part of clearing out Bedroom 1. The den is full of stuff right now, including 18 boxes of hardwood that I will be using in the second floor hallway and Bedroom 1.

• September 18, 2017
  
  • I moved some of the items out of the hallway, but still have more to clean up. I then removed the hallway side door casings from the bathroom door, the door to Bedroom 2 and the door to Bedroom 1. I also removed most of the baseboard. I removed all of the nails from these pieces so I can burn them in the fire pit. I cut the carpet at the seam between the hallway and Bedroom 1 so I can start removing the hallway carpet and then the tack strips.

• September 17, 2017
  
  • I am trying to plan for laying the floor in the hallway and Bedroom 1. The hallway will be a little tricky since once side of it has a gradual curve (the part with railing that overlooks the family room). I also have to account for the joint at Bedroom 2, stair nosing, and if I want a continous run into Bedroom 1, making sure I don't wind up with a too-narrow board at a wall in Bedroom 1. I don't yet know what's pssible since I need to clear the hallway and bedroom of tools and other stuff from remodelling Bedroom 2 and then pull the trim and carpet. One of my concerns is how to handle the transition from the hallway floor to the railing base. Obviously I need an expansion gap, but what can I use to hide that gap? The height of the railing base is 1" according to the depth gauges on my Mitutoyu calipers. That doesn't leave me much room for a wood piece since the flooring is 3/4" thick and the Floor Muffler is .08" thick. But if it's oak or hickory, I might be OK with making a custom cover piece. It won't get walked on, so 5/32&quout; or 1/8" over the flooring is probably durable enough as long as it's not too wide. It's tempting to remove the ballusters which would allow me to just notch 1/2&qout; out of the railing base.

• September 4, 2017
  
  • I ordered a Victorian style composite cold air return grill from Home Depot. I would have preferred a different style, but I couldn't find anything nice-looking that wasn't ludicrously expensive. I don't need cast iron or solid brass for a grille that will never be touched (it's located 7' off the floor).

• August 30, 2017
  
  • I bought and installed Cree 100W-equivalent LED retrofit recessed lights in the hallway. I needed more light, and I also wanted the higher CRI of the new Cree LEDs (they're 90+).

• July 23, 2017
  
  • I went to Menards for the saddle color hickory stair nosing, a 6' long 1x6 hickory board for the riser of the step into Bedroom 3, 6 more tubes of Loctite PL Premium, and a 1" sanding drum for the drill press so I can shape the moulding around the step for Bedroom 3.

• July 17, 2017
  
  • I picked up the 4" wide hand-sculpted hickory from Menard's for the second floor hallway.

• December 26, 2016
  
  • I cut the hole in the ceiling for the Nest Protect outside of Bedroom 2. I then installed the metal joist-mounted ceiling box, using 4 screws to mount it to the joist in the attic.

    For the power, I'm drawing from the box for the Nest Protect outside of Bedroom 1. This was at the end of the chain, and hence the box isn't crowded. I'm using 14/3, so I can run the communication wire (red) despite the fact that the Nest Protect units use wireless communication and hence don't use the communication wire. I pulled the wire through the box outside of Bedroom 1 and fed it into the new box from the attic and cut and wirenut everything. I then set up the Nest Protect and DHCP to give it a fixed address. It's working fine.

• December 23, 2016
  
  • I bought some 14/3 wire and an octagon metal box with joist nailing plate so I can finally install the third Nest Protect smoke/CO detector on the second floor. This one will go outside Bedroom 2. I figured out where I'm going to place it, but haven't yet decided if I'll use the new metal box or the plastic rework box I have. The Nest Protect isn't heavy and hence either will work. The advantage of the metal box is that it'd be screwed to a joist. The disadvantage is that it is much shallower and hence more difficult to stash wires inside. I also need to decide from which other detector I'll run the power wiring. I don't recall which one is the end of the chain, and I'd like to draw from the final one just to avoid too much wire and larger wire nuts being crammed into a box.

    The next Nest Protect will probably go in the basement, replacing the basic detector that is there now.

• December 15, 2016
  
  • I finalized the location of the new Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO access point on the ceiling of the second floor. I drilled a 5/16" hole and ran the ethernet through it from the attic. I crimped an RJ45 connector on it and installed the baseplate with drywall anchors. I then plugged the ethernet into the main port of the UAP-AC-PRO and installed the UAP-AC-PRO on the base plate. I wired the other end in the basement.

    The MAC ID on the back of the UAP-AC-PRO reads 1619K802AA88026C7-m857w6. This means 80:2A:A8:80:26:C7. I configured DHCP to always give it the same address, and configured DNS.

    I am running the controller on my hackintosh at the moment. Later I'll run it on one of my servers. I noticed a problem: the UAP-AC-PRO was always negotiating 100 Mbits/sec FD on the ethernet switch. This won't do for 802.11ac clients. So I decided to upgrade the firmware on the UAC-AP-PRO to 3.7.29.5446. This appears to have fixed the problem; I've reset the UAP-AC-PRO multiple times and it always negotiates 1000Mbits/sec FD.

• December 13, 2016
  
  • I drilled a test hole in the ceiling where I want to install a Ubiquiti UAP-AC-PRO access point. This location should yield excellent WiFi service fo the family room and the second floor. It might yield great coverage for the whole first floor, but that remains to be seen. I am planning to install another one in the basement and possibly one in the garage, but only if needed. In any event, I hope the cat5e cable I ran into the attic is long enough. I'll try to finish the installation this week, but it's very cold in the attic since the outdoor temperature is headed for single digits (Fahrenheit).

• August 13, 2015
  
  • I installed Baldwin wall plates on the outlet in the landing and the outlet in the 2nd floor hallway. I'd like to shoot the electrician that installed the boxes in this house. Many of them are crooked, and several of them protrude from the drywall on the side that's fastened to the wall stud (meaning it's not a bent box; it was installed poorly). The one on the wall in the landing can't be shaved back because it's the type with wraparound metal clip fasteners which protrude from the drywall. If I cut those, the box won't be held firmly anymore. I might carefully cut the whole box out of the wall and replace it with a rework box.

• July 28, 2014
  
  • I cleaned the carpet of the second floor hallway.

• July 12, 2014
  
  • I installed a Pass & Seymour GFCI outlet with nightlight (1595NTLTRWCC4) in the second floor hallway. Now that the stairs, hallway and full bathroom have built-in nightlights, Julie can choose to disable the occupancy-sensing feature of the dimmer for the recessed lights if desired.

• May 12, 2014
  
  • I installed a Lutron Maestro MSCL-OP153MH-WH occupancy dimmer at the top of the stairs to the second floor, a Lutron Maestro MA-RR-WH companion dimmer at the bottom of the stairs and a Lutron Maestro MA-RR-WH companion dimmer at the end of the hallway upstairs. This is a multi-location setup for the recessed lights in the hallway and stairs. The MSCL-OP153MH-WH replaced the old 4-way switch that was dead, and the MA-RR-WH companion dimmers replaced the 3-way switches. Now when I walk out of one of the rooms upstairs, the lights come on. This is very useful since the only two rooms I use upstairs are the middle bedroom and the bathroom. There is no light switch for the hallway lights near either of these rooms. The lights turn off when the hallway is unoccupied.

    I replaced one of the four BR30 bulbs with a Cree LED BR30, 2700K temperature. I will eventually replaced the three remaining bulbs with the same.

    I installed Amerelle Madison nickel-plated brass wall plates on the three dimmers I installed tonight. I also installed one on the occupancy switch near the Nest thermostat. I have two single-gang rocker plates left, which I'll use in the middle upstairs bedroom.