January 2018 – Durfee Newsletter

Posted on January 2, 2018 by webmaster

January’s Features of the Month

Your Choice – Trash Bags

38 ct. 13 Gal. Flex (181609) or 18 ct. 33 Gal. Flex (181610)

$5.99

3 pk. O’Keeffe’s Working Hands Box Set (234800)

$9.97

Your Choice – 64 qt. Storage Boxes

Pink (197698); Blue (197697); Green (197699); or Clear (225073)

$6.49

Your Choice – 18 Gal. Storage Tote

Pink (190928); Blue (190927); or Green (190925)

$4.99

92 qt. Footlocker (180312)

$17.99

12 oz. Goo Gone Gel (631390)

$3.79

STORIES

I gave a couple of my old friends some Durfee Hardware coffee cups a while back. They both live out-of-state now, but I thought they might enjoy a reminder of RI (you may have seen these cups on the counter at the store).

What’s really great is one of these friends sends me a text every few months with a picture of the coffee cup and text that says “Having coffee with Ray today”. This friend really hit-it-off with my Dad and thought he was a fantastic guy. It’s really great that he sends me a note every once-in-a-while to let me know he still thinks about Ray from time to time.

It’s too bad we don’t have a coffee cup for everybody that is missed. Anyway, it’s comforting to think that there are some people out there who pick up a Durfee coffee mug and remember my Dad.

MY STUFF

There was some kind of object put on the window sill that I had just refinished last year that left a kind of a chemical burn on the surface. I had to sand it out, re-stain that spot, and put a urethane over the whole thing again. While that may seem like bad news, it actually came out pretty great. You’d never know there was an issue – looks like new.

Okay, I really stepped in it this time. There was a little finish that peeled-off the oak flooring near my back sliding door. I thought I would just sand it and refinish the small spot. When I started sanding, I realized that the board was soft so I took my circular saw and cut it out (I would highly recommend using a corded saw for this kind of thing – battery powered ones are still not strong enough).

When I got that board out, the next board looked rotted. Man, it was like pulling a thread on your sweater. I was pulling up a lot of boards by the time I was done. It appears that the old door had leaked during driving rains, which over time damaged the oak.

Then as I started to clean up the mess, I noticed that the plywood had some ‘give’ to it. I thought, ‘that seems odd, there should be a joist at the seam between these two pieces of plywood’. When I went downstairs, I found that the joist was completely rotted. The water went into the seam and just sat on the joist. So, I now had to jack up the floor a little with my bottle jack to get a new joist in there. I cut the bad part out, and bolted a new joist to what was left of the old one.

Now I am putting down new tongue-and-groove oak flooring. I put some rosin paper down so the boards won’t creak. It’s nice that I have a router table so I can put a new groove in the end of the board when I have to cut the oak to fit my floor.

I decided to use trim screws (screws with a little tiny head) so I wouldn’t have to use a nail gun. They are actually working pretty great. They snug-up the new boards to the old ones nicely.

This is going to take some time to finish up – then on to painting the family room.

Have questions or comments about the Newsletter? We’d love to hear them.

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