This past month has been spent in the midst of replacement windows and some renovation work on an apartment in Waterbury. Nothing that is really visually exciting enough to be photo worthy. The lack of aesthetic excitement has turned the mind toward some of the basic issues behind the work.
When refinishing a floor it was clear that our sanding was to be the last one in the life of this 100 year old floor. SO…how best to preserve this floor? What is the greenest option? I am generally a fan of the Vermont Coatings floor finish but personally do not believe that it is anywhere near as durable as an oil based poly. So the choice was made to go with the oil knowing that when this floor needs help again it will have to be torn up. That way the wood will have a much longer useful life and that seems more important than saving the VOC and petroleum action from occuring in this case.
In the same apartment there was a tub surround that had failed due to tile on drywall accompanied by failing caulk. The question in this case was should we re-tile or replace the old set up with an acrylic unit. About the same cost either way. We decided to go for rebuilding the wall and insulating it properly followed by tile with epoxy grout. That way we eliminated the dumping of the old tub and the use of a lot of extra plastic.
These are the kinds of things that go on in the background of every job.
