Since the floor is going in soon, I focussed on getting those essential things I want done first. When I got back home from work on Friday night, the air was clear but the dust in the queen's room was so thick the table top was grey. I knew cleanup from the concrete grinding was called for. Hazmat!
Wearing respirator, I took the vacuum outside and changed the vacuum bag, also brushing off some of the cement dust with a paper towel. I then got out the broom (it was buried in the hardest to get to corner in Lyndhurst) and swept where I had changed the vacuum bag.
On Saturday afternoon I proceded to do 2 hours of vacuuming with full face respirator on. I used the vacuum rod to pull up loose dust on the floor until I got to the table. Using my Hoover WindTunnel vacuum with high performance bag and HEPA post-filter. Then, at the table I used a similar technique to get all the dust off of the table. Or most of it. It was disappointing to see how slowly the dust was being vacuumed up, when you could clearly see what was left.
Actually, the first thing I did on Saturday was to vacuum the Living Room floor. I figured that this needed to be done (since the party last week) and since it had picked up concrete dust and general construction dust also. Since vacuuming the Queen's Room would get the vacuum dirty, I should vacuum the Living Room first. Strangely, the subwoofer near the front door had gotten quite dusty. But there was no sign of any kind of construction dust anywhere else.
Actually, the first thing I did on Saturday was to vacuum the Living Room floor. I figured that this needed to be done (since the party last week) and since it had picked up concrete dust and general construction dust also. Since vacuuming the Queen's Room would get the vacuum dirty, I should vacuum the Living Room first. Strangely, the subwoofer near the front door had gotten quite dusty. But there was no sign of any kind of construction dust anywhere else.
After vacuuming the Queen's Room floor with vacuum rod, I proceeded to vacuum the moldings, then in the closet, using the genuine hair brush (from my old Electrolux cleaner). Then I vacuumed much of the closet that way also, then much of the main floor. The brush picks up far more than the rod by itself. I re-cleaned the table with the brush. I also vacuumed the floor using the Floor mode of my Hoover cleaner, and then with the carpet mode. Neither of those seemed to do much, possibly the carpet mode was better, but sometimes I saw the red "dirt" light coming on so it was doing something.
After a long trip in the evening (see section below) I resumed the vacuuming, and started vacuuming the walls with the brush. By this time, I felt that the room was 90% cleaner and I didn't need to use the respirator.
On Sunday I finished vacuuming the walls using the hair brush, and did extra vacuuming in the closet, including vacuuming the closet ceiling with respirator on to protect my eyes from falling popcorn mainly. I also took down the now drooping plastic covering the A/C vent. It was absolutely clean, not a trace of dust. There were two tiny blobs of dust-like stuff on the vent. I thoroughly vacuumed the vent, then sprayed it with canned air, then vacuumed again, then opened the vent, vacuumed, sprayed canned air, then vacuumed again. Besides those two blobs, there was nothing visible there, but I wanted to be sure it was clean.
I cleaned the clothes rod in the closet. The top was covered with concrete dust, AND it had several blobs of gooey stuff, possibly from the price or bar code stickers, or possibly from some fallen paint. Pure alcohol, everclear, was the best thing for cleaning off all the sticky stuff.
I cleaned the clothes rod in the closet. The top was covered with concrete dust, AND it had several blobs of gooey stuff, possibly from the price or bar code stickers, or possibly from some fallen paint. Pure alcohol, everclear, was the best thing for cleaning off all the sticky stuff.
Wearing respirator, I took the vacuum outside and changed the vacuum bag, also brushing off some of the cement dust with a paper towel. I then got out the broom (it was buried in the hardest to get to corner in Lyndhurst) and swept where I had changed the vacuum bag.
On Sunday night, after changing my sheets, I proceeded to mop the floor. I mopped using plain water, but actually reverse osmosis water so no chlorine. I just mopped without drying. I mopped the main floor first, then the closet area, then the closet floor last. After just a few feet of mopping the water got darker and by the time the job was done the water was completely opaque from concrete dust. The mop head just disappeared as I dunked it in. I dumped the water down the bathtub drain and rinsed the bathtub.
Monday morning, the room smelled a lot cleaner than ever. There was no remaining smell from the concrete grinding, and just a bit of the smell I started smelling during the removal of the old closet, smells a bit like old tide detergent, but far less of that smell than since before construction started. Though I've already done far more construction detailing than most people, I plan to do another mop before Wednesday. It's just not good enough, IMO, to cover up the crud with flooring. The concrete subfloor should be clean also, for a clean smelling and safe room.
*****
On Saturday night, after the initial hazmat cleaning work with respirator on, I took a trip to Home Depot to buy a mop, bucket, and the concrete patching compound called "Hydraulic Concrete" by the concrete grinding guy. I had to look all over the Home Depot store to find the Hydraulic Concrete. It was not with the paints and caulks and the lady there told me to go to a particular aisle that had lumber molding stuff. I looked there, then in the plumbing section. Nothing. But I had not explored the south end of the aisle the paint lady mentioned. So finally I went there, where the real concrete was. Sure enough, that was where the "Hydraulic Concrete" was, but there was none left in the shelf.
It was already 8:45 PM but I drove as quickly as I could to the Lowe's store and went all the way to the concrete section. I picked up what looked like the Hydraulic Concrete and brought it to the nearby contractor register. But then I noticed it was not actually "Hydraulic Concrete" it was "Hydraulic Water-Stop Cement." I was worried that was not the same thing. I left the container at the register and took another look back at the concrete supplies and other stuff all the way down the last aisle. Then some guy, not having any store uniform or badges, was putting away the can I had been about to buy. He asked what I wanted to do, and then suggested some other products. I asked him if he worked at Lowes and he said no. I left.
At that point, I was hoping the Home Depot store at Bitters, one of the largest I know, might be open until 10 pm. So I headed up that way on Austin Highway, not knowing exactly how to get there, but figuring I would hit the Wurzbach Pkwy before long. But I didn't. It was a long and difficult drive because of traffic and bright headlights, and I made a lot of wrong turns, ending up very lost several times. Finally I programmed my navigation computer for the correct Home Depot store. It guided me through neighborhoods and back streets, and finally I got to the Home Depot store at Bitters at 9:58 PM. If it had been open until 10pm, I would have been done. But it was totally closed, and had been closed since 9PM.
Tired and disappointed I stopped at EZ's to have a second dinner. Then I drove to HEB and bought groceries and a bucket for the mop I had bought at Home Depot.
I looked online and it appeared that there was no such item called, exactly, Hydraulic Concrete. If you search for Hydraulic Concrete you find the Water Stop Cement I almost bought. I spend about an hour online searching before I decided that the Quickcrete Hydraulic Water Stop Cement was indeed the correct product. It was in a green-colored container too, just like the concrete guy said.
So on Sunday afternoon, before my friend came over, I went back to the Lowes store and bought the Hydraulic Water Stop Cement. The strange guy I had talked to the night before was not there. I also got a 75W equivalent LED dimmable light by Sylvania for the garage (only $39). Then I stopped at Subway and had a sandwich before going home. When I got home, I took a few extra minutes to install the new light in the garage door opener. The old light, a 60W equivalent LED by Phillips, was working very erratically. After the concrete grinding, the light stopped working, but just as I was going to change it, it started working again. I hope the new LED light will be more reliable. The Phillips LED was my test bulb going back a year, but it became flakey after being used with the X10 timer light in the living room.
After my friend had come for a short visit, I made the bed with fresh sheets and put way the clean underwear. Then I could make space in the dryer for the cleaning cloths that had already been through 2 cycles (regular and sanitize) and I put them through a third cycle because they had been sitting in the machine all day. Then, and only then, I got back to the mopping described above. What a day!
*****
The patching went very quickly on Monday afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30. The first thing that happened was that the water stop concrete started hardening into the bowl I used to mix it. I ultimately trashed that bowl but saved a second one I had been rinsing the sponge with, and a spoon I had used. As the concrete guy said, sponging the stuff in was best. I never used the trowel. I cleaned up afterwards very throughly, starting with a vacuum to clean up all the hard dry pieces instead of smooshing them into the concrete. I didn't bother trying to patch the tiny holes near the outside wall.
Meanwhile I washed my work pants and socks to get the concrete dust smell out of them.
All in all, a very focussed and productive weekend, for me anyway. Others may see this all as a pointless waste of time, but this is the way I do things, and I had fun. It was even adventurous, though I will aim to avoid adventures like that in the future. Still, the scavenger hunt for the hardest to find things--that is pretty much the story of my life going back to my childhood. It seems I am always trying to track down the hardest to find things, and other people are telling me it doesn't matter.
At that point, I was hoping the Home Depot store at Bitters, one of the largest I know, might be open until 10 pm. So I headed up that way on Austin Highway, not knowing exactly how to get there, but figuring I would hit the Wurzbach Pkwy before long. But I didn't. It was a long and difficult drive because of traffic and bright headlights, and I made a lot of wrong turns, ending up very lost several times. Finally I programmed my navigation computer for the correct Home Depot store. It guided me through neighborhoods and back streets, and finally I got to the Home Depot store at Bitters at 9:58 PM. If it had been open until 10pm, I would have been done. But it was totally closed, and had been closed since 9PM.
Tired and disappointed I stopped at EZ's to have a second dinner. Then I drove to HEB and bought groceries and a bucket for the mop I had bought at Home Depot.
I looked online and it appeared that there was no such item called, exactly, Hydraulic Concrete. If you search for Hydraulic Concrete you find the Water Stop Cement I almost bought. I spend about an hour online searching before I decided that the Quickcrete Hydraulic Water Stop Cement was indeed the correct product. It was in a green-colored container too, just like the concrete guy said.
So on Sunday afternoon, before my friend came over, I went back to the Lowes store and bought the Hydraulic Water Stop Cement. The strange guy I had talked to the night before was not there. I also got a 75W equivalent LED dimmable light by Sylvania for the garage (only $39). Then I stopped at Subway and had a sandwich before going home. When I got home, I took a few extra minutes to install the new light in the garage door opener. The old light, a 60W equivalent LED by Phillips, was working very erratically. After the concrete grinding, the light stopped working, but just as I was going to change it, it started working again. I hope the new LED light will be more reliable. The Phillips LED was my test bulb going back a year, but it became flakey after being used with the X10 timer light in the living room.
After my friend had come for a short visit, I made the bed with fresh sheets and put way the clean underwear. Then I could make space in the dryer for the cleaning cloths that had already been through 2 cycles (regular and sanitize) and I put them through a third cycle because they had been sitting in the machine all day. Then, and only then, I got back to the mopping described above. What a day!
*****
The patching went very quickly on Monday afternoon from 12:30 to 1:30. The first thing that happened was that the water stop concrete started hardening into the bowl I used to mix it. I ultimately trashed that bowl but saved a second one I had been rinsing the sponge with, and a spoon I had used. As the concrete guy said, sponging the stuff in was best. I never used the trowel. I cleaned up afterwards very throughly, starting with a vacuum to clean up all the hard dry pieces instead of smooshing them into the concrete. I didn't bother trying to patch the tiny holes near the outside wall.
Meanwhile I washed my work pants and socks to get the concrete dust smell out of them.
All in all, a very focussed and productive weekend, for me anyway. Others may see this all as a pointless waste of time, but this is the way I do things, and I had fun. It was even adventurous, though I will aim to avoid adventures like that in the future. Still, the scavenger hunt for the hardest to find things--that is pretty much the story of my life going back to my childhood. It seems I am always trying to track down the hardest to find things, and other people are telling me it doesn't matter.
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