Behold....a lethal floor. I kid you not. The floor guys came out on Monday and sanded and stained the floor. I got a migraine headache from the smell of the stain. But yesterday was worse. One, two, three coats of Swedish polyurethane smelled like nail polish remover a zillion times magnified. The floor guys were supposed to wear respirator masks but they didn't. When they left about two-thirty yesterday afternoon, they were wobbly and blinking funny and having trouble speaking coherent sentences. I'm surprised they made it out of my driveway without passing out and crashing their truck. I had shut off the central a/c to keep fumes from permeating the whole house and they were working in the room with all those lethal chemicals with the windows closed most of the day...which they said was necessary.

The dogs and I had spent the time locked up in my home office on the other end of the house with the a/c vents closed and a window air unit pumping. Couldn't even venture into the kitchen without a towel over my face. Two and a half hours after the guys left as per their instructions, I opened the doors between the living room and foyer to open the living room windows and turn on fans. The overwhelming smell hit instantly. My throat and eyes burned behind my towel. Tears streamed from my eyes. I gagged and gasped and ran through the dining room back into the kitchen and shut the door. Otherwise, I would certainly have passed out. And that was with the front door open for ventilation.

I opened all the windows in the house and went back into my home office with the dogs.

When Danny came home we sealed the other closed door between the living room and kitchen with plastic drop cloth, went to Lowes for more plastic and a respirator mask. Turned on central air, opened living room windows, installed fans, etc.

Today, the floor is dry and the smell is disapating. I can go into the room without a mask. But, that stuff is obviously very dangerous. I will never refinish a wood floor again. Not when I have to live in the house being done anyway. We can put the furniture back this week end. No more projects this summer.

Which is good, since we have three house parties coming up in the fall season. The first...and most important... is a celebration party for an upcoming family wedding. This should be in October and we are really excited and looking forward to it. So, I hope the dang floor 'cures' fast.

TTFN