Ourada Designs

The Loon Lake project is officially complete.

This one stretched over time and included a little bit of everything. Sanding and refinishing the existing basement floor, patching where walls were moved, installing new hardwood upstairs, and finishing things off with a custom hardwood handrail over wrought iron balusters.

I’m grateful for long-time clients who trust me enough to keep bringing me back. Seeing all the pieces come together like this is always rewarding.

Recently, I helped a massage therapist whose workroom had squeaky hardwood floors. The room was beautiful, but the creaks made it hard to keep the space peaceful. (I posted about this last week, too!)

The first step was finding the source. Using a deep stud finder(2” depth), I located each joist beneath the floor. I inserted special “squeaky screws” designed to stabilize the three layers, not allowing the squeaky nail to move. These screws snap off 3/16” below the surface, leaving a fillable 1/8” hole and no noise.

By the end, more than 150 screws were hidden underfoot. The floor looked untouched, and best of all, it was silent.

You can read about the entire process here: https://ouradadesigns.com/can-you-fix-squeaky-wood-floors

In the middle of all the other projects I have going on, I made time the past few weeks to work on a project at my own home. I spent the summer doing prep work on the exterior so I could pour a concrete walkway around my place. It’s not woodworking, but a chance to dust off my general contractor skills and take care of a project at home.