(613) 822-3355
PLACE YOUR ORDER

Ways to Sand and Refinish Wood Floors

by
how to finish hardwood floors

Refinishing your wood floors will guarantee they hold up against the test of time, protecting them from any wear and tear your family throws at them. If you’ve been putting this project off due to the price, you must understand that renovating your floorings doesn’t need to cost you a fortune.Sanding and refinishing your wood floors as a DIY project is a time financial investment, but it is cheaper than paying a professional. Refinishing your floors yourself can cost between$500 and$1,000 depending upon square footage. You can anticipate to pay an expert $3 to $4 per square foot to finish the same job.”Our home is 1,200 square feet and it’s practically all hardwood … the quote we got was around$4,000 and we invested$600 doing the task ourselves, so we wound up conserving$3,400.”Sarah Gibson|Designer & Blogger, Space for Tuesday Pro Tip: When refinishing your wood floors, you might desire

to consider staying elsewhere. This job can take more than three or four days. Throughout some phases of the task, you will not be able to step on the floor for at least 24 hours.How to Tell if Your Hardwood Flooring Should Be Refinished Before you begin, determine what kind of floor covering you have and what state it is in.To determine what type of wood flooring you have:

Get rid of a floor air vent and take a look at the ends of the flooring.If you see solid wood a minimum of 3/4 of an inch thick, you ready to move forward.If you see individual layers of thin wood,

  • this is an engineered flooring. Refinishing crafted wood is not a Do It Yourself job
  • and you need to hire a professional.To determine if your floor needs to be refinished: Place a couple of
  • drops of water on the floor.If the water beads and doesn’t absorb within a few minutes, your floors are fine.If the water takes in instantly or within the first minute, it is time to refinish your floors.Materials and Tools Needed for Refinishing Wood Floors Refinishing a flooring needs several tools you most likely do not have on hand. Visit your local hardware shop
  • to lease the equipment.Equipment to rent: Orbital sander or drum sander (an orbital is much easier for a newbie
  • to control)Power hand sander When leasing the devices, request for a demonstration and ensure you

know exactly ways to work the machine prior to taking it out of the store.You will likewise require the right size of sandpaper and pads for each machine. What grit of sandpaper should you use to sand your wood floorings? You will require 3 various levels of sandpaper to finish this project.You will use a various grit for each pass over the floor. Depending on the state of

  • your floors, you will want:30 to 40

    grit sandpaper for your first pass.50 to 60 grit sandpaper for your second pass.80 to 100 grit sandpaper for your 3rd pass.Additional Products Needed for Refinishing Wood Floors: To use: Dust mask Goggles Earplugs To prep the room: Plastic sheeting Painters tape Wood flooring cleaner Putty knife Cotton rags Wood filler Nail set Store vacuum Mineral spirits Sanding screen, 120 grit To use finish: Polyurethane flooring surface Paintbrush

    Lamb’s-wool applicator Paint tray If you are staining the flooring you will likewise need: Preparation Your House Before you’re prepared to

    • refinish your hardwood floorings, you need to empty the room
    • and thoroughly clean the floors.Follow these actions to prepare your home: Start by clearing the room of furnishings

      , curtains and decorations.Remove doors and shoe molding. Eliminating molding is optional, but it will help avoid damage. If you pick to remove it, utilize tape to number

      the pieces and the collaborating wall so you understand

      where each piece belongs.Inspect the floor for any nails that are not flush with the flooring       . Utilize the nail set, a small metal tool used for driving nails below the surface area of hardwood, to make sure no nail heads are sticking up

      . Nails not flush with the floor will tear the sandpaper and slow your progress.Repair any existing damage to the floorings, like holes or

      scratches, with wood putty and a putty knife.Clean floors with hardwood flooring cleaner.Cover doors, vents, windows and surface areas with

      plastic sheeting and painters tape. This will prevent dust from traveling throughout your house.”I would likewise advise eliminating all baseboards– this step isn’t really necessary, however it makes the task much simpler.

      We’ll be including new molding throughout the house

      • , so it completely made good sense to trash the existing baseboards prior to the flooring
      • task.”Sarah Gibson|Designer & Blogger, Space for Tuesday Now you’re all set to begin refinishing your hardwood floorings. Sand and Refinish Your Wood Floors Prepare your sander by connecting the coarsest grit of sandpaper. Position your sander to choose the grain of the wood. If your flooring is warped, go diagonal with the grain, but never go completely against the wood grain. As soon as you’re prepared, follow these steps to sand your wood floors.Pro pointer: Use a face mask and goggles to protect yourself from the dust and earplugs to safeguard your hearing.Steps to Sand Your Hardwood Floors: Begin moving the device forward as you turn it on. If you remain in one place for too long, you will harm the floor.Move at a consistent, even rate

      and let the maker do the work as you follow the grain across the space. Do not press the sander.When you get to the other side of the space, move over and draw back somewhat overlapping the next pass a couple of inches with the previous one, about one floorboard’s width. You do

      n’t have to turn the maker around as & it can move in both directions

      with the exact same effect.Check the sandpaper often to make sure it isn’t worn.

      Sanding Hardwood Floors

      Change it as it does break, utilizing the same grit

      of sandpaper till you have actually covered the entire room when. If the sander has a dust collecting bag, empty it typically so it does not add weight to the machine.Cover the whole room, getting within a couple of inches of the walls and corners. After completing one trip around the entire space, switch off the device

      prior to you stop moving.Apply the very same grit of sandpaper to the hand sander. Use it to complete the edges of the space. Move in a semicircular movement, overlapping the completed area

      • to help it mix in.Use the vacuum to clean the floor prior to starting the second round of sanding.Repeat all actions twice more, altering the grit of
      • the sandpaper each time. Utilize the 50 to 60-grit for the 2nd pass and the 80 to 100-grit for the 3rd pass.After these steps, the flooring must
      • look like smooth, without treatment wood. If the floor still feels rough or lines from the sander are still visible, buff it using the sanding screen. This ought to remove any visible great scratches left by the sander.After the entire flooring feels smooth, tidy the space again. This time use the vacuum and
      • a wet mop to ensure no dust is left behind.Use a clean cotton rag to clean the flooring with mineral spirits to get rid of any trace of chemicals from the wood. Then, leave it to dry.Stain Your Hardwood Floor to Modification the Color Staining is an optional action.
      • If you’re trying to find a fashionable dark flooring, stain is the way to go. If you wish to stick with the natural color of the wood, skip this step and proceed to the
      • polyurethane finish. Staining your floor will add at least one whole day to your project time.After selecting a color, try it out on a piece of scrap wood to guarantee you like it.
      • Then, follow the directions on the can.Tips for Staining Your Wood
      • Floor: Apply stain with a paintbrush or fabric, choosing the grain of the wood.Remove any excess stain with a rag before moving on.Stir your stain every 10 to 15 minutes.Let dry in between coats and

        apply as many coats as required to attain perfect color. “We started in the corner of each room and worked our way toward the door. After a section is complete, it’s very essential to clean and soak up all excess stain with a clean application pad! I cleaned the floor 5 planks at a time. Do not be tricked by the roller applicator at the home enhancement shop.

        We attempted using it for one room and it did not work out. You can manage the staining process a lot easier when done by hand! It’s neater, more

        even, and takes less time to dry.”Sarah Gibson|Designer & Blog Writer, Room for Tuesday Pro suggestion: Do not wear shoes on a just recently stained floor.Apply Finishing Coats to Wood Floors This is the final and crucial step when refinishing your hardwood floorings. This covering seals your floors and protects them from future damage. If you stained your floorings, wait until

        the stain is totally dry. Next, tidy the floorings completely with a vacuum. Any dirt, dust or hair on the floor will become caught under the ending up coat.Polyurethane can be found in both

        • water and oil-based types. Oil-based will include a warm golden glow to your floors, however dries slower than the water-based option. Water-based polyurethane will keep
        • the natural color of the wood as well as dry quicker. You need to ensure the room is well-ventilated prior to using either one. Wear your facemask during this action as well.Before beginning,

          get rid of any extra fuzz from the lamb’s- wool applicator. Run the vacuum over it and then utilize painters tape to get rid of every last piece.Steps for Using Complete to Hardwood Floors Begin using a paintbrush on the boundary of the room. Cover about 12 inches of the flooring from the wall toward the center of the space. Operate in the instructions of the wood grain.Keep your brush wet and try to prevent bubbles and drips.Once the border is complete, use the lamb’s- wool applicator to do the rest of the room.Remember to work your method towards the exit, while still applying with the grain. When you start to apply the polyurethane, you

          will not be able to step on the floor.You will want to use a minimum of two coats, more in

          highly trafficked areas. Wait 24 hours before

          finishing extra coats. Depending upon temperature level and humidity, you may require to wait longer.Some brands of polyurethane will need sanding in between coats, but others will not. Seek advice from the container for directions. If you do sand in between coats, make certain to clean thoroughly to get rid of all the dust.Once you’ve completed the preferred variety of coats, merely wait for them to dry and after that you’re done! You can start strolling on your refinished wood floors 24 Hr after adding the last coat. Wait a week(or as long as possible)before moving furniture back into the room to avoid scratching.Have you refinished hardwood floors prior to? Let us know how it entered the comments!Completing more home improvement tasks? Have a look at our< a href=https://www.budgetdumpster.com/resources/for-home-projects.php >

          Home Project Guides to learn the best ways to budget plan for a kitchen area remodel, efficiently declutter your home or get ready for a storm.

    • Hardwood floor set up: nail heads visible, what now?

    by
    585419023

    < meta itemprop=publisher content=" HomeOwnersHub.com" > Hi all, A flooring installer has actually just completed setting up new unfinished hardwood on the flooring of our home. The flooring has actually been sanded, however no polyurethane has actually been put down yet.
    The base floor is concrete.
    Due to concerns about the overall height of the flooring, we utilized 5/8″plywood as the subfloor instead of 3/4″. The flooring is 3/4″thick.
    The issue is that, on the boards that were face nailed, the nail heads are right at the surface of the wood. In the middle of our great cherry floors, silver nail heads shine in the light. We’re told this is due to the fact that the floor is not thick adequate to do anything else.
    We ‘d like to ask the installer “why didn’t you mention this before?” However that’s not exactly constructive.
    So the question is: what now? It’s not the nail heads that bother us, it’s that they are silver and shiny. Can we color them? If so, with what? It appears like it would be difficult to punch the nails much deeper. But is that possible? How should it have been done? Screws and plugs? If so, can the nails be taken out at this moment?
    Thanks beforehand!
    On Jul 22, 9:34 pm, snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com composed:

    Do not worry about how it must have been done. Your issue now is having the error fixed. Do not enable any finish work on the flooring until the nails are gone and the holes filled to your satisfaction. Read over your agreement, and if possible withhold any further payment until it is done. Contact a legal representative, BBB, whoever you feel can assist if there is unwillingness to make it right. The installer needs to have used 1 1/2″ nails and he might have as quickly utilized a much shorter nail or screw or snipped off what he had with side cutters provided the little number required. Sounds like an inexperienced box store job to me.
    Joe

    ask the installer what he can do. It may extremely well be possible to punch them down lower. & & fill the holes. that would be my very first choice. it also would be pretty simple to color them, A black or red sharpie would do a good job.
    wrote:

    responding to longshot, Joanne T Klemanchuck composed: Hi, I have a few nail heads holding up from my wood flooring. They are little. Wha can I utilize to hide them

    On Fri, 08 Dec 2017 17:44:02 GMT, Joanne T Klemanchuck

    A nail set and a patching crayon.

    > > The issue is that, on the boards that were face nailed, the nail

    So it’s just a couple of boards. Normally these are at the edge of a room of comparable. Ask him if he can punch the heads below the surface area and fill the holes. Fill ONE hole and examine what you think of the colour match. Be prepared to pay for a couple of different pots of filler and consider blending to get the best match.

    On Jul 23, 5:51 am, “CWatters”

    Contacting an attorney due to the fact that a floor installer didn’t set his nails? Would it be a criminal case or a civil case?
    Are you having the flooring expertly sanded/finished? Call the installer back to set the nails if you desire– appears easier to me to simply buy a 2 dollar nail set at the hardware shop and do it yourself. Less frustrating. Then, your finisher must have the ability to putty the holes. You tend to take a look at brand-new deal with a microscope. As soon as your furniture is moved back in etc, are these nails even going to be a problem?

    On Jul 22, 10:34 pm, snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com wrote:

    The nails are more of a problem than simply cosmetic. When you go to refinish the flooring the nails will wreck the sandpaper on the floor maker. That’s the factor that nails, whether through the tongue or face-nailed needs to be set as deep as the top of the tongue.
    You might color the nail head, after doing some tests to make sure that the floor surface does not trigger the paint or whatever you utilize to streak and discolor the floor. Coloring the nail heads just handles the cosmetic problem and not the long term one.
    The nails will most likely strike the concrete and bend which would cause the nail set to slide off the head. If that occurs it’ll leave some larger than required holes and the nails might not be set deep enough anyhow. A mangled head likewise won’t look better than a consistent one. Setting the nails would most likely be difficult, but it’s most likely worth a shot.
    Pulling the nails would leave some nasty scars. I do not see any reason you ought to have scars in a brand name new floor. It is possible to utilize a pull the nail, utilize a Forstner bit to drill a counterbore and then utilize screws and plugs. That’s a crap load of work and it would probably be just as easy to just install brand-new boards and sand them down. Cherry wood darkens with age rather a bit, so if the putty looks perfect when initially installed, it will look too light down the roadway.
    The thin plywood underlayment is the issue. If the floor installer put it down, the entire thing is his puppy. If you had actually the plywood installed by somebody else, and the installer wasn’t familiar with the problem, then it’s yours. Such thin underlayment does not provide much leeway for fasteners. A solid wood floor will move a reasonable bit – you’re lucky that you have cherry which moves less than oak – and much shorter fasteners can work loose more quickly.
    R

    All great actions, thank you everybody.
    The flooring installer put the subfloor down. We understood it was a little thin, however we were told there sufficed room to secure the boards correctly.
    The most essential thing I have actually learned is that the nails can not remain the method they are due to issues when refinishing in the future.
    Sounds like screw and plugs might be the method to go. We have additional boards too.
    I’ll report back on the result.
    Thanks again!
    — Greg

    snipped-for-privacy@chicagoits.com wrote:

    IF you select to set the nailheads and putty them DO NOT putty the holes till at least the first coat of sealer/finish has actually been used. If you fill nail holes on raw wood, the area surrounding every single among them will appear as light splotches.

    Source

    https://www.homeownershub.com/construction/hardwood-floor-install-nail-heads-visible-what-now-10019-.htm

    All About Our Dark Hardwood Floors

    by
    Dark Hardwood Floors 2

    All About Our Dark Hardwood Floors | A review and the pros and cons of having handscraped dark hardwood flooring in your home. I share my reasoning and favorite cleaning tips. 

    All About Our Dark Hardwood Floors | A review and the pros and cons of having handscraped dark hardwood flooring in your home. I share my reasoning and favorite cleaning tips. Today I’m tackling a question that I’m asked about a lot- the pros and cons of having dark hardwood floors. When it came to choosing the new flooring for our home, I always had a very clear vision of having extremely dark hardwood floors.

    They seemed to be the perfect contrast to my love of light colors everywhere else. We began to take the leap three years ago and purchased all of the dark hardwood flooring we would need for the first floor. Here are my pros and cons to living with dark hardwood floors!

    Bell County Hickory vs. Harvest Hickory

    First off- the floors themselves. They are Virginia Mill Works Bell County Hickory from Lumber Liquidators. Unfortunately, that flooring is no longer available. I am told that the Virginia Mill Works Harvest Hickory is very similar, just slightly lighter and a bit warmer in color. 

    To Replace or Refinish?

    Some people may ask why the floors “needed” to be replaced. I’m the first one to admit when we do a project for aesthetics only. However, there wasn’t a single flooring type out of the six(!) on the first floor that was in good shape.

    The linoleum was cracked and peeling. The hardwood was worn and damaged. The carpet was threadbare. Any rooms with tile had cracks and missing pieces.

    Although we aren’t planning on moving anytime soon, we knew we would get our money back for “hardwoods throughout the first floor”. That is especially true because we chose a material that could stand the test of time (more on that in a bit!). We opted not to try to refinish the existing hardwoods and fill in between with new boards because they were all at different heights- so there wouldn’t be a smooth transition anyway. 

    High Maintenance

    While we were looking at samples, we were warned again and again that dark floors weren’t a good choice for us, with a young family and a dog. The guy at the flooring place tried to repeatedly sell us on honey colored laminate- which was pretty much as far from what I was looking for as you can get. There was (and is) some logic to what he was saying. It’s inexpensive and durable. We have a golden retriever (i.e. blonde dog hair) and messy kids that generate crumbs. However, that just wasn’t what I was going for. 

    While beautiful, these floors are high maintenance. They have to be vacuumed at least once a day because -as predicted- every speck of dirt, dust, and dog hair shows.

    For ultimate convenience, we invested in a Dyson stick vacuum (we have the older version). Being cordless makes it quite easy to simply grab it off of the charger and do a quick run. Better yet, it’s lightweight and easy for the kids to use, so they can be sent to grab it and clean up after themselves if they make a mess.

    For mopping, the floors look like new when I go over them with the Shark Steam mop. I try to use an eco-friendly floor cleaner instead of what comes with the mop. 

    If I had to choose the biggest issue with dark floors, I would say that the cleaning would be it. However, it isn’t a deal breaker and probably keeps us neater in the grand scheme of things (which certainly isn’t a bad thing!). If I was building a house today, I would still purchase floors on the darker end of the spectrum. 

     

    Java Gel Stain is a close color match

    Now that we’re three years in, we’ve inevitably also had a few scratches. The floors are extremely close in color to General Finishes Java Gel Stain, so I use a q-tip to apply it, as well as a little bit of high traffic polyurethane. It does the trick, and the scratch is no longer visible because of the rustic texture. In a pinch, we have also used a black permanent marker in spots, and you can’t even tell. A con would be that scratches are more obvious. However, I think that choosing a rustic texture is more forgiving.  

    Handscraped vs. Smooth

    Although it’s also important to note that the handscraped nature of the wood leads to some challenges. I was given a robotic vacuum as a gift, and it wasn’t able to navigate the bumpy floors. So if you have your heart set on one, you may want to choose a smoother texture. Also, if ever we decided to refinish these floors, the handscraped texture means that we will have to do extra sanding. We would lose the character of having them handscraped.

    Choosing a wood type

    To try to prevent having to sand in the first place leads to my final talking point- the wood type. I love the look of wide pine floors. However, I knew it wasn’t practical at this point in life because of their softness. Contrary to popular belief,  I’m not against oak- but hickory actually proved to be a harder option. We have been happy to deal with minimal issues due to this choice. You can use the chart that we did to compare flooring types here. 

    Overall, the pros of beauty, durability, and character outweigh the cons of visible dust to me. Ultimately, you will have to weigh your own pros and cons.  It will help to take your lifestyle into account if you are considering hardwood floors. I hope at least that this post may have helped you along the way! 

    All About Our Dark Hardwood Floors | A Review and Pros & Cons

    HARDWOOD CONSEQUENCES: Seymour will be the location to be in March

    by
    5a5eb06b1f811.image

    Nothing versus the other three regional sectionals– specifically the 2A at Paoli, which ought to be wonderful– the place to be in March is plainly Seymour.That’s not just locally, that’s statewide. Possibly nationally. It’s tough to picture there’s going to be a more appealing competition anywhere in the country than the sectional at Seymour.Here’s the stat to understand: Eliminating the video games they have actually played against each other, Brand-new Albany, Floyd Central and Jeffersonville are a combined 51-2 this season. Both losses can be found in overtime. Floyd Central’s was available in the Hall of Fame Classic. The Highlanders were beaten by fourth-ranked Bloomington South without 2 of its beginners readily available due to health problem. Jeffersonville’s loss came versus one of Kentucky’s leading groups– Valley– in a thriller.Combined, the 3 teams are winning their games by more than 22 points per game.

    These numbers are astonishing.In the history of young boys’basketball, has there ever been three teams going to one sectional

    with such outstanding resumés?”I have actually been fortunate to play in some great other sectionals along the method,”stated Jeffersonville coach

    Joe Luce, who also coached at state powers Marion and Richmond,” however this is absolutely the finest. Whoever comes out of our sectional, I hope is the state champ. We’re going to do everything we can to be that team.”Then there’s Bedford North Lawrence. Typically, the 12-7 Stars would be a severe sectional contender, if not the favorite. This year, BNL is thought about an also-ran by many. “Here’s something you can’t forget our sectional: You can not sleep on Bedford North Lawrence, “Luce said.”They’re going to be harmful

    . … While those are the three groups to beat, always remember about Bedford. I think they can knock somebody off and trigger some trouble.”If you have a group in a field at Paoli, Borden or North Harrison, go enjoy it. If you do not have a horse in the race and you’re just a general basketball fan, get yourself to Seymour. And act quick. Tickets aren’t going to last long. NTSPY FINALISTS? Everybody understands among the NTSPY Player of the Year finalists. Spoiler alert: He’s going to win it for the 4th year in a row.So who will be the other two finalists

    ?

    The coaches and a panel make the last

    choice, however in my viewpoint, New Albany senior Sean East ought to be a lock. As Mike Hutsell tweeted this weekend, of the 414 IHSAA teams in

    Indiana, East would be the best on around 400

    of them. East should also be an Indiana All-Star as long as the Bulldogs make a deep tournament run.The 3rd? It’s going to be difficult to select, much like in 2015. Henryville’s Nick Walker, the Floyd Central duo of Luke Gohmann and Cobie Barnes, Silver Creek’s Zane Gross and Jeffersonville’s Bailey Falkenstein, who was a finalist last season, have actually made great cases.

    There’s most likely likewise time for Christian Academy’s Noah Williams, Rock Creek’s Terrance Browning and Clarksville’s Christian Stewart to make a push for the first team.The 3rd finalist will probably come down to who performs in the postseason. THE FUTURE IS HERE Something that has actually struck me this season is how much freshmen have added to good varsity teams this season.Of course, the very best example is at Silver Creek, where Kooper Jacobi and Trey Kaufman are already contributing to a 14-5 team. 2 more have actually caught my eye of late. Providence’s Nick Sexton and Jeffersonville’s Jaylen Fairman

    have recently become major dangers. Sexton looked great Friday versus New Albany and Fairman had 12 points, four rebounds, four assists and 3 steals in the Red

    Devils’win at Jennings County on Saturday. Ty Crace is likewise contributing at Charlestown and needs to have a nice future for the Pirates.This comes on the heels

    of a 2020 class that includes Julien Hunter, Trey Hourigan and Darian Starks of New Albany, Jacob Jones and Tre Coleman of Jeffersonville and Bailey Conrad of Christian Academy. GAMER OF THE WEEK NOAH WILLIAMS, CHRISTIAN ACADEMY The Warrior senior installed 29 points and struck the video game winner in double overtime of Tuesday’s 60-58 win over Lanesville. Two nights later on, he scored 29 again– this time in a 75-68 victory over Trinity Lutheran. TOP PERFORMANCES – Terrance Browning, Rock Creek: Browning scored a team-best 29 points in Friday’s 77-68 loss at Spencer County (Ky.). – Bailey Falkenstein, Jeffersonville: Falkenstein gathered 25 in

    the

    Devils ’91-58 blowout win at Evansville Reitz on Saturday. – Zane Gross, Silver Creek: Gross scored 16 of his 19 points in the second half of the Dragons’MSC-clinching 57-36 win at Scottsburg. – Romeo Langford, New Albany: Langford scored 53 points in the Bulldogs’92-44 win at Providence.

    –

    Christian Stewart

    , Clarksville: In Friday’s 70-53 win at Salem, Stewart scored 23 points and was a perfect 5-of-5 at the nasty line. POWER POLL – 1. New Albany (19-1,

    No. 1 last week): The Bulldogs have actually won 16 video games in a row which’s likely to reach 18 heading into the postseason. – 2. Floyd Central(18-1, 2 ): The Highlanders continue to

    be 1b . They’ve won 11 in a row. – 3. Jeffersonville( 17-3, 3 ): New Albany and Floyd are the favorites heading into the postseason, but the Devils are hiding. – 5. Henryville (17-3, 4):Of all the excellent winning streaks in the area, the Hornets’ is best at 17 after beating NewWashington and Crawford County. –4. Silver Creek (14-5, 5): The Dragons clinched the MSC title with a win at Scottsburg

    .

    – 6. Clarksville(14-5,

    6): Like Jeff, the Generals are darkhorses but are playing their finest basketball at the correct time. – 7. Christian Academy( 9-7, 7): The Warriors had their 5-game winning streak snapped at Clarksville, however the Warriors have actually just recently played like the Warriors we expected all season. – 8. Providence (7-12, 8):The Leaders aren’t a group potential challengers will desire to see in Sunday’s sectional draw.

    – 9. Borden (7-9, 9):Like usual, Doc Nash has actually gotten the most from the Braves. They’ll be a harmful team in your home in the sectional.

    – 10. Rock Creek (5-15, 10): Terrance Browning is truly, great. Sufficient to carry a group to a

    sectional title? We’ll see.

    Source

    http://www.newsandtribune.com/sports/hardwood-aftermath-seymour-will-be-the-place-to-be-in/article_9eafd5de-1058-11e8-9870-e73ef5381f4a.html

    Tough hardwood battles

    by
    5a313534939a6.image

    The Prior Lake girls basketball team bounced right back after its loss in the season opener.

    The Lakers won a pair of close games, including holding on for a 74-72 South Suburban Conference home victory over Shakopee Dec. 12. Junior McKenna Hofschild had a game-high 30 points.

    Prior Lake went into the contest off a 79-75 victory at New Prague Dec. 8 in non-league play. Hofschild finished with 28 points in that victory. She had 31 in the team’s 78-56 opening loss to No. 7-ranked Park Center.

    Hofschild is going to get her points this season. But if the Lakers want to challenge for the Section 2AAAA crown and in the SSC, others need to provide scoring. Ninth-grader Kate Trachsel has done that in the last two wins, scoring 18 points against New Prague and finishing with 15 against Shakopee.

    Ninth-grader Emily Kulstad was also in double figures in the win over Shakopee with 12 points.

    Prior Lake is back on the court Dec. 15 at home versus Lakeville South and is on the road Dec. 19 at Farmington in two SSC games at 7 p.m. The Lakers are at Eden Prairie Dec. 22 in a battle of section foes at 7 p.m.

    In the win over Shakopee, Prior Lake led by as many as 14 points in the first half, taking a 40-29 lead into the break. But the Sabers fought back. 

    The Sabers went to the free throw line down three points with seven seconds left, making the first one and missing the second attempt. Shakopee got the offensive rebound and missed a couple short shots that would have tied the game.

    Junior Alexander Wiskow chipped in six points for the Lakers, while ninth-grader Tatum Brostrom scored four.

    In beating New Prague, sophomore Haidyn Pitsch scored nine points for Prior Lake, while Wiskow and ninth-grader Abby Kuboushek each had six and Kulstad and sophomore Ella Schnackenberg both scored four.

    To see more photos of the Lakers’ win over Shakopee, click here.

    Source

    http://www.swnewsmedia.com/prior_lake_american/news/sports/tough-hardwood-battles/article_5f8bade1-25af-54c0-abbf-3438372fa5fb.html

    A Civil Rivalry: Auburn vs. Alabama and the battle for hardwood supremacy

    by
    bama aub

    Wimp and Sonny. Barkley and Buck Johnson. Batman and Robin. A brief history of Alabama-Auburn hoops.

    Love. It’s so close to hate, it’s almost indistinguishable. But this is how it was for the two of them. Love and hate. Life and death. Joy and anguish.
    — Melissa de la Cruz

    In the mid-1980s, Alabama head basketball coach Wimp Sanderson peeled open a letter that was postmarked “AUBURN, ALABAMA.” It was the week of the Auburn game, and Sanderson alerted his team that he had received a letter from none other than Charles Barkley, the rim-ravaging power forward from Auburn. Jim Farmer, a sophomore guard from Dothan, listened intently as Sanderson read the letter aloud, which said something to the effect of, “We are going to kick your tails when you come down here.” Farmer believed every word.

    Several years later, when Farmer was playing in the NBA, he began to reflect on the dubious letter. “I was like, (Barkley) didn’t write no letters to Alabama … that’d be stupid!” Farmer said. “Wimp had all kinds of unique ways to get you fired up. It was always during the Alabama-Auburn games, for sure.”

    “It was a different week. We locked up the doors. We closed up practice. I know that one game is not anymore important than the other game, but it was to me.”
    Wimp Sanderson on playing Auburn

    When asked about the caper, Sanderson says to tell Farmer he “denies having any part of it.”

    Alabama, in addition to being a football-mad state, was, during the 1980s, a closely-knit community. Though athletic allegiances were harshly divided, both Alabama and Auburn fans dined at the same restaurants, toured the same shopping centers, and vacationed in the same beachy venues. It was a time of AmSouth Bank, I-95 radio with Mark & Brian, and Parisian department store. Folks arrived in droves to taste the Cantonese cuisine of Joy Young restaurant at Brookwood Village. Commercials boasted the wacky duo at Jim Skinner Ford, where the tagline was “A hundred dollars says we’ll beat your best deal — regardless!” and Country Boy Eddie woke us up with his famous mule call. Football remained the bell cow, but college hoops was emerging as a respectable bovine in the grading competitions of Alabamians.

    Nearly 30 years have drawn by since this Golden Age of Alabama-Auburn basketball, when Alabama’s Wimp Sanderson and Auburn’s Sonny Smith toured the sidelines and enlivened press conferences with their slapstick humor. Newspapermen, including an eager reporter with the Birmingham Post-Herald, Paul Finebaum, gathered lustfully around the two coaches, snickering, waiting on the bizarre. Sonny and Wimp, serving up their spectacular, double-fisted comedy, did not disappoint. “It just seemed like there was a quirkiness about Sonny and a quirkiness about me that when you went to a press conference in Birmingham — we didn’t have on silk suits — but people came to listen because they weren’t sure what we were going to say,” Sanderson said. “They came to listen to Sonny ’cause he’s funny. They came to listen to me because they weren’t sure what I was going to say. I might say something worth writing. I’m liable to say anything.”

    Behind this humorous façade, both men were fierce competitors. When Smith arrived at Auburn in 1978, the team had dropped 11 out of the past 12 games to Alabama. For the first few years, nothing changed. Smith’s teams continued to lose to Alabama until Barkley arrived in 1981. “When I came to Auburn, it was very evident that Alabama controlled the state of Alabama in recruiting,” Smith told SDS, “and I wanted to get it on a plain where we were making strides. Not even it up, but making strides where we could get players.”

    For Smith, the recruiting ecosystem was even further disrupted when Gene Bartow bolted from UCLA to become the head coach at UAB in 1978. Eventually, recruiting in the state of Alabama became a three-headed monster, with UAB, Alabama and Auburn vying for top in-state talent. When asked if the recruiting battles were civil, Sanderson spewed, “Crap no, it wasn’t civil.”

    Historically, the Alabama-Auburn basketball rivalry had been one of streaks. The Tide dominated Auburn from 1948-58, and Auburn dominated Alabama from 1958-71. As an assistant coach at Alabama, Sanderson watched with distaste as Auburn took 16 games (to Alabama’s measly 4) in the decade of the 1960s. But beginning in 1972, Alabama seized the rivalry by the throat, winning 18 out of 19 contests and establishing itself as the preeminent program in the state. Alabama’s success was based largely on Sanderson’s ability to lure talent to the Capstone, including Reginald “Mule” King, Charles Cleveland, Leon Douglas and T.R. Dunn.

    When Sanderson took over in 1980, fans expected — if not demanded — him to sign prep sensations Ennis Whatley and Bobby Lee Hurt. Sanderson, and no one else for that matter, hadn’t anticipated that the top prospect in the state — a beefy 300-pounder from Leeds — to be flying under the radar.

    The Chase for Sir Charles

    Auburn basketball

    Photo courtesy of Auburn Athletics.

    As the story goes, Herbert Greene, an Auburn assistant, initially had his eye on another Leeds player and barreled up Highway 280 to watch the Green Wave. “So he goes to see this kid at Leeds,” Smith recalls, “and he comes back and says, ‘They’ve got this kid at Leeds that can play for anybody if you can get some weight off of him.’”

    Greene was a master at evaluating talent and had Smith immediately convinced. He was even more convinced the first time he watched Barkley play. “The ball went up on the backboard and he goes and gets it and throws it to midcourt before he ever hit the floor,” Smith said. “And I said, ‘We’ve got to have this kid.’”

    At the time, Auburn was the first program to discover this unlikely gem; no one was recruiting Barkley and he was Auburn’s to lose. “We had him. He was coming to Auburn, ’cause we were the first people that offered him,” Smith said.

    “So he goes to see this kid at Leeds and he comes back and says, ‘They’ve got this kid at Leeds that can play for anybody if you can get some weight off of him.’”
    Sonny Smith, recalling the first time he heard about Charles Barkley

    But later that year, Barkley matched up with the 6-9, 242-pound Hurt of Butler High — and dominated him. “And everybody in the world goes after (Charles),” Smith remembered.

    Sanderson was now in a precarious position. If he didn’t sign Hurt, the Alabama fan base would become detached from its moorings. But if he missed out on Barkley, he would lose the best player in the state. “The rumor was that I was getting Bobby Lee Hurt, but all it was was a rumor. I ain’t got Bobby Lee Hurt yet,” Sanderson recalls. “Charles Barkley wanted to go where he could play instantly. Right off. He wanted to start right then.”

    The Barkley recruiting saga played out like this: Bartow had two returning postmen (no good), Auburn had the luxury of no returning postmen (good), and Alabama supposedly was getting Bobby Lee Hurt. As Sanderson was deciding on how he was going to make inroads, he eventually finagled a meeting in Barkley’s home. “It’s Charles, my assistant, myself, and Charles’s mother,” Sanderson describes. “In the room adjacent to us is Charles’s grandmother, who’s taking in all of the conversation.” After an exchange of pleasantries, Sanderson begins knifing UAB and Auburn. Suggesting he “never got any campus life” by going to a school in his hometown, Sanderson was trying to plant a seed in Barkley’s mind that UAB was not an attractive option. Then Sanderson turned to Auburn. “It’s a lot, lot closer to go to Tuscaloosa than Auburn,” Sanderson told Charles. “You go to Auburn for a 7 o’clock game, you don’t get home ’til midnight.”

    Charles’s grandmother, hanging on Sanderson’s every word from the next room, interrupted: “Coach, it’s just as close to Auburn over the mountains!”

    “I punched my assistant and said, ‘let’s get out of here,’” Sanderson said. “Grandmothers are real powerful.”

    Sonny and Wimp: The odd couple of rivals

    Though the recruiting wars could be contentious, behind the scenes, Sonny Smith and Wimp Sanderson liked each other. Both were folksy Southerners — Wimp from Florence, Ala., and Sonny from Roan Mountain, Tenn., — and had played at smallish Division I schools. They met when Sandersn was an assistant at Alabama under C.M. Newton and Smith an assistant at Virginia Tech under Don DeVoe. Their paths crossed when they were both hot for a 6-6 forward at Alabama Christian College named Charles “Boonie” Russell. A friendship soon developed.

    Serendipitously, Sonny and Wimp became the headmen at Alabama and Auburn within two years of one another, facilitating a seductive theater that has not been mimicked since. In his autobiography, “Plaid and Parquet,” Sanderson says that the two men played the role of the “odd couple” — Sonny the smiling hillbilly and Wimp the frowning grouch. “He’s a delightfully funny guy, without trying to be,” Wimp wrote. “Meanwhile I was considered an uptight grimacing type coach with the weight of the world on me.”

    “We had fun together and were both a little crazy,” Sonny adds.

    “It just seemed like there was a quirkiness about Sonny and a quirkiness about me that when you went to a press conference in Birmingham — we didn’t have on silk suits — but people came to listen because they weren’t sure what we were going to say.”
    Former Alabama coach Wimp Sanderson

    Though Wimp held no distaste for Sonny personally, he remembered the overlong domination of Auburn in the 1960s and purposed to have his teams thoroughly prepared when Auburn came a-calling. “When we played ’em, our guys were ready to play — you can bet your sweet booby on that,” Sanderson said. “It was a different week. We locked up the doors. We closed up practice. I know that one game is not anymore important than the other game, but it was to me.”

    Players, recalling a different feel of Auburn game week, were often inquisitive to the sour coach’s mood. “How’s he acting today? What have you heard today?” were questions posited to Tide manager Joe Corona.

    And, God help them, if Alabama ever lost to Auburn, players could expect to conclude their evening with the niceties of a dog-eat-dog practice session. “When we got beat, we came back and went to the little gym,” Sanderson said. “Oh yeah. One o’clock in the morning.”

    From 1981-86, Sonny and Wimp traded punches and the games between the two schools were essentially even. Enmity wasn’t merely reserved for the two programs as a whole; players felt the trickle-down effect as well. Underscoring the bloodthirsty, unaffectionate rivalry between Chuck Person and Buck Johnson, Smith said, “It was almost like an individual battle and the rest of the team playing each other. Those two guys would go at each other so hard, it was really something to see.”

    Iron Bowl fans will remember 1985 as the year of Van Tiffin’s immortal kick, but a game on the hardwood just months previous was every bit as good as the donnybrook at Legion Field. On March 9, 1985, Alabama and Auburn met at the BJCC for the SEC basketball championship, the first such occasion in the history of the two programs. Before the tournament, Smith had plans to leave Auburn and his exodus from The Plains seemed to be a mere formality. Miraculously, Auburn stomped through the tournament as an 8-seed and was in the championship game for the second time in as many seasons.

    The game turned out to be a classic. Alabama dominated early, but Auburn had pulled to within one, 30-29, at intermission. In the second half, the Tide stretched the lead to six twice, but Auburn battled back to keep the game close. Alabama’s Farmer, who had played brilliantly in the regular season, simply could not get his shot to fall, and in the waning moments, missed three crucial free throws that might have put the game out of reach. Auburn pulled even with the Tide on a Frank Ford jumper, forcing overtime.

    In the extra period, Auburn won the tip and, utilizing a stall game not encumbered by the nuances of a shot clock, ticked off two minutes. By the 1:00 mark, neither team had scored. Eventually Auburn guard Gerald White sunk two free throws and Alabama came up empty when Mark Gottfried was whistled for a traveling violation with 5 seconds left to play. Two headlines in The Tuscaloosa News told the story: “Sonny will leave AU with a smile” and “Tide loses heartbreaker.”

    Smith eventually had a change of heart and returned to Auburn in 1986, but the balance began to tip in Alabama’s favor in the late 1980s. For Alabama, Johnson continued to be his usual excellent self, but a reinvigorated Farmer and the blossoming of Derrick McKey and Gottfried helped Alabama to a 24-9 record in 1985-86. ‘Bama won the conference tournament in 1987 and 1989, but to Sanderson’s chagrin, could never get past the regional finals in the NCAA Tournament.

    Auburn, on the other hand, enjoyed respectable seasons in 1986-87 and ’87-88, fueled by the pivot play of Chris Morris and Jeff Moore. But after a 9-19 season in 1989, Smith was forced out and the Golden Age was over. Three years later, Sanderson was fired.

    Robert Horry averaged 15.8 points for Wimp Sanderson’s final team. Photo courtesy of University of Alabama Athletics.

    The mantle was now left to Tommy Joe Eagles and David Hobbs, descendants who could not replicate the same energy as Sonny and Wimp. The Tide and Tigers loped through the 1990s in relative mediocrity, as the importance of the game was stifled. The hiring of Cliff Ellis at Auburn in 1994 and Mark Gottfried in 1998 seemed to resuscitate the rivalry, but the aroma of marked inequality between football and basketball still lingered.

    Now Avery Johnson and Bruce Pearl have been tasked with stirring enthusiasm and winning games at their respective schools, and both have done a commendable job. From afar, both Wimp and Sonny have been impressed with the coaches’ charisma and ability to draw support from the community. “I think at Alabama basketball, you’ve got to connect with the fans,” Sanderson said. “And I think (Avery) has connected with them. He’s gone out of his way to have a home court advantage. I think he’s done a good job recruiting. I think he’s run the basketball program the way it needs to be run and be successful. My hat’s off to him for what he has done.”

    Smith says that, in addition to Pearl’s ability to promote, an overlooked skill possessed by Pearl is his ability to teach the game of basketball. “He’s an outstanding practice coach,” Smith said. “He teaches the little subtle points of the game to players that make a difference. His practices will go right amongst all of them, and I’ve been to Mike Krzyzewski’s practices.”

    Wednesday date for the ages, starring new cast, old friends

    Fans are now coming back to the arenas, and Alabama and Auburn are programs that are once again relevant in the national biosphere. Recently, ESPN’s Joe Lunardi projected Auburn as a one-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and Alabama, sitting at 17-10 with five wins over Top 25 teams, seems to be a tournament lock. Still it seems almost implausible to think that the last time both schools were ranked in the Top 25 when they faced one another was Jan. 22, 1987, when 12th-ranked Alabama met 17th-ranked Auburn at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.

    This Wednesday in Auburn, the two teams will clash in the biggest game this rivalry has seen since the days of Wimp and Sonny. Auburn is ranked No. 12, and leads the SEC. Alabama is receiving votes, and trying to sweep the season series.

    “I think Auburn and Alabama are the two best teams in the league right now,” Smith told SDS. “Auburn may be in a position to win a championship, and Alabama may be in a position to be one of the best teams in the country.”

    Wimp agrees. “I think they are better than any of the other 12 in the league,” he said.

    Like 1987, the storyline will be about friendship. The two phenoms, Alabama’s Collin Sexton and Auburn’s Jared Harper, are on opposing sides of the ball, but their roots trace back to the same court in Mabelton, Ga. In high school, Sexton and Harper played on the same team at Pebblebrook High School, where head coach George Washington referred to backcourt duo as “Batman and Robin.” Harper is a year older. During their time at Pebblebrook, both players averaged over 30 points per game and led the Falcons to a berth in the 2016 Georgia 6A state championship game, falling short to Westlake High, 68-58.

    Washington remembers Sexton and Harper, the pair of competitors often staying late in the cold Georgia evenings to play 1-on-1, as gym rats. “Collin initially could not beat Jared,” Washington told SDS. “We would go all night waiting on Collin to get a win. If he won, he had to stay longer because he said he wanted to make sure it wasn’t a fluke.”

    Washington said that Sexton and Harper reveled in the denotation of “underdogs.” “People told Jared he was too little all his life,” Washington said. “He was always on a mission to prove people wrong about his size. When people told (Collin) he couldn’t do something, Collin had the mentality of ‘I’m going to prove you wrong. Right here, right now, let’s go.’”

    The two players fed off one another and worked tirelessly at their game. They were selfless in their approach. If Jared was hot, Collin would serve him the ball. If Collin was hot, Jared would dish it. From Jared, Collin learned the tactical aspects of the game: how to read help-side and defenders’ feet. From Collin, Jared learned the meaning of ultra competitiveness.

    Washington could not have predicted that the two boys would ultimately end up at rival schools, but he could not be happier that both achieved the kind of success they’ve had at Alabama and Auburn. And whenever the boys come home, Washington says, they find themselves back in the gym. “Jared will call Collin or Collin will call Jared — ‘Hey! I’m going to the gym.’ And they will come in and go to war,” he said.

    Come Wednesday, Washington will be in attendance at Auburn Arena, but he’ll have to take the position of Switzerland because of his relationship with his former players. “I just wear a neutral shirt. I’ll wear black or gray,” he says. “I tell them, ‘I hope it goes into quadruple overtime and no one loses.’”

    Photo Credit: USA Today Sports.

    So it seems that in many ways, Alabama and Auburn will be indelibly linked with the burden of friendship, though it is a rivalry that seems to rip apart more than it does pull together. It is a rivalry that divides towns, divides schools, divides families. Like it or not, the two schools are bound eternally in a cosmic duel that only seems to dissipate when coaches retire or players hang up their sneakers.

    Sonny and Wimp ended up doing a radio show together for six years, and all of Alabama laughed with them. There was something about an Alabama and an Auburn man coming together that allowed the state to breathe. Every year, they speak at many of the same events, and needle each other at the podium. “I’d tell one-liners and Sonny would tell one of his stupid stories,” Wimp said.

    “It was almost like a Vaudeville act,” Sonny laughs.

    After blistering one another’s butt for two hours, they would leave the event in the same car.

    On the court, the pair took the rivalry to another level, but not in an overly contentious way. The great oeuvre of Sonny Smith and Wimp Sanderson was that they elevated the rivalry to unprecedented levels, but did not let the vitriol between the schools consume their friendship. In the end, the mutual respect they had for one another has carried them. “Hey. The one thing about that rivalry was Wimp,” Sonny says about his friend. “I hope someday people will realize what Wimp did for Alabama basketball. Those are Hall of Fame credentials that he has right there.”

    While being interviewed, Wimp stresses that he doesn’t want anything negative to be written about Sonny. “Sonny is my friend,” Wimp says. “We’ve had a good rapport with each other. Whoever won, won. Whoever lost, lost. Win or lose, we shook hands and went on our way. And if Wednesday night reminds me of the ’87 game, then I’m OK with that.”

    Whether or not this feels like 1987, the truth is that basketball is back in the state of Alabama, and it’s good thing. Things might have changed, it might not be Sonny and Wimp, it might not be as off-the-wall as it used to be, but in a state suffering from post-football woe, it’ll more than do.

    Just don’t expect Avery Johnson to receive any letters postmarked “Auburn.”

    A Civil Rivalry: Auburn vs. Alabama and the battle for hardwood supremacy

    By Al Blanton