Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread

Duke

. . first name's "Daisy" boys
May 12, 2008
55,859
18,144
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Brandon, FL
Marklar
₥36,350
If one of these exists, my apologies. I searched and couldn't find one.

I'm on a kick, mostly because my property values are moving upwards crazy fast. Apparently, because of the rental market in Tampa, townhomes like mine are a hot property for investors, and townhomes here are gone up about 30% in value just over the past year. I said to myself 'hmm, if they get in the range of XXX,000 I might have to consider selling, because that would represent about 50% over what I owe on the home. At the time (2 months back) I figured it might take a few years...

Turns out, one just sold for close to my number, and others are going for sale at such..

I did the virtual tours. Here is one that recently listed and it showed me basically what I'd have to do on improvements to compete if I did decide to sell. I'm going to post pix here of the place that went for sale, but long story short, the real changes are tear out all the carpet, replace the countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms, screen in the back porch (LANAI FGTS), some paint, (maybe) some new appliances (to be discussed in this thread), and a few small touches here and there.

The focus of this thread is basically to share what you've done with your places, swap tips and tricks for shit you have done, want to do, and cost saving things.

I'm giving myself a 1 year time table to complete the improvements I listed above.

Anyway, here is the images of the townhome that got offered to start the discussion. It's the exact same floorplan as mine. (3br, 2.5 bath, attached 1car garage, 1810 sq feet)

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The gaudy golden-brown (almost bronze) color furniture is huge out here in California. Basically the only white thing should be the doors and the trim. Painting the wall an off-white color is good, and if you have a defined living room/entry room, crown molding is all the rage.

Having a 2" baseboard is a necessity, and I've even seen up to 4"... but in a small area like a townhome, that's a bit much. The trim around the doors and windows should have a decorative design to it, but doesn't have to be too fancy. Just so long as it's not the cheap 1" apartment trim.
 
Those pics thru me off... wtf you changed your livingroom! lolol

We are talking some more about replacing the floors in our house with that neat vinyl stuff. Our floors aren't even so it seems the least costly way to change them out.
 
Those pics thru me off... wtf you changed your livingroom! lolol

We are talking some more about replacing the floors in our house with that neat vinyl stuff. Our floors aren't even so it seems the least costly way to change them out.

yeah. I'm not sold on the vinyl. I lived through that trend when every house in the 60's and 70's had it...

I'm looking to do tile downstairs, and probably a dark hued laminate upstairs.

One of the reasons I made this thread is this.

How the fuck do you do a staircase. I'll admit, I can probably google it as I've actually tried to concept out how in my head and the best I could come up with is 'rebuild the staircase'...
 
yeah. I'm not sold on the vinyl. I lived through that trend when every house in the 60's and 70's had it...

I'm looking to do tile downstairs, and probably a dark hued laminate upstairs.

One of the reasons I made this thread is this.

How the fuck do you do a staircase. I'll admit, I can probably google it as I've actually tried to concept out how in my head and the best I could come up with is 'rebuild the staircase'...
This is not your parents vinyl. For one, its click-lock flooring set to look like wood or stone. Vinyl flooring was the only type of flooring to score an Excellent mark in every category in Consumer Reports. It beat real wood, laminate, engineered, linoleum, carpet, and ceramic tile. It feels great underfoot and looks great imho.
 
This is not your parents vinyl. For one, its click-lock flooring set to look like wood or stone. Vinyl flooring was the only type of flooring to score an Excellent mark in every category in Consumer Reports. It beat real wood, laminate, engineered, linoleum, carpet, and ceramic tile. It feels great underfoot and looks great imho.

I'm assuming its got a better price point than tile. How does it hold up against laminate?
 
Read my post. It was the ONLY type of flooring to score Excellent in every category. You're looking at around $5/sq ft for the good stuff

hmm

I guess I'll have to look into it more. That and the screened in back porch are items 1 and 2 I want to get done. The porch is probably going to run me between 800 and 1k.
 
Living, kitchen, and the other two bedrooms on the other side of the house from the master.

Was your kitchen tiled previously? I'm debating on if I should remove the existing tile, which I hear is a pain in the ass and will involve redoing the floors in my downstairs half bath, or leaving the tile and finding a clever way to transition the entryway/kitchen tiling to whatever I will use in the dining and living rooms.
 
I'll have to google it more as it raises a ton more questions for me.
Anything vinyl or non-interlocking tile will have to be adhered to the floor. Engineered wood, positive locking tile, and in some instances hardwood can be floated. Tongue in groove flooring probably should be secured by glue or staple, depending on the composition of the subfloor.
 
Was your kitchen tiled previously? I'm debating on if I should remove the existing tile, which I hear is a pain in the ass and will involve redoing the floors in my downstairs half bath, or leaving the tile and finding a clever way to transition the entryway/kitchen tiling to whatever I will use in the dining and living rooms.
It's tiled now, but because the floor isn't level, it's cracking in some places so we have to remove it completely. :(