For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

[mgoblue]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

If you have the tools laying hardwood floor is pretty simple. I've been helping Ashleigh's parents lay down their hardwood floor in their extension and redid their living room on Sunday. They ordered from Lowes to take advantage of her dad's military discount.

I've heard this from multiple people. The key (IMO) is having someone who's done it a few times to guide new people...If you have a friend/family member who knows it, then you add a few people to help and it's not bad.

I don't know what I'm doing, so I'd be scared without guidance.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

That's a good point, too. After the first couple of rows I felt pretty comfortable with what we were doing. Of course the three of us each had a specific job - one to lay out the boards, one to tap them in, and one to nail them down.

The main things I took away were:
1) Make sure the grain runs the length of the longest wall of the house - the whole house should follow that grain
2) Fit flush - you don't want gaps or the boards shifting too much
3) You have to vary where the board ends meet to keep the boards from shifting too much. The end gap in the next row should be about 4 inches away from the previous row's end gap.
4) Don't be afraid to use nails when necessary (close to walls where you can't get a floor nailer in); wood filler is useful.

Honestly, once you get into a good flow it goes pretty easily and quickly.

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

My place is on a slab and I'm sure the floor is uneven too. No way id even consider that project.

Carpet a different story but at the time we moved in the carpet was brand new so it didn't matter either way.

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I laid brazilian teak laminate wood floors in 3 bedrooms and a hallway. Job wise there is nothing to it, one of the easier jobs to do honestly. If you can read a tape, use a rubber mallet, and use a table saw you will have no problem with it.

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Was your floor uneven though?

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Was your floor uneven though?

There was several areas which were not the flattest, but there is no getting around that even for a professional. Unless you want to start breaking concrete out and re-pouring, which no one is going to do that so its best to just do it yourself.

You can get a good concrete leveling compound and smooth out your surface. Mine was luckily not to bad, once the moisture barrier and matting was placed down it absorbed some of the deviation with the sponginess of the matting. So my floor is pretty good.

Now I have developed several issues though.

1) My man cave computer chair has eaten into on of the boards and its now starting to flake off the top layer. This is entirely my fault for not using a computer chair mat. This really sucks because I'd have to pull up the entire room to replace the board (I have roughly 3 boxes of floors left for repairs).

2) My A/C unit is in the hall and one day I came home from work to find my A/C unit drain pan over flowing. It managed to follow along the wall but I'm now seeing some buckling of some boards. So I'm going to have to rip the whole hall way out and repair the boards which evidently got wet.

Life of a home owner

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Yep that blows... id hate to have the floors glued down also. I'm definitely going to check out my options when the time comes.

how long did it take you to do the house?

I'd have roughly 1300 square feet or more to do

[Phobia]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Yep that blows... id hate to have the floors glued down also. I'm definitely going to check out my options when the time comes.

how long did it take you to do the house?

I'd have roughly 1300 square feet or more to do

You do not glue down laminate floors, they are designed to float....expansion and contraction are required to prevent any kind of buckling.

Time wise it took me roughly two days to do around 800+ square feet.

[allBthere]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I have a condo that I'm renting out to extremely low maintenance tenants.

My small issue is that I gave them a bit of a deal and they don't totally cover the mortgage so I end up paying about $100-$150/month on top of what they pay.

My big issue is that my city has too many condos and I feel like I'm waiting for a crash in prices. I could sell it in the next few months and eat about and 8k penalty for closing my mortgage, or sell in 0ct of next year and avoid that - BUT I'd be risking prices going down potentially.

We're also looking to move into a bigger house and pay much more, so it might be nice getting rid of it in that sense too.

So I'm not really sure what to do - I've met others that really stress not to sell any property at all, if possible and say hang on to it for 20+ years!

[23]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

You do not glue down laminate floors, they are designed to float....expansion and contraction are required to prevent any kind of buckling.

Time wise it took me roughly two days to do around 800+ square feet.

Oh no I wasnt talking about laminate. I dont want laminate if at all possible. Floating floors sound good though.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Any of you guys have a deck or added a deck on your house? My cousin suggested I make that one of my first upgrades. How much money am I looking at to have someone reputable do the install (say 400 sq. ft.)? Also, it it worth the price difference to go with composite over regular wood?

[lhslancers]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

I have a condo that I'm renting out to extremely low maintenance tenants.

My small issue is that I gave them a bit of a deal and they don't totally cover the mortgage so I end up paying about $100-$150/month on top of what they pay.

My big issue is that my city has too many condos and I feel like I'm waiting for a crash in prices. I could sell it in the next few months and eat about and 8k penalty for closing my mortgage, or sell in 0ct of next year and avoid that - BUT I'd be risking prices going down potentially.

We're also looking to move into a bigger house and pay much more, so it might be nice getting rid of it in that sense too.

So I'm not really sure what to do - I've met others that really stress not to sell any property at all, if possible and say hang on to it for 20+ years!

If you can get an increase in rent to at least cover the mortgage I would. If you don't need to sell for the down payment I would hold onto the rental property. People tend to make the most money from real estate than any other investment save an incredible business,

[RockinDaMike]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Here's the plan for the condo I'll be building on the resort property. Not very big but it will do for just me and my gf. Not sure what we will be putting in but we have a carpenter who will be making custom furniture and cabinets for us. I kinda want to come up with bamboo light fixtures, have some ideas but we will have to experiment.

uploadfromtaptalk1433114375982.jpg

[dales]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Any of you guys have a deck or added a deck on your house? My cousin suggested I make that one of my first upgrades. How much money am I looking at to have someone reputable do the install (say 400 sq. ft.)? Also, it it worth the price difference to go with composite over regular wood?

Had a deck added on last year. It is 14x24, I believe. Cost around $5600 for pressure treated wood. Nothing fancy either, just a flat, single platform deck with no steps.

And I'm all for using wood. Just know that you're going to have to take care of it if you want it to last. I love having the deck now; used it last night to grill, listen to music and hang out and have some beers for a few hours.

[GAMEC0CK2002]

Re: For all of you guys who are homeowners or newly owned

Guess I should have asked this before I locked in...but. I locked in a rate of 4.375% for a 30 year fixed even though I had the option of 4.25% on a 7/1 ARM (they are paying $4000 in closing costs). My local bank was offering 4.25% 30 year fixed and 4.125% on 7/1 arm (nothing towards closing).
My goal would be to sell the house by the end of year 5.

I think I just gave the bank $1775 over the life of the loan. Is this correct?
loan amount: 142000 @ 4.375% vs. loan amount: 142000 @ 4.25%


I do have the option to float down by the 17th of this month. My gut tells me I should have taken the lower rate.