Category: Renovation


Aug
2016

Opening a Doorway

categories: Renovation

We decided to get rid of a doorway to make the space more open between the kitchen and the dining room.  There used to be swinging cowboy doors here and we obviously removed those.  Then, we were left with an unnecessary door frame which we decided to remove and make the space more open.  You gain a couple of inches in each direction – I love it!!!!  See how the old frame was so yellow?  Yuck!  This saved me from having to paint it but now we actually have some work with drywalling but it’s so worth it!  Well, we’ll see after we drywall it if I’m still saying that!  :-p  We are planning to redo all the flooring here so it’s ok that there’s a gap there in the floor.

Broad_KitchenDoorwayBefore

This is the mud we bought – save yourself some pain and buy the 90 minute dry stuff (not 45 minute) – it takes some time and you don’t want to have to throw a bunch away because it thickens or hardens while you work.

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Step 1: Pry off the doorway trim. You’ll want to score the sides so that the paint doesn’t get pulled off with it.
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Step 2: Measure the distance of each section of the doorway to cut the dry wall out. You’ll want the drywall to reach the end on each side so that you can put the corners on properly. Screw these pieces of drywall in place.
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Step 3: Trim off the edges of the drywall with a box cutter where they are sticking out too far – this is so the corners will fit properly.
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This is what it should look like with the drywall properly secured.
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Step 4: Put on the corners. We chose metal straight edged corners with dry wall tape on them. We thought about rounded corners but I like the sharp lined look. You’ll want to thin out the mud more than we did here. We bought 45 minute dry mud but we should’ve bought the 90 minute dry mud so it wouldn’t get so thick so fast. You put a thin layer of mud on the wall first and then attach the corner to the mud, then put more mud over the corner. You can staple the corner into place at the top so that it doesn’t slide down.
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I didn’t take a picture of it, but at the top corners, you put a piece of drywall tape and fold it into the corner and mud it into place to cover the crack there. Then, after that you’ll have to do several layers of mud all over to make sure all the areas are flat and not concave and smooth (that’s the hard part). Then, comes the sanding to ensure it’s extra smooth because there’s really no way to get it extra smooth without sanding unless you are a professional which we are not. :-p I kept joking with Bryon that this was actually my sculpting project because I am not so good at mudding. I’m not a perfectionist.  Several times, I made a stegasaurus on the wall that had to be sanded off. This requires lots of patience.  Final product below:

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Jul
2016

Best Flooring For Rental Houses (Our Experience)

categories: Renovation

Isn’t it hard to choose flooring for houses, let alone rental houses?  All you can imagine is how they are going to take a key to it, let their dog pee on it, or burn a cigarette into it (no, they aren’t supposed to smoke). Sometimes, after seeing a house upon tenant move out, I like to try to reconstruct how certain things happened like in a crime scene. How on Earth does something like this happen is all I can think sometimes?

Though most tenants are good – you tend to keep the worst-case scenarios at the forefront of your mind when updating a unit. And it makes you wish they made everything out of stainless steel or concrete though nothing is truly indestructible for some people.

On one hand, you don’t want to spend too much because you will not get it back for years to come.  On the other hand, you don’t want to have to keep replacing the flooring every couple of years or even every year.  What to do?!

We’ve been experimenting with different flooring for some time and we’ve had some luck with vinyl plank flooring, wood laminate flooring, and even carpeting (on stairs).  Our favorite pick: Allure Ultra or similar vinyl plank flooring.  But here’s our review of all the options that we’ve tried.

Stairs:
Stairs are tricky b/c it’s expensive to put laminate on stairs and even Allure on stairs is expensive so we feel like carpet is the best bet b/c it’s cheap and if you need to you can replace it pretty easily and inexpensively. If you really have a high traffic stairwell like we do in the back our four-plex building, then sheet vinyl plus rubber treads has worked well for us – it’s a nice look and easy to clean. You can see pictures of that in a post under Rentals.

Allure peel and stick (the planks stick to each other not the floor so it’s still a floating floor):
We are not great fans of this though it’s less expensive. We used this in a living room and in a basement area. The cracks between the planks can tend to separate and get dirt stuck in there in places and it’s not truly waterproof due to this (they don’t advertise that it’s waterproof though). Maybe it was just because it was my husband’s first time installing it or maybe that’s just the way it is. I’m not sure – but I’m not a fan. It held up through one tenant with no scratches or anything, but I just get annoyed about the cracks between the planks in some places are more visible than they should be in my opinion.

Vinyl plank click-lock flooring – Allure Ultra brand (winner):
The interlocking Allure Ultra is truly waterproof and we haven’t seen any separating after years of use in a high traffic hallway. The only downside to it is that it’s tricky to install and quite the learning curve b/c it’s flexible vinyl planks that interlock which as you can imagine can be tricky vs rigid planks that interlock. The plus side is that you can cut it easily with a box cutter so you don’t have to have any special equipment or make a whole lot of extra noise. We have more recently had this installed in a kitchen and the installer said that it is way easier to install now – they’ve made improvements in the design.  They’ve also made improvements in the look.  Even more recently than that, we’ve installed a brand from Lumber Liquidators that was even thicker – Farmland Hickory Engineered Vinyl Plank flooring 7mm thick.  For a more upscale look, buy the thicker vinyl plank.  It makes a big difference and looks more wood like.  They now sell the thicker vinyl plank flooring at Home Depot as well.  It’s still waterproof and scratch-resistant, etc.

Wood laminate (comes in second and looks nicer):
Another thing we tried in bedrooms is wood laminate floating floor. We used some relatively cheap laminate we got off the shelves at Home Depot for some bedrooms and that held up really well through one tenant’s use – no scratches, stains, or separating between the planks or anything wrong. But it didn’t look as wood like as the more expensive stuff.  After that, we have tried a more upgraded laminate for a different unit – Pergo XP – and that has held up well as well but looks alot more upscale than the more inexpensive stuff. See this post: Trying out Pergo XP in the Rental

As you can see, carpet isn’t listed – well, except for stairs.  We haven’t had the best luck with carpet – it always seems to need to be replaced and even if we keep it, we have to spend so much time cleaning it that I’m not sure it’s worth it.  Anybody else want to share their experiences on what has worked for them?  I’m always looking out for cheaper alternatives that are still durable.


Jul
2016

Carpet Cleaning Tricks

categories: Cleaning, Renovation

Things you’ll need:

Carpet brush (any brush with a handle)
Resolve Carpet cleaner (this is my favorite)
Oxi clean
Spray Bottle
Goo Gone (the kind in a spray bottle) – for any gum or muck
Vacuum

We have had tenants move out and the carpets have looked beyond salvageable.  Often times they are not salvageable and we just replace (with vinyl plank flooring – we’ve had pretty good experience with this-I’ll need to write another flooring review post for those interested in our flooring experiences), but we’ve saved some carpets with this scrubbing method.

By the way, I haven’t had great luck with carpet cleaning machines.  I just feel like they don’t work as well as scrubbing by hand.  Maybe scrubbing by hand and then using a carpet cleaning machine would work best.  Scrubbing by hand is alot of work though but I feel like it really pays off.  Hard work pays off – that’s the mantra I like to repeat to myself over and over as sort of a hypnotic trance while cleaning.  :-p

1.) Spray the carpet with Resolve and brush the cleaner into the carpet, then let sit. Vacuum up after dry.

2.) If the carpet remains darker in some spots after cleaning, spray an oxi-clean/water (mix oxi-clean into some hot water in a spray bottle) solution onto the area and scrub into the carpet with a brush.  Let sit for a while, then vacuum again.

This worked really well on our light beige carpet.  We actually had large areas that were stained darker and this worked like a charm to lighten them up.  I’m not sure I would use it on darker carpets though – you’d have to test in a small area.

Believe it or not, this carpet had an entire slushie spilled on it and it was never cleaned up.  I thought it wasn’t going to be salvageable, but with alot of scrubbing and then some oxi-clean and it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.  We replaced the carpets in every other room b/c they had cigarette burns and stuff that couldn’t be fixed unfortunately.  But we were able to save the stairs and one bedroom using this method.  It’s not perfect but it’s a rental.  And some spots I wasn’t too worried about b/c I knew there would be a bed covering it.  Now, to do my own house using this method.  I’m too busy cleaning houses that other people are going to live in that my own house is starting to suffer.  :-p

If you have any muck or gum on the carpet, the Goo Gone spray gets it off amazingly well! It again takes some muscle, but I’ve gotten whole pieces of gum out of the carpet with it AND construction muck (if you know what that means – it’s gooey, oily muck that manages to get on the carpet when doing construction work – I don’t know where it comes from but it always magically appears.) If you have kids, then you know that candy and gum are the worst offenders – comes off like a charm.. A tiny piece of candy flies out of their mouth when they chew and then dirt gets stuck to it and eventually you have a nice black spot on the carpet – I’ve gotten these out as well with this! It’s magic! Spray it with the Goo Gone and use a white cloth to rub at it until it’s gone – keep spraying and rubbing until you either crumble into a pile of dust or the stain is gone… :-p

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Jul
2016

How to Seal Grout on a Tile Floor

categories: Renovation

Here’s what you’ll need:
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First, scrub the grout thoroughly with a grout scrub brush (seen in picture) and water.  I actually use a water/oxi-clean solution to brighten the grout a bit (let the mixture sit on the grout for a little while to brighten it then scrub), but you could also use baking soda.  Make sure to wash off afterwards. Then, let dry for at least 24 hours.

Then, pour some sealer into the Grout Sealer Roller Applicator and roll on the grout.  I had to gently squeeze the bottle a little at times b/c I couldn’t tell if the stuff was coming out or to get a little more to come out, but it worked really well and the sealer stayed mostly between the lines.  If it gets on the tile, just wipe it off with a damp rag.  Let dry as per directions on the bottle.

Hopefully, this sealer will help keep the grout from getting stained.  We shall see.

 


Jul
2016

World’s Dirtiest Jobs – Cleaning behind the oven

categories: Renovation

After cleaning behind the oven in one of our rentals, I believe land lording could qualify to be on that show, “World’s Dirtiest Jobs”.  I joke, but seriously.  My husband usually does most of the dirty work and I do mean dirty.  This one was mine to own though b/c he just has so much other stuff to do that I don’t have the skills to do.  :-/  It pays to be skilled, eh?  I need to get him to teach me some more stuff so I can send him to clean the toilets, etc.  :-p

Here’s a picture of the before:

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And After:

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I used Greased Lightning and the Spray bottle of Goo Gone to get this clean.  I started with paper towels b/c I didn’t want to destroy all my rags, then finished with rags. And definitely wear gloves!  Some of the grease that was on the sides of the cabinets, I had to scrape off first with my handy dandy 14 in 1 painter’s tool which I’m going to have to devote a post to b/c I love it so much..  So relieved to have this project over.  Yuck.  I don’t think I’ve ever even cleaned behind my own oven – ugh..  I need to.


Jul
2016

Renovation Packing List

categories: Renovation

Every time we need to renovate a place or get it ready to be rented, we have to maintain two, sometimes three, households, so it’s important for us to keep a list of things we’ll need to bring and possibly leave at the rental property for a while.

Here’s our list of important items (this might help someone else out there):

Bryon’s toolbox (this is the black box that has everything – sorry can’t include it all here b/c I don’t really know what’s in there.. :-p)
Drill
Scissors
Spackle
Putty Knife
Screwdriver (all types)
Paper towels
Toilet paper
Pliers
Hammer
Small screw remover (it’s a tool, but I don’t know the technical name)
Trash Can
Trash Bags
Cleaning Gloves
Cleaning Rags
Sponges
Cleaning toothbrushes
Hand Soap
Dish Washing Liquid
Dish Washing Detergent
Paint Brush
Paint Rollers
Paint Tray
Paint Can Opener
Paint
Sand paper
Windex
Resolve Carpet Cleaner
Vinegar (for cleaning)
Bleach (for cleaning)
Ammonia (for cleaning)
Oxi Clean (for cleaning)
Baking Soda (for cleaning)
Spray bottle (for cleaning mixes)
Baby Wipes (for dirty hands and cleaning and everything under the sun)
Movie Player
Movie Player plug (adapter to adjust from car plug to wall plug)
Step Stool
Work Clothes
Butter knife
Forks
Spoons
Bowls
Plates (some glass some paper)
Cups
Chairs (lawn chairs or regular folding table chairs)
Folding table (optional)
Contact Paper (if need to recover shelves)
Vacuum
Broom
Dust Pan
Mop
Mop Bucket
Floor Cleaner
Hand Towels
Work Towels
Caulk
Caulk Gun
14 in 1 Paint Tool (see post on that: Painter’s Tools All In One: 14 in 1 paint tool)
Pumpkin Candle (secret ingredient for showing houses – everyone likes the smell of pumpkin, right?!?) and a nice red hand towel to hang on the oven handle – boom! rented! Everyone likes red. :-p
Snacks (lots of snacks for the kids AND motivation for the adults. For adults – it’s important to have those Mother’s brand cookies – they are like animal shapes with frosting and sprinkles. :-p)
Coffee – the pre-bottled kind that you can keep in the fridge – it’s quick, easy, it’s better than an IV (any kind – double espresso shot? anyone? Yes, please!)
Stuff for the kids to play with (sidewalk chalk, bubbles, water squirters, coloring books, crayons, markers, tablets, dvd’s, books (though they never choose this option – probably due to the 4 year old bugging them – and don’t bring over library books – it gets you into lots of financial trouble…))
Work Clothes for the kids (yes, I put them to work many times when they say they are bored – keeps them from saying they are bored. :-p)

I will continue to add to this list as stuff comes up.


Jul
2016

How to make caulk look new

categories: Renovation

Anyone who knows me knows I’m not really that into cleaning, but with rental properties I have become the cleaning lady (reluctantly) so I’ve learned a few tricks that I can pass on – through typing things like, “HELP! How to clean caulk easily, instantly, with absolutely no actual work via telepathic means or osmosis” into Google.

My husband always makes fun of me b/c I can’t say the name Dawn.  I pronounce it Don, not like he does – Dwaawnnn..  But I wouldn’t want to make that same mistake with the word caulk.  Isn’t that a hard word to say?  If you botch that word up – it becomes a not so appropriate word.  So, I’m extra careful with this word when I speak.  😀

Anyway, I’ve recently tried this trick using Bleach!!  It works on white caulk but I’m not so sure it would be good for tinted caulk – you’d have to test it first.  I get two cotton balls and soak them with Bleach, then place them on the caulk and let them sit there for 24 hours.

I use multiple cotton balls or whatever it takes to cover the opening of the bleach container – so I can just tilt it over to soak them.  One cotton ball would allow bleach to spill everywhere which wouldn’t be good.  It’s a bit tedious if you have to cover the whole area.  Usually, you only have to do certain spots, but with rentals it’s sometimes the whole thing b/c it gets so dirty.  It’s tedious but if you take the time to do it, you will see results. You have to wear gloves, of course.


Jul
2016

How to get rid of the smell in the Fridge

categories: Renovation

So, some of my posts result from mistakes I’ve made and this is one of them.  Yes, it’s humbling.  Humility is a good thing so I can’t say it’s all bad.  :-p  I painted with an oil-based primer – which is not a bad thing in and of itself.  But the oil-based primer stinks really badly.

Well, I made the mistake of putting the paint roller in the fridge so I could reuse it the next day.  I do this all the time with my paint rollers and it’s usually no problem – I wrap them in several grocery bags and then I can reuse them.  Well, this is fine for latex paint though I will probably never do it again b/c I’ve been sufficiently traumatized.

The next day, I open the fridge and almost passed out from the smell.  I tried to eat a piece of pizza that had been in the fridge and immediately spit it out.  It tasted like paint-za.  Everything in the fridge was ruined.  The lunchables that I bought the kids to snack on, the milk, the sandwich meat, even the stuff in the freezer was ruined (the ice especially)!

I thought (or hoped) it would air out on it’s own but it continued to stink for weeks even after I took the roller out.  Everything I put in there got ruined so I knew I had to do something about it.  Here’s what I did to fix it:

1.) I had to throw out all the food, drinks, ice, etc which luckily wasn’t that much b/c it wasn’t full stocked just yet.
2.) I wiped the entire fridge down with the ammonia, vinegar, baking soda mix.
3.) I aired it out by leaving the doors open until the fridge kicked on and then once I heard the fridge kick off again, I opened the doors again and kept doing this throughout the day to get fresh air circulated into the fridge.
4.) Then, I also bought some activated carbon and put it in there on a plate on both the fridge and freezer side.
5.) I also put in some sliced lemons on a plate because I heard that soaks up the smell.

Finally, the fridge smells back to normal.  I really thought I’d permanently messed up the fridge.  It took a couple of days to get it fully aired out, but it’s all good.  Whew!


Jul
2016

Lighter Shade of Gray

categories: Renovation

Gray or grey?  I’m on the hunt to find an amazing lighter shade of gray.  I kind of experimented with paint colors in this rental unit b/c I’m still searching for the perfect color and I figure the tenants won’t mind if the rooms are slightly different colors, right? They may assume it’s just the lighting b/c they are so subtle-y different.  Or maybe they’ll go crazy walking from room to room tilting their heads and whipping their heads around suddenly like I do trying to catch the color changing or something..

The colors I used are all along the lines of Fixer Upper – like a grayish white. I read an article that the up and coming colors trending in the home decor world are closer to white so that’s the kind of colors that I picked. I’m learning that lighting and the placement of the man on the moon drastically affect what paint colors look like. Actually, I have no idea why paint colors look so drastically different in different places – to me, it’s like one of the mysteries of the universe that I just have to accept and remain permanently confused about.

I used some of the colors that I used in the other unit we updated in this same building and they look completely different – go figure. I thought I’d found THE color and it looks totally different in this unit. Whatever. I suppose it’s still acceptable just not exactly what I thought it would be. I need to quit being so picky about colors for a rental unit. Most landlords just use antique white and call it a day.

I actually have this problem with everything – I’m constantly searching for the best thing that’s going to top all other things (when picking books, trying recipes, etc – always on the hunt for the magical unicorn that doesn’t exist – or maybe it does but I just haven’t captured it yet (see! it’s a problem)).  This should be a disorder – we could name it Magical Unicorn Disorder – I’m sure the drug companies would be all over it if they ever read this post.  We’ll start seeing infomercials about a new drug that will quash Magical Unicorn Disorder.  Are you constantly searching for the magical unicorn?  Take this drug 3 times/day with koolaid and you will no longer believe unicorns exist – you will be dead on the inside.  Side effects may include adult diapers, the shakes, a severe addiction that you can’t kick, etc – you know the standard list.  :-p  I digress.

Here’s the colors that I tried:

Glidden’s Silver Birch @ Home Depot:  I LOVE this color.  It’s my favorite!  It’s light, bright and neutral gray with not much hint of other colors.  I like that.  I hate to look at a gray and think that it looks blue or purple.  I wish I would’ve used this one everywhere I like it so much.

Gracious Greige HGTV by Sherwin Williams (HGSW2456): I’ve already reviewed this one in another post: 5 shades of gray on this website.  But it happens to look completely different in this unit.  🙁  I still like it but it’s not my favorite in the lighter shades of gray category.  It’s still neutral, but when compared with the other shades it’s not my favorite anymore.  It seems like it has a hint of purple when it’s in this unit which kind of throws me off – again probably the lighting.  There’s LED lighting everywhere. In the other unit, there was no hint of purple. UPDATE: Found out why this color was looking purplish – we bought cheap blinds from Menard’s that were slightly blueish in tint – once we replaced these the purple tint was gone. Love this color much more now! Very neutral yet still retaining some warmth.

Basalt Powder HGTV by Sherwin Williams (HGSW2457): I like this color.  It’s very modern looking and nice and bright.  It really brightens up the room.  It does seem like it has a hint of purple but it’s not overpowering – it’s very neutral.  Maybe the hint of purple keeps the gray from looking too cold – not sure.  It’s just a hint though – still very neutral.  I give it a thumbs up.  We used this color for the living room and dining room area of the rental.

Benjamin Moore’s Halo: This color is really nice too.  It has a hint of green to it but it’s very neutral.  I used it in the master bedroom and the kitchen.  I actually got this at Home Depot!  Did you know that you could get different brands of paint at Home Depot?  I just found out and I’m so excited about this!!!!  I never used to get other brands b/c I didn’t want to have to go to special paint stores and make a separate trip – my kids can only handle one stop when it comes to “boring” stores.  But now that I found out that Home Depot will make other brands of paint as long as they are in the system – I can broaden my horizons!  This particular paint color was recommended on some web sites by design pros so I decided to try it out and it’s very classy, classic and safe – nice color.  I would use this all over too b/c it’s pretty safe and nice.

Sherwin William’s White Duck SW7010:  This is not actually a gray color but it is an off white type of color so I thought I’d include it.  We used this in a bathroom instead of antique white and it looks really nice.  It’s more of a yellowy cream color that is slightly darker than antique white and therefore a little warmer.  It gets a thumbs up also.  It would be another good allover color if you were looking for a white-ish color but not white.

Anyone else have lighter shades of gray that they like – please comment below.  Help me find my unicorn..  I won’t stop – can’t stop..

See my other post on other shades of gray:
5 shades of gray

Here’s some pictures below.  I tried to post several so you could see it in different lighting – I know, the lighting isn’t great:

Benjamin Moore’s Halo:

Gracious Greige:

Basalt Powder (in the Dining Room):

Basalt Powder (on the left) & Silver Birch (on the right):

Silver Birch:

White Duck:


Jul
2016

How to clean ceiling fan that is greasy and caked with dust (tarred and feathered)

categories: Renovation

You might think that it’s easier to replace the fan which we’ve done in the past but that’s an extra $70 that you shouldn’t have to spend.

Ceiling fans are a pain to clean especially when they are near the kitchen area b/c then they get tarred and feathered or grease builds up on them and then dust sticks to them – yuck!  And it’s already hard to reach them so you are in an awkward position when trying to clean them.

Here’s the trick – Goo Gone!  It wipes the grime off like a charm!  Put some Goo Gone on a white rag and wipe away – it’s really simple and works so quickly.  I’m going to try this on the dirty, greasy microwave vents next!  Wish me luck!!!