Home Improvement

Dirk is satisfied.

Or your property doesn't actually start anywhere and you own nothing.

The bank doesn't own it at that point. That's why they have to bid on it. They have a lien on it and want to make sure when it changes hands that they bid at least the lien since that's the sunk cost for them. They wouldn't bid over that because they just want to get paid for their lien and anything that it sells for over the mortgage goes back to the previous owner of the house.

Here's an update on my kitchen. House should be ready to go on the market in another week or two.



New vinyl floor, granite counters and tile backsplash. I still need to paint the wall a flat color as opposed to semi-gloss (kitchen and bathrooms are semi), but the rest looks great IMO. Kitchen cost me right around $3000 after all was said and done.

Yes. I haven't mounted the outlets yet. I need to buy a few spacers after putting in the tile.

Xarpolis_sl said:

Here's an update on my kitchen. House should be ready to go on the market in another week or two.

New vinyl floor, granite counters and tile backsplash. I still need to paint the wall a flat color as opposed to semi-gloss (kitchen and bathrooms are semi), but the rest looks great IMO. Kitchen cost me right around $3000 after all was said and done.

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Looks good and despite what some will say, I like white appliances. They are easy to clean, brighten up the space and no fingerprints.

Was thinking about doing hardwood floors in the living room kitchen, but the general contractor I was talking to was saying vinyl is probably better especially since the quality has improved over the last twenty years. Anyone got any experience and/or advice on vinyl vs hardwood floors?

Harfle_sl said:

Was thinking about doing hardwood floors in the living room kitchen, but the general contractor I was talking to was saying vinyl is probably better especially since the quality has improved over the last twenty years. Anyone got any experience and/or advice on vinyl vs hardwood floors?

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A lot of factors to consider:

1) Cost - hardwood only comes in natural woods + whatever finishes. Some areabsurdlyexpensive. You can get better exotic styles for a lot cheaper with vinyl. Installation is more.
2) Longevity - hardwood will last a lifetime typicallybutit will NOT be flawless. Wood dents/scrapes/cuts/warps/etc. That's part of the beauty. If you want uniformity forever, go faux.
3) Feel - hardwood feels solid. Vinyl installations typically do not. Floating floors have benefits but they feel different. THAT SAID, the newest styles of underlayment are absolutely amazing (if not pricey) in softening the most obvious issue which is sound.
4) Weight - depends on house construction, but it can be significant if you have really old, thin (by modern standards) floor joists or things like that.
5) Styles - check out things like Tecsun painted desert, I've seen a room done in this and it was amazing even if completely unnatural:12mm Painted Desert

Vinyl is OK but honestly I think there are better looking laminates out there than a lot of vinyl planks. Stuff like handscraped dark walnut 8" planks that would cost a fortune in hardwood look amazing and are easily afforded in laminate. Of course laminate installation around compressors/water lines needs to be done properly or it will fuck up. In fact for most kitchens if you go laminate I'd silicone everything around the 'food prep' area at least. Vinyl doesn't have that problem being that it's just plastic.

thanks for all that info. He was also talking about laminates also, saying they have some hardwood and quality has improved on those over the years. Price and labor isnt really the problem its a gift to me. I just have to pick what I want. Everyone suggesting for me not to get hardwood for fear of how they will get damaged by me lol.

I think some of the choice comes down to what market your house is in. A vinyl floor in an upscale market isn't going to fly when it comes time to sell. On the other hand, putting wood down where there is water is not wise either. That's especially true of laminates. I would install stone or tile.

I just installed a new Vinyl floor in my kitchen. You can see it in the picture above. They have "hard wood" looking Vinyl as well, with texture on the surface to mimic wood grain.

As far as hard wood, my mother used to have Cherry floors. They looked gorgeous, but they were easily damaged. Move the fridge and leave dents on the floor. Drop a glass? Dents. Fortunately the wood was soft enough not to shatter the glass, but it dented CONSTANTLY. The final straw was when she got a dog. The claws completely destroyed the floor. Yes, it still "looked" nice enough, but they were gouges everywhere.

Yep, my dad & stepmom built a home about 15 years ago, nice hardwood floors throughout the entire thing. Within 5 years it was scratched all to hell from their dogs claws (and it's just a little yorkie, nothing big by any means)

Now they have throw rugs everywhere because the wood floor looks like crap, they're planning on having them completely redone soon(which isn't much cheaper than just getting new floors), I think they're just waiting for the dog to die first.

Here's a close up of the new Vinyl floor. It has all of the "grout lines" a little lower than the surface of the blocks. Really looks and feels nice. Granted, it doesn't feel like walking on a concrete floor, but adding a new subfloor (1/4" plywood) really increased the strength of the floor. It no longer squeaks at all walking around in the kitchen.



I'll take an even closer picture when I get home from work to show off the texture. I'm really pleased with this floor. Really made the kitchen come together. The best part is saving your glasses also. Vinyl is soft just like hardwood, except it doesn't dent. You won't destroy your dishes or glasses if you drop them. However, if you drop a knife, that's very likely to gouge the floor instead. Not a huge gouge (it's glued 100% down), but a very small slash that you could see if you're REALLY looking for it.

Keep in mind they lay these floors out by using box cutter style knives to cut the vinyl down to size.