Buy Cheap Flooring For A Fixer-Upper Or A Rental Apartment?
You are getting ready to sell your house … or rent your apartment. The bathroom floor is in really bad shape, so you’ll need to do something about that first. Should you search for some cheap flooring to help save money, or should you buy something more expensive?
Don’t you hate to have to make decisions like this? You need your house to look really great, but you just hate to spend more than necessary. After all, you are not going to be living there yourself.
So let’s take a better look at what’s involved. BTW, I realize that the word “cheap” has some negative vibes. But try thinking of it as meaning “inexpensive”, not tawdry.
What’s the problem?
- You can command a higher price if the floor makes the place appear classy enough. Isn’t there a way to get cheap flooring that looks just like exotic ?
- The flooring must be low cost, but you don’t want it to appear shabby. Can’t you find anything that fits this description?
- You want flooring that’s durable, and is simple to maintain, particularly for a rental unit. You don’t want to be installing a new floor each time a tenant moves out.
- If the floors appear “dated”, nobody will want to live there. Forget those shag carpets from the 70′s!
Carpeting or Wooden Flooring?
Wall-to-wall carpet is gradually becoming less popular, and wood flooring is taking its place. One reason carpeting used to be popular is that it is comfortable to sit on. But it certainly isn’t as sanitary as a wood floor. And wood floors nowadays can have hot air ducted under them, so they aren’t cold to walk on any longer.
Actual Hardwood or a Look-alike?
It’s true that real wood definitely looks a lot classier, but some modern flooring materials can be tough to detect. Laminate flooring and engineered flooring are now manufactured using an upper layer that is a photographic image of real wood, covered with a tough transparent acrylic material. So at first glance, you can’t tell it from the real hardwood.
So What’s the Answer?
You mean you still don’t know whether to put in cheap flooring or expensive flooring? That’s not surprising. I’m not going to give you an answer to that question! You are going to have to make up your own mind.
But I Need Help!
Yes, you do. You’ll need to look into the various types of flooring to see if any of them can do what you want done at a reasonable cost. And you’ll need to find out what’s the cheapest flooring of each type. But not to worry – help is on the way – read on.
Are you searching for cheap flooring that looks great, is durable, and is easy to maintain? The author’s website, Cheap Flooring, always has the cheapest floors that can be found on the internet.
Thought Of The Day
If you want to know how much money do carpenters make all I can say is it depends if your employed or self employed. If your self employed the sky’s the limit you could make a very good living for arguments sake $2000 a week would be well within your reach. But there are things you should think about before becoming a self employed carpenter. You have to think about renting or buying a unit to work in which is going to cost you monthly rent or cash upfront then you have employees to organise and pay for which can be a real head ache.
Interesting Destinations
http://www.thehomeimprovementcentre.com/
11 Nov 2010. We love home makeovers at The Home Improvement Centre and for that reason have collated all of our favourite pictures links and suppliers
http://www.galleryfinance.co.uk/home-improvement-loans
Why wait to improve your home Apply now for a Gallery Finance secured home improvement loan and transform your house today. Get a free quote online.
http://www.hitrust.org/
The Houseproud scheme offers is a partnership between The Home Improvement Trust and your local council. Go to the Houseproud website.
http://www.homebuildingshow.co.uk/
The Homebuilding & Renovating show is Britain’s number one self build show. Whether you’re building your home from scratch undertaking a major extension
Popular Questions
Where can I get basic carpentry skills
I need some knowledge of carpentry before I go up north to learn how to build log homes. I don’t know anything about how to build a house! haha
Any suggestions
Thanks in advance!
If you are going to work for a builder then knowing nothing might be ideal. The first General Contractor I worked for asked me what I already knew and when I told him “pretty much nothing” he said “Good that works better for me that way I don’t have to unlearn anything out of you.”
Now as a General Contractor for entry positions I prefer guys who don’t “know anything.” However knowing how to work is good meaning having the awareness of what is going on around you learning to anticipate what is going to be needed next how to maintain a consistent work rate….. But personally I learned those things in farming…..
If you want to gain some ‘building intelligence’ before heading up there I recommend going to the library and reading through some books about tools and maybe skim some books about general woodworking or carpentry. Just try to absorb what is interesting maybe make yourself a journal and log some of the better ideas you come across that really make sense to you.
Then when you get up north keep a journal (fill it out on your own time after work) of everything you learn how to do. Every couple of months review your journal and start organizing the info into a 3-ring binder in logical and complete sections. I guarantee if you Really do this you will learn quite fast and what you learn will be available to you later making you a
1-more self-sufficient employee then later
2-a knowledgeable self-employed builder and
3 (if you stick it out long enough)- a business owner with a training system that helps make you very profitable.
That’s exactly what I would go back and do (would save me a lot of work now and a lot of mistakes along the way) if I were in your shoes and it is something I require of my Lead Carpenter Apprentices.
Related posts
21 Responses to “Buy Cheap Flooring For A Fixer-Upper Or A Rental Apartment?”
bcs says:
December 5, 2010 at 9:16 am
LOVE THIS !! =**
mond bield says:
December 5, 2010 at 2:42 pm
Thanks Sonja The explanation that I heard went like this: when the perfume is being manufactured, it is shaken a lot when the different ingredients are mixed in, but after that it is supposed to sit still for everything to settle down and create the right scent. Shaking the perfume after that could upset the balance and change the original scent.
quer myhrees says:
December 8, 2010 at 10:49 am
rigged and well paid ; )
chead chouwen says:
December 11, 2010 at 9:00 pm
Geez…I’ve had to endure wall to wall sunshine and daytime temps in the mid 50s for over a week now. Of course as soon as the sun goes down it’s colder than a mother in-law’s kiss. Had a flat tire the other evening…about a mile from home. It was pitch dark, bitterly cold (“mountain cold”) and I had no flashlight. So I hoofed it home and waited for my girlfriend to come home. We drove to my car and I wrestled with the damn stupid jack and finally got the spare installed. She took off for home, I turned around and drove another few hundred yards and realized my spare was flat! So again, I hoofed it home (only this time I had a flashlight). The next day I drove my GF to work, bought a new tire, went to the car and installed it…all the time cursing at the inadequacy of the stupid little jack. Then I drove home in her car and started hiking back to mine only to find one of my dogs following me. So Abbey and I made it back to the car and drove home. I can’t believe how sore my leg muscles are. That’s more more “squat down on the ground then stand up again” exercise than I’ve had in months. I’m quite sure I’d rather shovel snow or load rocks. I once had to replace a starter in an old truck in the winter and I think even that was a better experience.I’m VERY glad we haven’t done more than a skiff of snow here yet this year. I still need to tuck my tiller and my chipper/shredder away in the shed for season. Some years we get very little snow. Other years we have had as much as 3 feet of very heavy white stuff. The trick is to not run out of beer or food and have plenty of firewood available just in case.
polompage brosel says:
December 16, 2010 at 10:41 am
It is normally regarded as being "Queen Eleanor's Cross" which is in the forecourt of Charing Cross station. Of course, over the passage of time, certain (usually non-English) map makers have chosen what THEY think is the centre, but this one is the historical centre, and I believe is still used by the AA when measuring distances from London.
oett slon says:
December 16, 2010 at 2:30 pm
Thanks for the idea Lori. Hope the flooring works for you. There are several different grades from the cheaper to the more expensive flooring, I think. Do a search on the internet.
weat pete says:
December 21, 2010 at 11:41 pm
you can go to Robertwood.net click on appraisals at the top of the page, there is a guy you can email and he can do an appraisal
hatti rheabritzi says:
December 23, 2010 at 6:42 am
What's interesting is that there are small cities all over the SGV and beyond – cities who have resolutely filed their audits every year – that are in the same fiscal boat as SM: flat general fund revenues, and costs that continue to go up (not salaries, but materials, supplies, etc.). So, while I agree that the lack of filed audits by SM undermines their ability to sell the UUT to the voters, I remain skeptical that these lack of filings is the cause of SM fiscal position. This is a microcosm of a larger, structural problem in public finance all over the state.Since it's possible that the UUT will fail, I do think a good question for candidates is what they intend to do in that event. And I hope the answers are rooted in reality and practicality.
peeranh says:
December 23, 2010 at 5:14 pm
Worst thing was when the house I grew up in for 10 years was foreclosed on. The best thing would be my neighbor letting me stay at his rental apartment for very low rent.
snott says:
December 24, 2010 at 5:47 am
Palila and I decided to see what was under the cheap flooring that was pealing up in the entry way to our house. Palila thought it was hardwood. She was right. Unfortunately, there were two layers of linoleum. I cut away the first to get a peak at the second. Then when I went to cut away the second I spun around and stabbed Alex in the knee with the utility knife.
groff says:
December 26, 2010 at 10:18 pm
Here's what we have…
http://www.surfsidebaby.com/store/OFNRS-2001.html
hobel sugamberse says:
December 27, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Thanks for y'all's responses.
Ellie: heh heh
Emma: WALL-E, WALL-E, WALL-E, WALL-E……
Katie: I noticed after I wrote this that I left a whole lot of great points unattended.:-( I guess you'll just have to be surpised. You spelled 'theatre' the right way. Awsome!:-)
Ruth: you are so right. She did spell it the wrong way. (by the way, its WALL-E, not WELL-E) :-d
Flinding
och says:
December 29, 2010 at 1:08 pm
Various types of schools in Malaysia #fb
elsoni says:
January 4, 2011 at 8:26 pm
WOW! That is amazing, Anne. You guys are brilliant. I would have definitely called someone in to take care of laying the wood floor for me. It looks beautiful and I bet it's even more brilliant in real life. Looks like Striper likes the floor, too. Looks alien-like there haha Maybe he's just in a euphoric state over the fine gloss and shine of the floors. Love it!! LOVE IT!
Hugs from Berlin!
mcquadrops cloy says:
May 28, 2011 at 7:25 pm
How to Find the Right Wooden Flooring
rand says:
June 9, 2011 at 8:09 pm
I think you can’t even imagine what kind of baths *my* keyboard takes, when I look through **relevant_rule_34** posts [](/megusta”also my table, wall, carpet, monitor, pc speakers… and I don’t even clean them at all”)
koty teed says:
June 11, 2011 at 11:00 pm
I bought almost 2000 sqft of engineered flooring online. They clearly lied about the thickness, but since they sent me a sample first I knew ahead of time and still bought it. I think I paid $2.39/sqft +$99 delivery for a pallet + 19 boxes, when the local discount stores wanted $8.99/sqft for similar material and I would have to get it from the store. I bought all the adhesive locally as I needed it and did all the work myself with a ton of help from my girlfriend. It looks beautiful.
leuren she says:
June 13, 2011 at 10:30 pm
On June 8th, 2011 at 12:14 pm, happyscrapper said:That’s as good an answer as any! As for me, I would prefer to be called a Libertarian rather than anything with the word “liberal” in it! That lable has very negative vibes for me.
mel bodmansber says:
June 14, 2011 at 12:24 am
Hawaian looking ladyThis is my first …..Groupon is Fun. Time.
mart says:
June 16, 2011 at 3:11 am
Bassus Premium 2007: Cherry red upper middle layer.
Complex aroma combining fruit with the wood, highlighting th… http://bit.ly/m5PcFE
fogelstana key says:
June 17, 2011 at 10:50 am
This article is great, all the suggestions are great and I wish all the owners made, at least, this easy steps. I agree with all of them! It shouldn’t be so hard for the owners in this world to realize… And finding an apartment wouldn’t be such a depressing activity!